The Bolshoi's conductor, Vassili Nebolsin, found himself without a suitable new work to open the concert, and contacted Shostakovich just days before. The composer set to work on the overture with great speed, completing it in three days. He apparently based it on Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmilla overture (1842), and it features the same lively tempo and style of melody. Whilst the style reflects Shostakovich, the piece as a whole uses very conventional classical devices of form and harmony.

Date of composition 1954
Premiered 1954 (Bolshoi Theatre) in Moscow, Russia
Type Overture
Tonality A Major
Catalogue Op. 96
Instruments Orchestra
Autotranslations beta Dmitri Chostakovitch: The Festive Overture en la majeur, Op. 96
Dmitrij Šostakovič: The Festive Overture in la maggiore, Op. 96
Dmitri Dmitrijewitsch Schostakowitsch: The Festive Overture A-dur, Op. 96