Festive Overture

Festive Overture by Dimitri Shostakovich
Arranged for Flute Orchestra by Shaul Ben-Meir

Score and parts

Instrumentation: piccolo (doubles on C flute), 6 C flutes, 2 alto flutes, 2 bass flutes, contrabass flute

The Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich was written during a three-day period in 1954 and was performed at a concert at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow to commemorate the 37th Anniversary of the October Revolution. It is believed that Shostakovich based it on the overture to Mikhail Glinka’s “Russlan and Ludmilla”, however, with his own touch in regard to form and harmony.