Among Shostakovich's nearly forty film scores, The Gadfly has emerged as one of his more popular efforts. Yet, the quality of its music does not rise to the level of his first two, The New Babylon and Alone, nor does it rank with the one great success from his later years, Hamlet. Nevertheless, it cannot be dismissed as sharing the low level of inspiration of so many of his other film scores, including Michurin, The Golden Mountains and Zoya.

The Gadfly was directed by Alexander Feinzimmer, whose most successful collaboration, from a musico-cinematic point of view, was with Prokofiev in the making of Lieutenant Kijé, in 1934. The Gadfly was based on a popular novel of the same name by English writer Ethel Lilian Voynich. Its story concerns the young nineteenth-century freedom-fighter known as "The Gadfly", the illegitimate son of an Italian Cardinal. Living in Austrian-occupied Italy, he is given this unusual nickname because his rebellious activities carry a particularly painful "sting", as far as the Austrians are concerned. He is finally captured and executed by firing squad, but not before many heroic exploits. Near the end of the film his cleric-father steps forth to acknowledge him as his son.

Obviously, like so many Soviet films of that era, parallels were drawn in the story with the Bolshevik Revolution and its heroes. The Gadfly premiered in April, 1955. Shostakovich's music is dramatic and effective as a film score, featuring a heroic main theme that would not be out of place in many of the swashbuckling films of 1950s' Hollywood. There is some light dance music, that, while offering a measure of appeal, does not sound like Shostakovich. True, the composer alludes to Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and others, apparently deliberately so, throughout the score, thereby limiting his own usually individual voice.

Some of the love music is effective, as is the most of the slow music in the latter half. A theme on cello in the former vein is quite beautiful but, again, hardly sounds like the composer in its deliberately Italianate character. The darker, more somber music in the latter half of the film is a little more in the style of Shostakovich, yet does not contain the intensity and desperation so often associated with those elements in his works.

As of the end of the twentieth century there was still no complete recording of this film score, though Soviet composer Lev Atovmian arranged a substantial suite (Op. 97a) of music derived from it, which has received some recorded attention. Until a complete performance is issued, listeners interested in hearing the music will have to settle for this suite or find a copy of the film itself and endure the substandard monophonic sound.

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