The first and the best of Shostakovich's three ballets was The Age of Gold. Conceived in the artistic ferment of '20s Leningrad, when the avant-garde and the proletariat were united in their opposition to fascism and the bourgeoisie, Shostakovich's score occupies a middle ground between the unrelenting modernism of his Second and Third Symphonies (1927 and 1929) and the light music populism of the Tahiti Trot (1927) and the Hypothetically Murdered (1931).

Originally entitled Dyamiadia and based on an outline by the film director Alexander Ivanovsky, the story of the ballet is, in its essence, a confrontation between the young, vigorous, and healthy communist state embodied in a Soviet football team and the sickly and decadent capitalist state embodied in the inhabitants of the Western city the team is visiting. As Shostakovich wrote in the program book of the first performance (October 27, 1930):

"Throwing into contrast the two cultures was my main aim in the ballet. I approached this task in the following way: the West European dances breathe the spirit of depraved eroticism which is characteristic of contemporary bourgeois culture, but I tried to imbue the Soviet dances with the wholesome elements of sport and physical culture.... I strove to write music that was not only easy to dance to, but that was dramatically tense and underwent symphonic development."

Shostakovich succeeded in his goal: the characterization of the two cultures could not be more distinct. However, Shostakovich does at times seem more attracted by the possibilities of the Western forms he is ostensibly parodying than in the aerobics of the soccer team. The "jazz" numbers in the first two acts—the foxtrot and the infamous "Tahiti Trot"—seem far more musically interesting than anything else in those acts. And the symphonic elements of the score—the soulful Adagio in the Act I and the whole of Act III—are more vital and powerful than the climactic Football match of Act II.

Apparently, Shostakovich succeeded insofar as his audience was concerned: The Age of Gold ran for 18 performances over two years. The ballet was savaged by proletarian critics and Shostakovich, while he was satisfied with his music, was disgruntled by the libretto and the dancing. In the future, he vowed to work only on projects he considered artistically valid. The Age of Gold remains Shostakovich's best composed and most aesthetically successful ballet.

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