The Lady and the Hooligan is one of a number of works nominally by Shostakovich that are in fact compilations of works by Shostakovich arranged and rescored to create a new synthetic work. In 1962, when Shostakovich's post-Stalinist fame was at its height in the Soviet Union, the composer received more requests for works than he had the time or the inclination to fulfill, and he often turned to his close friend Levon Atovmyan to "compose" works for him. The Lady and the Hooligan was commissioned by the Leningrad Malii Opera Theater in 1962, and the work they knowingly received was a synthesis of earlier Shostakovich works put together to furnish music for a ballet.

The story of the ballet concerns the slow-growing love between the title characters, and the eventual death of the Hooligan after he has reformed himself through his love of the Lady. For listeners familiar with Shostakovich's earlier ballet scores and film music, The Lady and the Hooligan will sound like outtakes skillfully re-formed to create a new work.

The 14 numbers of The Lady and the Hooligan and their sources are as follows:

1. Introduction: Romance from Ballet Suite No. 1

2. Street: The Variations from The Bolt

3. The Hooligan: The Variations from The Bolt

4. The Lady: Romance from Ballet Suite No. 1

5. School: Polka from Ballet Suite No. 1 and Russian Popular Print from The Limpid Stream

6. Prayer: The third movement of the Cello Sonata

7. Tavern: The Tango from The Bolt

8. Visions: The Romance from the film The Gadfly

9. Scene: The first movement of the Cello Sonata

10. Walk in the Park: The Waltz from the Ballet Suite No. 4 and the Variations from The Bolt

11. (Allegro): Extrapolation of the Variations from The Bolt

12. (Adagio): The Adagio from The Limpid Stream

13. Fight: Various numbers from the First, Third and Fourth Ballet Suites

14. Finale: A synthesis of the Romance from Ballet Suite No. 1 and the Variations from The Bolt.

© James Leonard, Rovi