Wikipedia:Today's featured article/December 21, 2016

Lieutenant Kijé is music by Sergei Prokofiev originally written to accompany the film of the same name, produced by the Belgoskino film studios in Leningrad and released in 1934 (poster pictured). It was his first attempt at film music, and his first commission from within the Soviet Union; he had lived abroad since the 1917 October Revolution. In the early days of sound cinema, among the distinguished composers ready to write film music, Prokofiev was not an obvious choice for the commission. Based in Paris for almost a decade, he had a reputation, at odds with the cultural norms of the Soviet Union, for experimentation and dissonance. Nevertheless, he was anxious to return to his homeland, and saw the film commission as an opportunity to write music in a more accessible style. After the film's successful release, he adapted the music into what became a popular orchestral suite, his Op. 60. First performed on 21 December 1934, it became part of the international concert repertoire, and one of the composer's best-known and most frequently recorded works. Elements of its score were used in several later films, and in two popular songs of the Cold War era.