Aram Khachaturian was an Armenian who worked all his life in the Soviet Union. For the geographically challenged, Armenia is in the Caucasus area, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, just north of Turkey and Persia. He wrote symphonies and concertos and several ballets; one of these is "Spartacus", made famous for the theme to "The Onedin Line".

Masquerade is a play by the Russian author Michail Lermontov, a contemporary of Pushkin and Tolstoy, who was writing in the early 19th century. There is an enjoyable five movement suite from Khatchaturian's music to this play, which begins with this happy Waltz.