Abandoned Sovietwave: Moscow Nights

Composer Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi and poet Mikhail Matusovsky wrote the song in 1955 with the title "Leningrad Nights" (Russian: Ленинградские вечера, tr. Leningradskije večera, [lʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat͡skʲɪje vʲɪt͡ɕɪˈra]), but at the request of the Soviet Ministry of Culture, the song was renamed "Moscow Nights" and made corresponding changes to the lyrics.[citation needed]

In 1956, "Moscow Nights" was recorded by Vladimir Troshin,[1] a young actor of the Moscow Art Theatre, for a scene in a documentary about the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic's athletic competition Spartakiad in which the athletes rest in Podmoskovye, the Moscow suburbs. The film did nothing to promote the song, but thanks to radio broadcasts it gained popularity.