Tahiti Trot () (or Tea for Two), Op. 16, is an arrangement for symphony orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich of the song "Tea for Two" from the musical No, No, Nanette by Vincent Youmans. It was composed in 1927 and resulted from a bet between the composer and the score's dedicatee, Nicolai Malko. Tahiti Trot was premiered on November 25, 1928, and quickly became popular in the Soviet Union. Changing cultural politics that resulted from the Great Break and the end of NEP led to Shostakovich renouncing the work. It subsequently was withdrawn, then considered a lost work until Gennady Rozhdestvensky reconstructed it in the early 1980s from orchestral parts presented to him by Malko's widow; it was first published in 1984. History In his memoirs, Nicolai Malko recalled first hearing Vincent Youmans' "Tea for Two" at the Meyerhold Theatre in Moscow in 1927: [They] performed a play called Roar, China. In one of the scenes some Americans on a ship are dancing. The foxtrot used in that scene became very popular. Nobody knew who the composer was. [...] It was called the "Tahiti Trot." In reality it was "Tea for Two." Jazz music was regarded very negatively in Russia in those days. I did not agree with this philosophy and referred to that foxtrot as an example of music that was not bad. Shostakovich developed an interest in popular music during this period. Like Malko, he had heard "Tea for Two" at the Meyerhold Theatre. He was also greatly impressed by Ernst Krenek's jazz-influenced opera, Jonny spielt auf, and its arrangement of another Youmans song from No, No, Nanette, "I Want to Be Happy." In the company of friends he enjoyed playing jazz-style improvisations on the piano for them. At some point before October 1927, Malko jokingly suggested to Shostakovich that he should orchestrate "Tea for Two" and proposed a bet: If you, Mitenka, are as brilliant as they all say, then please go into the next room, write that song down from memory, orchestrate it, and I will play it. I will give you an hour to do this. Shostakovich completed his task in forty-five minutes, thereby winning the bet. He dedicated the score to Malko as a "token of [his] best feelings." Tahiti Trot was later included, with modified orchestration, as the interlude to the third act of the ballet The Golden Age upon the request of Alexander