Three Musicians Walk into a Bar

On the evening of Wednesday, August,4th,1926, three musicians met for dinner at the restaurant of the Moscow Metropol Hotel (the notorious, exclusive place for elite party members and foreign visitors). It was the invitation of the great Igor Stravinsky, 54, one of greatest composers of the century. Maxim, the formidable maitre d',  gave them a fine corner table where they would be undisturbed. The twenty year old Dmitriy Shostakovich was very excited to meet the legend. The third man was fellow composer Sergei Prokofiev, 35. Shostakovich and Prokofiev knew each other from the Petrograd Conservatory where Dmitriy was admitted as a thirteen year old prodigy and, they met again at the founding meeting of the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians in June of 1923, 

Hotel Metropol Moscow

Dmitriy had never been in such a fancy place, had no idea how to behave and what to do. He was thrilled when Stravinsky talked about the young man's successful premiere of Symphony Number One earlier in the year. He mentioned the enthusiastic pubic reception which applauded for minutes and made the conductor play the Scherzo as an encore. 

Stravinsky, as the host, ordered for all three: Rye Blinis with Smoked Salmon and Caviar, Red Beet Soup with Sour cream, Grilled Sturgeon Medallions with dill potatoes, Stuffed Chicken Breast with Rice and Vegetables and, for dessert, Charlottes. They drank  a lot of Vodka and Khvanchkara wine with the meal. Young Dmitry was eagerly waiting for a spirited, meaningful and profound discussion on music but to his immense disappointment, Prokofiev got very drunk and talked only about his new lover, Lyudmila Kvitornova, a nurse with large breasts. He met her after his longtime girlfriend Svetlana Pashtevetskaya left him for, Piotr Rublev,  a neighbor who owned a Zündapp motorcycle with sidecar. he said that, out of nowhere, Svetlana called him on the telephone in a terrible state, crying and telling him that he was the only one she ever really loved and he should forgive her and take her back. When he asked about Piotr, she said that the secret police came late one night, took the motorcycle and sent Piotr to Siberia. Prokofiev kept on drinking and crying and, before he passed out, confessed that, when Svetlana left him, he so was desperate that he wrote an anonymous letter to the OGPU denouncing Rublev as an anti-Soviet element with bourgeoise tendencies. As nothing happened for a few months, he forgot all about it and then met Lyudmila.

Stravinsky paid the bill and, helped by Dmitriy and Maxim, loaded Prokofiev into a taxi. 

Dmitriy, who came in for the dinner from his home in Leningrad (the new name of St. Petersburg  since 1924) walked to the apartment of his friend Malkin, a fellow musician. Malkin promised to wait up to hear a very detailed account of the meeting. Now Dmitriy wasn't sure what story to tell.