Matusovsky; ‘Moscow Nights’ Songwriter

MOSCOW — Soviet songwriter Mikhail Matusovsky, author of “Moscow Nights,” the Soviet capital’s theme song, has died, the Tass news agency said Tuesday. He was 75.

Tass did not say when Matusovsky died or give a cause of death.

Although Matusovsky wrote many songs, none surpassed “Moscow Nights.” The exact translation of the song’s title, “Podmoskovniye Vechera,” works out to “Moscow Suburban Evenings,” but it has been rendered into English as “Moscow Nights.”

During Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s first Washington summit in December, 1987, pianist Van Cliburn played “Moscow Nights” for the Soviet leader and his wife, Raisa, who sang along with him at the White House.