Peter and the Wolf - Definition and Overview

Peter and the Wolf is a composition by Sergei Prokofiev written after his return to Russia in 1933. It is a children's story (also written by Prokofiev) spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra.

Stalin had ordered that art had to be reflective of the Communist ideal and that music had to be simple and understandable. Prokofiev, a child prodigy and enfant terrible, probably wrote this piece with tongue-in-cheek. Nevertheless it has been a great success with not only children everywhere, but also with adults.

Instruments in the Composition

Each character in the story has a particular instrument and a musical theme:

• Bird - Flute
• Duck - Oboe
• Cat - Clarinet The cat's part is in a very low register, and in fact, one note cannot be played on a normal clarinet.
• Grandfather - Bassoon
• Wolf - French Horn
• Hunters - Timpani Drums
• Peter - String section

Related Works

Walt Disney produced an animated version of the work in 1946, with Sterling Holloway providing the voice of the narrator. This version makes small changes to the original Prokofiev story, particulary in providing names for the characters -- Sasha the bird, Sonia the duck, and Ivan the cat, for instance. It was released theatrically as a segment in Make Mine Music, then separately on home video in the 1990s on.

Allan Sherman parodied the work in a 1964 album called Peter and the Commissar, made with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra.

"Weird Al" Yankovic and Wendy Carlos produced a tongue-in-cheek version in 1988, using a synthesized orchestra and many additions to the story and music. (Peter captures the wolf using his grandfather's dental floss, leading to the moral of the story, "Brush and floss your teeth every day.")

External links

• A list of the instruments and the story (http://www.philtulga.com/Peter.html)