Peter and the Wolf
Each year, during the season of Autumn, I usually choose a famous composition to study in depth with all primary students. This year I will be introducing students to Prokofiev’s famous composition – “Peter and the Wolf.”
In 1936 the Russian composer Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev wrote the symphonic fairy tale “Peter and the Wolf.” It is a composition for an orchestra and a narrator. Prokofiev assigned an instrument or family of instruments to each character of the story to help young audiences identify and recognize the sounds of orchestral instruments.
Here are the characters and the instruments used to portray them:
Peter: the string section
His grandfather: the bassoon
The bird: the flute
The cat: the clarinet
The duck: the oboe
The wolf: three French horns
The hunters: the bass drum and the timpani
Here is a short video that just plays the theme or motif for each character in the story.
Now that the characters have been introduced with their instrumental accompaniment I have selected this video of Peter and the Wolf that also included illustrations and narration. Just to ensure that you remember the characters and their corresponding themes this version repeats that information before telling the entire story.
As this composition was initially performed without illustrations, I thought it was also important to include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra with Branwell Tovey conducting and narrating Peter and the Wolf. We are fortunate to have such a wealth of professional musicians in a local ensemble that are featured regularly on CBC broadcasts.
I will complete this post with an animated version of Peter and the Wolf that I usually share with students. This version only relies upon the music and visuals to communicate the story and features a different ending of the tale that I quite appreciate. Remember that this is only a story so don’t be afraid of the wolf when it finally appears.