Peter and the Wolf

Peter and the Wolf is an orchestral suite by Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953).  Prokofiev was a pianist and a composer -- he wrote an opera and wrote pieces for the piano before the age of nine.  He was from Ukraine and he traveled to Europe and the United States. In 1936, he wrote Peter and the Wolf for a children's theater in the Soviet Union.

It's a story about a boy who lives with his grandfather.  The boy, Peter, is represented by the string section of the orchestr (notice the melody of the piece).  The grandfather is represented bythe bassoon . The flutes represent the bird, while the duck is depicted by the oboe.  Prokofiev wrote the clarinet to represent the cat and the wolf by the horn section.  Finally, the hunters are represented by the kettle drums.  Peter is told by his grandfather to not go out and look for the wolf, and so of course, Peter goes out and tries to capture the wolf While he tries, his friends the bird and the duck aren't so lucky in the situation because they seem to make a good dinner for the wolf.  However, in this interpretation of the story, there is a happy ending and Peter is a hero and the duck survives.  

Peter and the Wolf Part 1

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Peter and the Wolf Part 2
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Some information was gathered from http://www.philtulga.com/Peter.html.