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Peter and the Wolf
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Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf (Russian: Пе́тя и волк, romanized: Pétya i volk, IPA: [ˈpʲetʲə i voɫk]), Op. 67, a "symphonic tale for children", is a programmatic musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a Russian folk tale, which the orchestra illustrates by using different instruments to play themes that represent each character in the story.
In 1936, Prokofiev was commissioned by Natalya Sats, the director of the Central Children's Theatre in Moscow, to write a musical symphony for children. Sats and Prokofiev had become acquainted after he visited the theatre with his sons several times. The intent was to introduce children to the individual instruments of the orchestra to enjoy music and learn to recognize musical keys.
The first draft of the libretto was about a Young Pioneer, Peter, who rights a wrong by challenging an adult. But Prokofiev was dissatisfied with the rhyming text by Nina Sakonskaya (real name Antonia Pavlovna Sokolovskaya), a then-popular children's author. He wrote a libretto in which Peter and his animal friends capture a wolf. As well as promoting desired Pioneer virtues such as vigilance, bravery, and resourcefulness, the plot illustrates Soviet themes such as the stubbornness of the un-Bolshevik older generation (the grandfather) and the triumph of Man (Peter) taming Nature (the wolf).
Prokofiev produced a version for piano in under a week, finishing it on April 15. The orchestration was finished on April 24. The work premiered at a children's concert in the main hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic Society on 2 May 1936. Sats was ill, the substitute narrator was inexperienced, and the performance attracted little attention. Later that month, a more successful performance with Sats narrating was given at the Moscow Pioneers Palace. The U.S. premiere took place in March 1938, with Prokofiev conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall (Boston), and with Richard Hale narrating. By that time, Sats was serving a sentence in the gulag, where she was sent after her lover, Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, was shot in June 1937.
Peter (Russian: Petya), a Soviet Young Pioneer, lives at his grandfather's home in a forest clearing. One day, he goes out into the clearing, leaving the garden gate open, and a duck that lives in the yard takes the opportunity to swim in a pond nearby. The duck and a bird argue over whether a bird should be able to swim or fly. A local cat stalks them quietly, and the bird—warned by Peter—flies to safety in a tall tree while the duck swims to safety in the middle of the pond.
Peter's grandfather scolds him for staying outside and playing in the meadow alone, because a wolf might attack him. When Peter shows defiance, believing he has nothing to fear from wolves, his grandfather takes him back into the house and locks the gate. Soon afterward, a ferocious wolf comes out of the forest. The cat quickly climbs into the tree with the bird, but the duck, who has jumped out of the pond, is chased, overtaken, and swallowed by the wolf, who then begins prowling around the tree's base.
Seeing all of this from inside, Peter fetches a rope and climbs over the garden wall into the tree. He asks the bird to fly around the wolf's head to distract him, while he lowers a noose and catches the wolf by his tail. The wolf struggles to get free, but Peter ties the rope to the tree and the noose only gets tighter.
Hunters who have been tracking the wolf come out of the forest with their guns ready, but Peter gets them to instead help him take it to a zoo in a victory parade (the piece was first performed for an audience of Young Pioneers during May Day celebrations) that includes himself, the bird, the hunters leading the wolf, the cat, and lastly his grumbling grandfather, still disappointed that Peter ignored his warnings, but proud that he caught the wolf.
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Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf (Russian: Пе́тя и волк, romanized: Pétya i volk, IPA: [ˈpʲetʲə i voɫk]), Op. 67, a "symphonic tale for children", is a programmatic musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a Russian folk tale, which the orchestra illustrates by using different instruments to play themes that represent each character in the story.
In 1936, Prokofiev was commissioned by Natalya Sats, the director of the Central Children's Theatre in Moscow, to write a musical symphony for children. Sats and Prokofiev had become acquainted after he visited the theatre with his sons several times. The intent was to introduce children to the individual instruments of the orchestra to enjoy music and learn to recognize musical keys.
The first draft of the libretto was about a Young Pioneer, Peter, who rights a wrong by challenging an adult. But Prokofiev was dissatisfied with the rhyming text by Nina Sakonskaya (real name Antonia Pavlovna Sokolovskaya), a then-popular children's author. He wrote a libretto in which Peter and his animal friends capture a wolf. As well as promoting desired Pioneer virtues such as vigilance, bravery, and resourcefulness, the plot illustrates Soviet themes such as the stubbornness of the un-Bolshevik older generation (the grandfather) and the triumph of Man (Peter) taming Nature (the wolf).
Prokofiev produced a version for piano in under a week, finishing it on April 15. The orchestration was finished on April 24. The work premiered at a children's concert in the main hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic Society on 2 May 1936. Sats was ill, the substitute narrator was inexperienced, and the performance attracted little attention. Later that month, a more successful performance with Sats narrating was given at the Moscow Pioneers Palace. The U.S. premiere took place in March 1938, with Prokofiev conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall (Boston), and with Richard Hale narrating. By that time, Sats was serving a sentence in the gulag, where she was sent after her lover, Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, was shot in June 1937.
Peter (Russian: Petya), a Soviet Young Pioneer, lives at his grandfather's home in a forest clearing. One day, he goes out into the clearing, leaving the garden gate open, and a duck that lives in the yard takes the opportunity to swim in a pond nearby. The duck and a bird argue over whether a bird should be able to swim or fly. A local cat stalks them quietly, and the bird—warned by Peter—flies to safety in a tall tree while the duck swims to safety in the middle of the pond.
Peter's grandfather scolds him for staying outside and playing in the meadow alone, because a wolf might attack him. When Peter shows defiance, believing he has nothing to fear from wolves, his grandfather takes him back into the house and locks the gate. Soon afterward, a ferocious wolf comes out of the forest. The cat quickly climbs into the tree with the bird, but the duck, who has jumped out of the pond, is chased, overtaken, and swallowed by the wolf, who then begins prowling around the tree's base.
Seeing all of this from inside, Peter fetches a rope and climbs over the garden wall into the tree. He asks the bird to fly around the wolf's head to distract him, while he lowers a noose and catches the wolf by his tail. The wolf struggles to get free, but Peter ties the rope to the tree and the noose only gets tighter.
Hunters who have been tracking the wolf come out of the forest with their guns ready, but Peter gets them to instead help him take it to a zoo in a victory parade (the piece was first performed for an audience of Young Pioneers during May Day celebrations) that includes himself, the bird, the hunters leading the wolf, the cat, and lastly his grumbling grandfather, still disappointed that Peter ignored his warnings, but proud that he caught the wolf.