Peter and the Wolf. ALL ABOUT

Peter and the Wolf is a composition by Sergei Prokofiev written in 1936 after his return to the Soviet Union. It is a children's story (with both music and text by Prokofiev), spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra.

History of Peter and the Wolf

In 1936 Sergei Prokofiev was commissioned by Natalya Sats and the Central Children's Theatre in Moscow to write a new musical symphony for children. The intent was to cultivate "musical tastes in children from the first years of school". Intrigued by the invitation, Prokofiev completed Peter and the Wolf in just four days. The debut on 2 May 1936 was, in the composer's words, inauspicious at best: "[attendance] was poor and failed to attract much attention". He could scarcely have foreseen quite how successful his playful classic would become or how consistently it would delight and inspire children and adults of all ages for years to come.

Instrumentation of Peter and the Wolf

Peter and the Wolf is scored for flute, oboe, clarinet in A, bassoon, 3 horns, trumpet, trombone, timpani, triangle, tambourine, cymbals, castanets, snare drum, bass drum and strings.

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

• Bird: flute
• Duck: oboe
• Cat: clarinet
• Grandfather: bassoon
• Wolf: french horns
• Hunters: woodwind theme, with gunshots on timpani and bass drum
• Peter: string instruments

Peter and the Wolf. The story >>>

Peter and the Wolf. Recordings >>>

Peter and the Wolf. Adaptations of the work

• Peter and the Wolf. Walt Disney, 1946 >>>

  Peter and the Wolf. Russia, 1958 >>>

  Peter and the Wolf. Others >>>

  Peter and the Wolf. Suzie Templeton, 2006 >>>

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Peter and the Wolf story

Peter and the Wolf. The plot of the story

Peter, a Soviet Young Pioneer, is at his grandfather's home in a forest clearing. One day Peter goes out into the clearing, leaving the garden gate open, and the duck that lives in the yard takes the opportunity to go swimming on the nearby pond. She starts arguing with a little bird ("What kind of bird are you if you can't fly?" – "What kind of bird are you if you can't swim?")… Read more >>>

Peter and the Wolf Story Sheet (paraphrase)

One morning, a young boy named Peter opened his gate and walked out into the big green meadow that was beyond it. On a branch of a big tree in the meadow sat a little bird that was Peter's friend. "All is quiet!" the bird chirped. A duck came waddling around. She was glad that Peter had not closed the gate and, seeing that it was open, decided to take a nice swim in the deep pond in the meadow… Read more >>>

Peter and the Wolf Story Sheet

Peter & the Woolf Story Sheet

(paraphrased from Prokofiev's piece)

One morning, a young boy named Peter opened his gate and walked out into the big green meadow that was beyond it. On a branch of a big tree in the meadow sat a little bird that was Peter's friend. "All is quiet!" the bird chirped. A duck came waddling around. She was glad that Peter had not closed the gate and, seeing that it was open, decided to take a nice swim in the deep pond in the meadow. The little bird saw the duck and flew down upon on the grass. The bird settled next to her and shrugged his shoulders. "What kind of bird are you if you can't fly?" said the bird. The duck replied, "What kind of bird are you if you can't swim?" and dove into the pond. The bird and the duck kept arguing, and the duck swam around the pond while the little bird hopped along the edge of the pond. Suddenly, something caught Peter's attention. He looked around and noticed a sly cat crawling through the grass. The cat thought; "That little bird is busy arguing with the duck, I'll just grab him while he is busy!"

Very carefully, on her little velvet paws, she crept towards him. "Look out!" shouted Peter and the little bird flew up into the tree for safety, while the duck quacked as loud as he could at the cat, from the middle of the pond. The cat walked around the tree and thought, "Is it worth using up so much energy and climbing up so high into the tree? By the time I get there the bird will have flown away." Just then, Peter's grandfather came out of their house. He was upset because Peter had gone in the meadow without his permission. "The meadow is a dangerous place! If a wolf should come out of the forest, then what would you do? You would be in great danger!" But Peter paid no attention to his grandfather's words. Boys like him are not afraid of wolves. Grandfather took Peter by the hand, locked the gate and led him home.

No sooner had Peter gone back into his house, than a big gray wolf came out of the forest. In a second, the cat climbed up the tree. The duck quacked, and leapt out of the pond. But no matter how hard the duck tried to run, she just couldn't outrun the wolf. He was getting closer and closer and catching up with her! Then, he grabbed her with his teeth and with one gulp, swallowed her. And now, this is how things stood: the cat was sitting on one branch, the bird on another, not too close to the cat. And the wolf walked around and around the tree, looking at the cat and the bird with very hungry eyes. In the meantime, Peter, without the slightest fear, stood behind the closed gate and watched everything that was happening. He ran home, got a strong rope, and climbed up the high stone wall that divided his yard from the meadow. One of the branches of the tree around which the wolf was walking stretched out way beyond the stone wall. Grabbing hold of the branch, Peter carefully and quietly climbed onto the tree. Peter said to the bird: "Fly down and circle over the wolf's head. Try to distract him! But, be careful that he doesn't catch you." The bird flew around the wolf and almost touched the wolf's head with his wings while the wolf snapped angrily at him with his jaws, from this side and that.

Oh, how the bird annoyed the wolf - how he wanted to catch him! But the bird was clever and very quick, and the wolf simply couldn't do anything about it. Meanwhile, Peter made a lasso with the rope and carefully let it down from the tree, catching the wolf by the tail. Peter pulled on the rope with all his might! Feeling himself caught by the rope, the wolf began to jump wildly trying to get loose. But Peter tied the other end of rope to the strong tree, and the wolf's jumping only made the rope round his tail tighter. Just then, two hunters came out of the woods, following the wolf's trail and shooting their guns as they went. But Peter, sitting in the tree, said: "Don't shoot! Birdie and I have caught the wolf. Now help us take him to the zoo." Then came the triumphant procession. Peter was at the head. After him came the two hunters leading the wolf. And winding up the procession were Grandfather and the cat. Grandfather shook his head discontentedly. "Well, what would have happened if Peter hadn't caught the wolf? What then?" Above them flew Birdie chirping merrily. "My, what brave fellows we are, Peter and I! Look what we have caught! A giant wolf!" And perhaps, if you listen very carefully, you will hear the duck quacking inside the wolf, because the wolf, in his hurry to eat her, had swallowed her alive.

Peter and the Wolf. The story

Peter, a Soviet Young Pioneer, is at his grandfather's home in a forest clearing. One day Peter goes out into the clearing, leaving the garden gate open, and the duck that lives in the yard takes the opportunity to go swimming on the nearby pond. She starts arguing with a little bird ("What kind of bird are you if you can't fly?" – "What kind of bird are you if you can't swim?"). Peter's pet cat sneaks up on them, 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 Peter for being outside in the meadow ("Suppose a wolf came out of the forest?"), and, when Peter defies him, saying that "Pioneers are not afraid of wolves", his grandfather takes him back into the house and locks the gate. Shortly afterwards "a big, grey wolf" does indeed come out of the woods. The cat quickly climbs into the tree, but the duck, who has excitedly jumped out of the pond, is chased, overtaken and gulped down by the wolf.

Pioneer 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 woolf struggles to get free, but Peter ties the rope to the tree and the noose only gets tighter.

Some hunters, who have been tracking the wolf, come out of the forest ready to shoot, but Peter gets them to help him take the wolf to the zoo in a victory parade (The piece was first performed for an audience of pioneers during May Day celebrations) that includes himself, the bird, the hunters leading the wolf, the cat and grumpy grumbling Grandfather ("What if Peter hadn't caught the wolf? What then?") In the story's ending, the listener is told that "if you listen very carefully, you'd hear the duck quacking inside the wolf's belly, because the wolf in his hurry had swallowed her alive."

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