Peter and the Wolf explained

Peter and the Wolf
Native Name:	Петя и волк
Native Name Lang:	ru
Subtitle:	Symphonic Tale for Children
Composer:	Sergei Prokofiev
Image Upright:	1.3
Opus:	67
Text:	Sergei Prokofiev Natalya Sats
Language:	Russian
Client:	Natalya Sats
Composed:	1936
Dedication:	Natalya Sats
Premiere Location:	Large Hall of the Moscow Conservatory Moscow, Russian SFSR
Premiere Performers:	T. Bobrov (narrator)
Premiere Conductor:	Sergei Prokofiev

Peter and the Wolf (Russian: Петя и волк|Pétya i volk|p=ˈpʲetʲə i volk) Op. 67 a "symphonic tale for children", is a musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a children's story, which the orchestra illustrates by using different instruments to play a "theme" that represents each character in the story.

Background

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 her theatre with his sons several times.^[1] 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 (the compulsory, Soviet version of a Boy Scout) called Peter who rights a wrong by challenging an adult. However, Prokofiev was dissatisfied with the rhyming text produced by (real name Antonia Pavlovna Sokolovskaya, 1896–1951), a then-popular children's author. Prokofiev wrote a libretto in which Peter captures 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 the 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 on 2 May 1936. However, Sats was ill, the substitute narrator was inexperienced, and the performance attracted little attention.^{[2] [3] [4]} Later that month, a more successful performance with Sats narrating was given at the Moscow Pioneers Palace. The American 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.^[5]

Synopsis

Peter, a Young Soviet Pioneer,^[6] lives at his grandfather's home in a forest clearing. One day, Peter 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 afterwards, a ferocious grey 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 beast.

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 beast's head to distract him, while he lowers a noose and catches the wolf by his tail. The beast 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 readied, 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 his grandson caught the beast.

At the end, the narrator states that careful listeners could hear the duck still quacking inside the wolf's belly, because he was swallowed whole.

Performance directions

Prokofiev produced detailed performance notes in English and Russian. According to the English version:

Instrumentation

Peter and the Wolf is scored for an orchestra:^[7]

• Woodwinds

a flute, an oboe, a clarinet in A, and a bassoon

• Brass

3 horns in F, a trumpet in B and a trombone

• Percussion

timpani, a triangle, a tambourine, cymbals, castanets, a snare drum, and a bass drum

• Strings

first and second violins, violas, violoncellos, and double basses

Each character in the story has a particular instrument and musical theme:^[8]

Bird: Flute

\relative c'

Duck: Oboe

\relative c'

Cat: Clarinet

\relative c

Grandfather: Bassoon

\relative c

Wolf: French horns

\relative c

Hunters: woodwind and trumpet theme, with gunshots on timpani and bass drum

\relative c'

Peter: string instruments (including violin, viola, cello, and double bass)

\relative c A performance lasts about 25 minutes.^[9]

Recordings

Jeremy Nicholas wrote for classical music magazine Gramophone in 2015, claiming that the best overall recording of Peter and the Wolf was by the New Philharmonia Orchestra, narrated by Richard Baker and conducted by Raymond Leppard in 1971. Gramophones best DVD version is the 2006 film by Suzie Templeton; its music is performed, without narrator, by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Mark Stephenson.^[10]

Year	Narrator	Orchestra	Conductor	Label	Notes
1939	Richard Hale	Boston Symphony Orchestra	Serge Koussevitzky	RCA Victor, DM 566	Set of 3 shellac 12" discs
1941	Basil Rathbone	All-American Orchestra	Leopold Stokowski	Columbia Masterworks, M 477	Set of 3 shellac 12" discs, restored from original Masterworks set by Bob Varney^[11]
1949	Sterling Holloway	Graunke Symphony Orchestra	Kurt Graunke^[12]	RCA Victor, WY 386	Set of 2 vinyl 10" discs, together with a Little Nipper Storybook from Disney; originally made for an episode in the 1946 film Make Mine Music
1949	Frank Phillips	London Philharmonic Orchestra	Nikolai Malko	London Records, LPS 151	Frank Phillips was a well-known BBC Radio newsreader
1950	Eleanor Roosevelt	Boston Symphony Orchestra	Serge Koussevitzky	RCA Victor Red Seal, LM 45	mono recording; never reissued on CD
1950	Milton Cross	Lucy Brown, piano		Musicraft Records, M 65	4 shellac 10" 78-rpm discs
1953	Alec Guinness	Boston Pops Orchestra	Arthur Fiedler	RCA Victor Red Seal, LM 1761
1953	Victor Jory	Peter Pan Orchestra	Vicky Kosen	Peter Pan Records	mono recording; has never been issued on CD
1954	Richard Hale	Boston Pops Orchestra	Arthur Fiedler	RCA Victor Red Seal LM 1803
1955	Henry Morgan	Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra	Otto Ackermann	Concert Hall, MMS 88E	The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra is named on this record "Concert Hall Symphony Orchestra".
1955	Arthur Godfrey	Andre Kostelanetz's Orchestra	Andre Kostelanetz	Columbia Records	mono recording; has never been issued on CD
1955	Brandon deWilde	Pro Musica Symphony, Vienna	Hans Swarowsky	Vox Records	PL9280 (mono), STPL59280 (stereo). Matrix VS3076
1956	Peter Ustinov	Philharmonia Orchestra	Herbert von Karajan	Angel Records
1957	Cyril Ritchard	Philadelphia Orchestra	Eugene Ormandy	Columbia Records, ML 5183
1957	Boris Karloff	Vienna State Opera Orchestra	Mario Rossi	Vanguard Records
1959	Michael Flanders	Philharmonia Orchestra	Efrem Kurtz	EMI Records
1959	José Ferrer	Vienna State Opera Orchestra	Sir Eugene Goossens	Kapp Records	Narrated in Spanish and English
1959	Richard Attenborough	Philharmonia of Hamburg	Hans-Jürgen Walter	World Record Club, SC-28
1960	Beatrice Lillie	London Symphony Orchestra	Skitch Henderson	Decca Records
1960	Captain Kangaroo	Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York	Leopold Stokowski	Everest Records, SDBR-3043
1960	Leonard Bernstein	New York Philharmonic	Leonard Bernstein	Columbia Records	The popularity of the group's televised Young People's Concerts made this an auspicious release
1960	Garry Moore	Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of London	Artur Rodziński	Whitehall, XWN 18525^[13]	The reverse side of this 12-inch LP record also features The Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns with Garry Moore (narrator), Josef and Grete Dichler (duopianists), and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra conducted by Hermann Scherchen.
1961	Carlos Pellicer	Orquesta Sinfónica de México	Carlos Chávez	Mexican Columbia, MC 1360
1962	Kenneth Horne	Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra	Otto Ackermann	Concert Hall, CM 88E
1963	Alec Clunes	French National Orchestra	Lorin Maazel	Deutsche Grammophon	In the French release the narrator is Madeleine Renaud. For the German release the narrator is Mathias Wieman. For the Italian release the narrator is Eduardo De Filippo. For the Spanish release the narrator is Juan Pulido. For the Japanese release the narrator is Tetsuko Kuroyanagi.
1963	Eric Shilling	Czech Philharmonic Orchestra	Karel Ančerl	Supraphon SU3676-2
1965	Lorne Greene	London Symphony Orchestra	Sir Malcolm Sargent	RCA Victor Red Seal LSC 2783
1965	Sean Connery	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	Antal Doráti	Phase 4 Stereo
1967	Eric Robinson	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	James Walker	Reader's Digest, RD4-710-1
1968	Robie Lester	Graunke Symphony Orchestra	Kurt Graunke	Disneyland	originally from the 1946 film Make Mine Music
1969	Paul Daneman	The Little Symphony Of London	Arthur Davison	Music for Pleasure	The reverse side of this recording is Sleigh Ride (dance 3 of Three German Dances by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), and Toy Symphony (generally attributed to Leopold Mozart).
1970	Sir Ralph Richardson	London Symphony Orchestra	Sir Malcolm Sargent	Decca Records	Volume 5 of The World of the Great Classics series. This version is praised in various editions of The Stereo Record Guide as the finest recording and narration of the work ever made.
1971	Richard Baker	New Philharmonia Orchestra	Raymond Leppard	EMI
1972	George Raft	London Festival Orchestra	Stanley Black	Phase 4 Stereo, SPC-21084	In this version, the story is reformulated as a gangster tale in the style of the Hollywood films that Raft had once acted in.
1972	Rob Reiner	studio orchestra	Jerry Yester	United Artists Records, UAS-5646	Contemporary version by Carl Gottlieb and Rob Reiner; never released on CD
1973	Mia Farrow	London Symphony Orchestra	André Previn	EMI, ASD 2935
1973	Alec McCowen	Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra	Bernard Haitink	Philips Records, 6599 436	The German release featured Hermann Prey as narrator.
1974	Will Geer	English Chamber Orchestra	Johannes Somary	Vanguard Records, VSO-30033
1975	Viv Stanshall	various rock musicians, including Manfred Mann, Gary Moore, Phil Collins, Brian Eno, Gary Brooker, Bill Bruford, Cozy Powell, Chris Spedding, Alvin Lee, and Julie Tippett		Esoteric Recordings (remastered and re-released November 2021 as ECLEC2781)	Billed as a 'rock version' of Prokofiev's work
1975	Hermione Gingold	Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra	Karl Böhm	Deutsche Grammophon	The original German LP release featured Karlheinz Böhm as narrator (2530 587). The UK, and Australian releases featured Hermione Gingold (2530 588). The French release featured narrator Jean Richard (2530 640).
1977	Angela Rippon	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	Owain Arwel Hughes	Enigma Records Limited, K 53553
1978	David Bowie	Philadelphia Orchestra	Eugene Ormandy	RCA Red Seal	Bowie's recording reached number 136 on the US Pop Albums chart.
1979	Carol Channing	Cincinnati Pops Orchestra	Erich Kunzel	Caedmon Records, TC-1623
1980	Tom Seaver	Cincinnati Pops Orchestra	Erich Kunzel	MMG
1984	Dudley Moore, Terry Wogan	Boston Pops Orchestra	John Williams	Philips	The American release (412 559–2) was narrated by Dudley Moore, while the UK release (412 556–2) featured Terry Wogan as narrator.
1984	William F. Buckley Jr.	RTL Orchestra Luxembourg	Leopold Hager	Proarte Digital Records
1986	Itzhak Perlman	Israel Philharmonic Orchestra	Zubin Mehta	EMI	EMI/Angel also released an LP and later a CD with Perlman narrating in Hebrew.
1987	André Previn	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	André Previn	Telarc, CD 80126
1987	Lina Prokofiev	Royal Scottish National Orchestra	Neeme Järvi	Chandos Records, ABRD 1221	Lina Prokofiev was Sergei Prokofiev's first wife
1987	Paul Hogan	Orchestre de Paris	Igor Markevitch	EMI	It retained the traditional plot but transferred the locale to the Australian Outback. This recording was withdrawn soon after its release because of unflattering portrayals of Australia's aboriginal people and is now considered "out of print".
1988	"Weird Al" Yankovic	LSI Philharmonic	Wendy Carlos	CBS Records	Released as an orchestral comic adaptation of the story, narrated by "Weird Al" Yankovic. This also features "The Carnival of the Animals – Part Two", a parody of The Carnival of the Animals.
1989	Jonathan Winters	Philharmonia Orchestra	Efrem Kurtz	Angel Records
1989	Sir Peter Ustinov	Philharmonia Orchestra	Philip Ellis	Cirrus Classics, ^[14]
1989	Jeremy Nicholas	Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra		Naxos Records
1989	Christopher Lee	English String Orchestra	Sir Yehudi Menuhin	Nimbus Records
1989	Sir John Gielgud	Orchestra of the Academy of London	Richard Stamp	Virgin Classics	Sir John's royalties for this recording were donated to The League of Friends of Charity Heritage, a facility for physically handicapped children.
1989	Noni Hazlehurst	Sydney Symphony Orchestra	Stuart Challender	ABC Records	Hazlehurst also narrated the Saint-Saëns/Ogden Nash The Carnival of the Animals on the same album
1990	Sting	Chamber Orchestra of Europe	Claudio Abbado	Deutsche Grammophon	CD, EAN 0028942939622. This was used in 1993 as the soundtrack to the television special Peter and the Wolf: A Prokofiev Fantasy. The Italian release features Roberto Benigni as narrator (EAN 0028942939424).
1991	Oleg and Gabriel Prokofiev	New London Orchestra	Ronald Corp	Hyperion Records	The narrators were the son and grandson of the composer.
1991	Dom DeLuise	The Little Orchestra Society	Dino Anagnost	Musicmasters Classics, MMD 67067	This was part of the album called "Three Children's Classics".
1991	Jack Lemmon	Prague Festival Orchestra	Pavel Urbanek	Delta/Laserlight	CD, EAN 0018111538626
1993	Peter Schickele	Atlanta Symphony Orchestra	Yoel Levi	Telarc	With a new text by Peter Schickele.
1994	Patrick Stewart	Orchestra of the Opéra National de Lyon	Kent Nagano	Erato
1994	Melissa Joan Hart	Boston Symphony Orchestra	Seiji Ozawa	Sony Classical	Hart was in her "Clarissa" persona from the Nickelodeon television series Clarissa Explains It All.
1994	Sir John Gielgud	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	Andrea Licata	Intersound Recordings
1995	Kirstie Alley	RCA Symphony Orchestra	George Daugherty	Sony Masterworks	From the Chuck Jones TV special Peter and the Wolf
1996	Ben Kingsley	London Symphony Orchestra	Sir Charles Mackerras	Cala Records
1997	Dame Edna Everage	Melbourne Symphony Orchestra	John Lanchbery	Naxos Records
1997	Anthony Dowell		Ross MacGibbon, director (video)		Film of a ballet performance, starring David Johnson, Layla Harrison, Karan Lingham
2000	David Attenborough	BBC Philharmonic	Yan Pascal Tortelier	BBC Music	for BBC Music Magazine; a free CD came with the June 2000 issue
2000	Lenny Henry	Nouvel Ensemble Instrumental Du Conservatoire National Supérieur De Paris	Jacques Pési	EMI
2001	Sharon Stone	Orchestra of St. Luke's	James Levine	Deutsche Grammophon	as part of A Classic Tale: Music for Our Children (289 471 171–72, 2001)
2003	Antonio Banderas, Sophia Loren	Russian National Orchestra	Kent Nagano	PENTATONE, PTC 5186014	In Spanish
2003	Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton, Sophia Loren	Russian National Orchestra	Kent Nagano	PENTATONE, PTC 5186011	Released as Wolf Tracks and Peter and the Wolf. Loren narrated Peter and the Wolf, Clinton narrated Wolf Tracks (composed by Jean-Pascal Beintus with text by Walt Kraemer), and Gorbachev narrated the Introduction, Intermezzo, and Epilogue. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children.
2004	Bradley Cole	Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot, Ladies Swing Quartet	Wojciech Rajski
2005	Willie Rushton	London Philharmonic Orchestra	Siân Edwards	Classics for Pleasure
2006	Colm Feore^[15]	Windsor Symphony Orchestra	John Morris Russell
2007	Michael York	Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra	Miguel Harth-Bedoya
2008	Jacqueline du Pré^[16]	English Chamber Orchestra	Daniel Barenboim	Deutsche Grammophon
2011	Phillip Schofield	Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse	Michel Plasson	EMI
2012	Bramwell Tovey	Vancouver Symphony Orchestra	Bramwell Tovey
2015	Alice Cooper	Bundesjugendorchester	Alexander Shelley	Deutsche Grammophon
2015	Harry Shearer	Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
2015	David Tennant	The Amazing Keystone Band		Le Chant du Monde
2017	Miriam Margolyes	Adelaide Symphony Orchestra	Nicholas Carter	ABC Classics^[17]	With Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances"
2017	Alexander Armstrong	Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra	Vasily Petrenko	Warner Classics
2018	Giacomo Gates	New England Jazz Ensemble	Jeff Holmes	Self-released	Complete Peter and the Wolf score arranged for jazz ensemble by Walter Gwardyak with modern libretto by Giacomo Gates;
2021	Viola Davis	Los Angeles Philharmonic	Gustavo Dudamel		Video on YouTube

Adaptations

Walt Disney, 1946

See main article: Peter and the Wolf (1946 film).

Prokofiev, while touring the West in 1938, visited Los Angeles and met Walt Disney. Prokofiev performed the piano version for "le papa de Mickey Mouse" (French for "Mickey Mouse's dad"), as Prokofiev described him in a letter to his sons. Disney was impressed, and considered adding an animated version of Peter and the Wolf to Fantasia, which was to be released in 1940. Due to World War II, these plans fell through, and it was not until 1946 that Disney released his adaptation, narrated by Sterling Holloway. It is not known whether Prokofiev, who was by that point behind the Iron Curtain, was aware of this.^[18] It was released theatrically as a segment of Make Mine Music, then reissued the next year, accompanying a reissue of Fantasia (as a short subject), then separately on home video in the 1990s.^[19] This version made several changes to the original, including:

• During the character introduction, the pets are given names: Sasha the songbird, Sonia the duck, and Ivan the cat.
• As the production begins, Peter and his friends already know that a wolf is nearby and are preparing to catch him.
• The hunters get names later in the story: Misha, Yasha, and Vladimir.
• Peter daydreams of hunting and catching the wolf, and for that purpose exits the garden carrying a wooden pop gun.
• At the end, in a reversal of the original (and to make the story more child-friendly), the narrator reveals that Sonia had been eaten by the wolf. Earlier in the film, the wolf is shown chasing Sonia, who hides in a tree's hollow trunk. The wolf attacks out of view and returns in view with feathers in his mouth, licking his jaws. Peter, Ivan, and Sasha assume Sonia has been eaten. After the wolf is caught, Sasha is shown mourning Sonia. She comes out of the tree trunk at that point, and they are happily reunited.

In 1957, for one of his television programs, Disney recalled how Prokofiev had visited, inspiring Disney's animated version. Disney used pianist Ingolf Dahl, who resembled Prokofiev, to re-create how the composer had played the themes from the score.^{[20] [21]}

British–Polish co-production, 2006

In 2006, Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman directed and produced, respectively, a stop-motion animated adaptation. It is unusual in its lack of dialogue or narration. The story was told only via images and music and interrupted by sustained periods of silence. The soundtrack was performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra, The film premiered with a live accompaniment in the Royal Albert Hall.^[22] The film won the Annecy Cristal and the Audience Award at the 2007 Annecy International Animated Film Festival,^[23] and the 2007 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. This version makes some changes to the original Prokofiev story, including:

• Peter bumps into one of the "hunters" (teenage bullies in this telling), who throws him in a rubbish bin and aims at him with his rifle to scare him; the second hunter watches without interfering (thus, a dislike towards the hunter/bullies is immediately created).
• Because of a broken wing, the bird has trouble flying and takes Peter's balloon to help it get aloft.
• Peter captures the wolf in a net and then the hunter gets him in his rifle's sight coincidentally, but just before shooting, the second hunter stumbles, falls on him and makes him miss the shot.
• The caged wolf is brought into the village on a cart, where Peter's grandfather tries to sell it. The hunter comes to the container and sticks his rifle in to intimidate the animal (as he did with Peter earlier on). At that time Peter throws the net on the hunter, entangling the hunter.
• Before the grandfather has made a deal, Peter unlocks the cart after looking into the eyes of the wolf. They walk side by side through the awestruck crowd and then the freed wolf runs away in the direction of the silver moon shining over the forest.

Others

Up to 1959

• In 1958, a videotaped television special entitled Art Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf, starring Carney, along with the Bil Baird Marionettes, was presented by the American Broadcasting Company, and was successful enough to be twice rebroadcast. The show had an original storyline in which Carney interacted with talking marionette animals, notably the troublemaking wolf. This first half was presented as a musical, with adapted music from Lieutenant Kijé and other Prokofiev works that had English lyrics fitted to them. The program then segued into a complete performance of Peter and the Wolf, performed as written by the composer, and "mimed" by both "human" and "animal" marionettes. The conclusion featured Carney interacting with the animal marionettes. The show was nominated for three Emmy Awards.

1960s

• , Hans Conried recorded the narration with a Dixieland musical band. Because a Dixieland band uses different instruments from an orchestra, Peter was represented by the trumpets, the Bird by a clarinet, the Duck by a banjo, the Cat by a "cool cat" tenor saxophone, the Wolf by a tuba, the Hunters by the percussive ensemble, and Grandfather by a slide trombone.^[24] The characters of the Bee and the Flea are briefly introduced to demonstrate the "versatility of our chief percussionist" (played by a xylophone and glockenspiel, respectively).^[25]
• The Clyde Valley Stompers recorded a jazz version in 1962, which registered on the popular music charts.^[26]
• Allan Sherman parodied the work in the album Peter and the Commissar (1964), made with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra.^[27]
• In 1966, Hammond organ player Jimmy Smith performed for a jazz album arranged by Oliver Nelson without the narration, but based on the original themes.
• In 1969, American-Canadian filmmaker Caroline Leaf used sand animation to adapt the work in Sand or Peter and the Wolf, her first film.

1980s

• Ray Bolger served as the narrator for a 1981 live-action version with live animals, directed by Dan Bessie and produced by Pyramid Media. The music was performed by the Santa Cruz Chamber Orchestra conducted by Dr. Lewis Keizer.^{[28] [29]}
• The 1983 film A Christmas Story features music from Peter and the Wolf during scenes of the character Scut Farkus bullying other characters. The surname Farkus is a variation of farkas, which is Hungarian for "wolf".
• In 1985, Arnie Zane choreographed a punk music ballet version.^[30]
• In 1988, "Weird Al" Yankovic and Wendy Carlos produced a comedic version, using a synthesized orchestra and many additions to the story and music (e.g., Peter captures the wolf using his grandfather's dental floss, leading to the moral of the story: "Oral hygiene is very important").^[31]
• In 1989, in an episode of the Muppet Babies entitled "Skeeter and the Wolf", Skeeter fills in for Peter, Gonzo is the bird, Scooter is the cat, Fozzie is the duck, Nanny is the grandparent, and Kermit and Piggy are the hunters.

1990s

• A 1990 episode of Tiny Toon Adventures titled "Buster and the Wolverine" featured Elmyra Duff providing narration for a story wherein Buster Bunny and his friends, represented with musical instruments, combat an evil "wolverine". In this episode, the characters' instruments are: Buster Bunny, a trumpet; Babs Bunny, a harp; Furrball, a violin; Sweetie, a flute; Hamton J. Pig, a tuba; Plucky Duck, a bike horn (later, bagpipes, then an organ, and finally a synthesizer); and the wolverine, drums.^[32]
• Peter Schickele (a.k.a. P. D. Q. Bach) wrote an alternate, comedic libretto entitled Sneaky Pete and the Wolf, converting the story into a Western, including a showdown between Sneaky Pete and the gunslinger El Lobo (which never happens due to some local boys' giving El Lobo a hotfoot and sticking a paper airplane in his eye, and Sneaky Pete's girlfriend Laura rendering El Lobo unconscious with a vacuum cleaner). It was recorded with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Yoel Levi, in 1993.^[33]
• In the 1993 Simpsons episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled", guest star Hugh Hefner plays a portion of Peter and the Wolf on wine glasses.
• In 1995, a 45-minute television special was made with a mix of live-action, animation, and characters from the story, designed by Chuck Jones. The film featured Kirstie Alley (as the narrator), Lloyd Bridges (as the grandfather), and Ross Malinger (as Peter), in a live-action "wraparound" segment. The version debuted on ABC on 8 December 1995. This version keeps the duck-friendly ending by having the swallowed duck pop out of the wolf's mouth alive, well, and dancing as the wolf is captured. The wolf, described as "not a ballet fan", grabs the duck again before the hunters force him to drop her. As the story ends, Peter finds the duck crouching at the pond's edge, shivering and frightened because of her terrible experience, and Peter reassures her that he will always protect her. This version places the bird as a mother, with six eggs that hatch near the ending. The music was performed by the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, conducted by George Daugherty. The version received a 1996 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program and received a second Emmy nomination for Daugherty, for Outstanding Music Direction. Daugherty (also one of the writers) and Janis Diamond received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for the script. The production received a Gold Hugo and Silver Hugo at Chicago International Film Festival.
• During September 1996, Coldcut (a duo of scratch/mix DJs from south London) released a scratch version of the main theme, included on the track "More Beats + Pieces", from their album Let Us Play!.^[34]
• Matthew Hart choreographed Peter and the Wolf for television in 1997, performed by the dancers of the Royal Ballet School and narrated by Sir Anthony Dowell (who also danced the role of "The Grandfather").

2000s

• In 2001, National Public Radio produced Peter and the Wolf: A Special Report, which treated the plot as if it were a developing news story. Robert Siegel, Linda Wertheimer, Ann Taylor, and Steve Inskeep of NPR's All Things Considered report on the event against a performance of the score by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta.^[35]
• Sesame Workshop produced a version with Sesame Street characters in 2000, as told by way of a trip to a Boston Pops Orchestra concert. Dubbed "Elmo's Musical Adventure", the story unfolds inside Baby Bear's imagination as he attends a performance with Papa Bear, conducted by Keith Lockhart. In the story, Peter was represented by Elmo, the cat by Oscar the Grouch, the duck by Telly Monster, the bird by Zoe, the grandfather by Big Bird, and the hunters by the Two-Headed Monster. Each character is followed around by a soloist playing that character's instrument, but Telly Monster's "Duck" quits the story after learning the wolf eats the duck. (He later returns as one of the hunters.)
• In February 2004, Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Sophia Loren won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for narrating the album Peter and the Wolf/Wolf Tracks. The music was performed by the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano and included Loren narrating Peter and the Wolf and Clinton narrating The Wolf and Peter by Jean-Pascal Beintus, which is another narrated orchestral piece, but the story is told from the perspective of the wolf and has the theme of letting animals live in peace.^[36]
• In 2004, Russian model Tatiana Sorokko narrated an arrangement of Beintus' Wolf Tracks with musicians from the Russian National Orchestra while on a US tour.^[37]
• In 2004, the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra recorded a klezmer version, called Pincus and the Pig: A Klezmer Tale. The recording was narrated by Maurice Sendak and featured his illustrations.
• In 2006, Neil Tobin produced a Halloween-themed narrative called Peter and the Werewolf with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, John Lanchbery conducting.^[38]
• In 2009, musical group Project Trio released their second studio album, Brooklyn, on which a modernized version of the story was recorded. All three members narrate.^[39]

2010s

• In 2010, Denver musicians Munly and the Lupercalians released Petr & the Wulf, an alternative take told from the perspectives of each character: Grandfater, Petr, Scarewulf, Cat, Bird, The Three Hunters, Duk, and Wulf. Released on the Alternative Tentacles label.^[40]
• In 2012, ITV used a version of the main theme as the title music for their coverage of the European Football Championships, because Prokofiev was born in present-day Ukraine, one of the host countries.
• In 2019, composer Lior Navok released Brave Little Timmy for narrator and orchestra (same instrumentation as Peter and the Wolf). The libretto, written by the composer, tells the story of Timmy, whose distant friendship with a wolf saved the latter from the hunters.^[41]

2020s

• In 2023, Gavin Friday, with directors Elliot Dear and Stephen McNally (musician) released an animated version based on Bono's drawings on Max. This adaptation, narrated by Friday, alters the story slightly: Peter had lost his mother to an unspecified illness, implied to be cancer. The Wolf has puppies, one of whom reminds Peter of himself, and thus the Wolf reminds him of his late mother. Peter and his grandfather deceive the hunters and release the Wolf. The black and white short film and its theme song by Friday, "There's Nothing To Be Afraid Of", support the Irish Hospice Foundation.^[42]

In copyright law

In 2012, the US Supreme Court's decision in Golan v. Holder restored copyright protection in the United States to numerous foreign works that had entered the public domain. Peter and the Wolf was frequently cited by the parties and amici, as well as by the Court's opinion and by the press, as an example of a well-known work that would be removed from the public domain by the decision.^[43] The restored copyright per current law is 95 years after publication. Therefore the piece is expected to enter the public domain on December 31, 2031.

References

NotesSources

• Book: Morrison, Simon. Simon Morrison. The People's Artist – Prokofiev's Soviet Years. New York. Oxford University Press. 2009. 978-0-19-975348-2.

External links

• • Gramophone: Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf – which recording is best?
• A list of the instruments and the story
• Peter and the Wolf in Brooklyn (December 2008)
  • Michael Biel: "The Recordings of Peter and the Wolf" in Three Oranges, No. 12: November 2006, Serge Prokofiev Foundation; retrieved 23 May 2009.

Notes and References

1. News: Robinson. Harlow. Harlow Robinson. Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf is 50 Years Old. The New York Times. 10 November 1985.
2. Book: McSmith. Andy. Fear and the Muse Kept Watch: The Russian Masters from Akhmatova and Pasternak to Shostakovich and Eisenstein Under Stalin. 7 July 2015. New Press, The. 9781620970799. 229.
3. Web site: Boston Symphony Orchestra concert program, Subscription Series, Season 57 (1937-1938), Week 20 :: BSO Program Books. cdm15982.contentdm.oclc.org.
4. Book: Prokofiev. Sergei. 2000. 1960. Shlifstein. S. Autobiography, Articles, Reminiscences. Prokofieva. Rose. The Minerva Group, Inc. 89 . 0-89875-149-7.
5. Web site: Performance History Search. archives.bso.org.
6. http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/snaring-a-fresh-audience-using-a-cautionary-tale-20130822-2seaq.html "Snaring a fresh audience using a cautionary tale"
7. Web site: Scores – Prokofiev, Sergei – Prokofiev, Sergei / Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67 – Score and Parts – ID: 2444. New York Philharmonic Orchestra Archives. June 2, 2014.
8. News: About.com. 'Peter and the Wolf': Characters and Instruments. Estrella, Espie . June 2, 2014.
9. Web site: Discogs. New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky – Peter And The Wolf / Nutcracker Suite. June 2, 2014. 1964 .
10. http://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/prokofievs-peter-and-the-wolf-which-recording-is-best "Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf – which recording is best?"
11. Web site: Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67. audio recording. Columbia Masterworks Records, Internet Archive. July 1941.
12. Web site: Walt Disney's Peter and the Wolf on Records. cartoonresearch.com. 30 June 2020. 9 April 2021.
13. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=BT19601127.1.18&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 Review
14. https://www.discogs.com/Prokofiev-Saint-Saens-L-Mozart-Peter-Ustinov-Nicholas-Walker-2-Laura-OGormanPhilharmonia-Philip-Elli/release/4745510 Prokofiev, Saint-Saens, L Mozart, Peter Ustinov, Nicholas Walker, Laura O'Gorman, The Philharmonia, Philip Ellis – Peter and the Wolf, Carnival of the Animals, Toy Symphony
15. Web site: WSO History . Windsor Symphony Orchestra . 2 December 2022.
16. Web site: Du Pre Peter and the Woolf 4800475 []

    Classical CD Reviews – March 2009 MusicWeb-International]

    . www.musicweb-international.com.
17. https://www.abccommercial.com/contentsales/program/peter-and-wolf-narrated-miriam-margolyes "Peter and the Wolf – narrated by Miriam Margolyes"
18. Book: Bartig. Kevin. Composing for the Red Screen: Prokofiev and Soviet Film. 4 April 2013. Oxford University Press. 9780199967605. 61.
19. Web site: The Big Cartoon Database: Make Mine Music. https://archive.today/20120729030633/http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/22-Make_Mine_Music.html . dead . 29 July 2012 . Bcdb.com . 20 April 1946. 1 July 2011.
20. Web site: 1957 Disney TV introduction. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/QaHc01uwGXg . 2021-12-21 . live. Peter and the Wolf. 1957.
21. Book: Linick, Anthony. The Lives of Ingolf Dahl. Author House . 2008. 294.
22. Web site: Breakthru Films. https://web.archive.org/web/20070207101824/http://breakthrufilms.co.uk/dist.htm. dead. 7 February 2007. 7 February 2007.
23. http://www.annecy.org/home/?Page_ID=604 Annecy 2008 Festival, 2007 Award Winning Films
24. News: Obiturary: Kenny Davern, 71, Leading Jazz Clarinet Player. The New York Sun. 1 July 2011.
25. , Hans Conried – Peter Meets the Wolf in Dixieland, Part 1;
26. Web site: The Geoff Boxell Home Page. Geoffboxell.tripod.com. 1 July 2011.
27. Web site: Peter and the Commissar . Artist Direct . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080612095833/http://ubl.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,3061608,00.html . 12 June 2008 .
28. Book: worldcat.org. Peter and the Wolf. May 1, 2020. 9045564.
29. Web site: pyramidmedia.com. Peter and the Wolf. May 1, 2020.
30. Book: Banes, Sally. Sally Banes. Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post-Modern Dance. Wesleyan University Press. 1987. 978-0-8195-6160-2.
31. Web site: Wendy Carlos' official website. Wendycarlos.com. 1 July 2011.
32. Web site: Tiny Toon Adventures episode guide. Mindspring.com. 1 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20180603114936/http://www.mindspring.com/~plucky/ttguide.html. 3 June 2018. dead.
33. http://www.schickele.com/shoppe/psrec/sneaky.htm Peter Schickele official website
34. http://72.166.46.24//archive/music/98/01/01/COLDCUT.html The Boston Phoenix
35. https://web.archive.org/web/20080601042243/http://www.prms.org/national/npr/peter_wolf.shtml Public Radio Musicsource
36. Web site: Russian National Orchestra. Russianarts.org. 21 October 2003. 1 July 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110722055641/http://www.russianarts.org/rno/wolftracks.cfm. 22 July 2011. dmy-all.
37. News: RNO Russian National Orchestra. Russianarts.org. February 2004. 24 March 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080509161401/http://www.russianarts.org/rno/wq04tour1.cfm. 9 May 2008. dmy-all.
38. http://www.necromancerevents.com/orchestraconcerts.html Neil Tobin, Necromancer
39. Web site: ♫ Brooklyn – PROJECT Trio. Listen @cdbaby. store.cdbaby.com.
40. Web site: Petr & The Wulf. Alternative Tentacles. https://web.archive.org/web/20110622122846/http://www.alternativetentacles.com/product.php?product=1821. 22 June 2011.
41. Web site: Brave Little Timmy Repertoire for Family Concerts Music . 2024-07-12 . Contemporary Music . en.
42. Web site: Desowitz . Bill . 2023-10-19 . Bono’s Original ‘Peter & the Wolf’ Illustrations Come to Life in Gothic Animated Short . 2024-07-12 . IndieWire . en-US.
43. Web site: Ginsburg. Ruth. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Associate Justice. Majority Opinion. Supreme Court of United States. 22 January 2012.

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