Peter and the Wolf

Background

Plot

Performance directions

Instrumentation

• 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
• Woodwinds: a flute, an oboe, a clarinet in A, and a bassoon

Recordings

Adaptations of the work

Walt Disney, 1946

• During the character introduction, the pets are given names: "Sasha" the bird, "Sonia" the duck, and "Ivan" the cat.
• As the cartoon begins, Peter and his friends already know there is a wolf nearby and are preparing to catch him.
• The hunters get names in a later part of 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, the narrator reveals that the duck Sonia has been eaten by the wolf. Earlier in the film, the wolf is shown chasing Sonia, who hides in an old tree's hollow trunk. The wolf attacks out of view and returns in view with some of her feathers in his mouth, licking his jaws. Peter, Ivan, and Sasha assume Sonia has been eaten. After the wolf has been caught, Sasha is shown mourning Sonia. She comes out of the tree trunk at that point, and they are happily reunited.

British–Polish co-production, 2006

• Peter bumps into one of the "hunters" who throws him in a rubbish bin and aims at him with his rifle to scare him; the second hunter watches without interfering.
• Because of a broken wing, the bird has trouble flying and takes Peter's balloon to help it get aloft.
• After Peter has captured the wolf in a net, the hunter gets him in his rifle's telescopic 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. At that time Peter throws the net on the hunter, who becomes tangled in it.
• 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 off 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, with Art Carney as main entertainer, along with the Bil Baird Marionettes, was presented by the American Broadcasting Company, and was successful enough to have been repeated twice. The show had an original storyline in which Carney interacted with some talking marionette animals, notably the wolf, who was the troublemaker of the group. This first half was presented as a musical, with adapted music from Lieutenant Kijé and other Prokofiev works which had special English lyrics fitted into them. The program then segued into a complete performance of Peter and the Wolf, played exactly as written by the composer, and "mimed" by both "human" and "animal" marionettes. The conclusion of the program again featured Carney interacting with the animal marionettes. The show was nominated for three Emmy Awards.

  1960s

• Circa 1960, Hans Conried recorded the narration with a Dixieland musical band. Since there is no oboe in a Dixieland band, the part of the duck was played by a saxophone.
• The Clyde Valley Stompers recorded a jazz version on Parlophone Records in 1962, which registered on the popular music charts of the time.
• Allan Sherman parodied the work in the album Peter and the Commissar, made with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra.
• 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.

  1970s

• The Rock Peter and the Wolf is an album by Jack Lancaster and Robin Lumley released in 1975. Performers on the album include Jack Lancaster, Robin Lumley, Gary Brooker, Bill Bruford, Phil Collins, Julie Driscoll, Stephane Grappelli, Jon Hiseman, Brian Eno, Alvin Lee, Gary Moore, Cozy Powell, Manfred Mann, Keith Tippett, Viv Stanshall, and the English Chorale.

  1980s

• American film and television actor Ray Bolger served as the narrator for a 1981 live-action version with real 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.
• The 1983 film A Christmas Story features music from Peter and the Wolf prominently during scenes of the character Scott Farkus bullying other characters. The surname Farkus is a variation of , which is Hungarian for "wolf".
• Justin Locke wrote a 1985 sequel to the story, using the original score. Peter VS. the Wolf is the Wolf's trial, where he defends himself against the charge of "Duckicide in the first degree, with one gulp." The original music is presented as evidence, but then the Wolf calls individual musicians to the stand and cross-examines them. It requires five actors for a stage presentation.
• In 1985, Arnie Zane choreographed a punk music ballet version of Peter and the Wolf.
• In 1988, "Weird Al" Yankovic and Wendy Carlos produced a comedic version, using a synthesized orchestra and many additions to the story and music.
• 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 ; and the wolverine, drums.
• Peter Schickele, wrote an alternate, comedic text for the score entitled Sneaky Pete and the Wolf, converting the story into a Western, including a showdown between Sneaky Pete and the gunslinger El Lobo. It was recorded with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Yoel Levi, in 1993.
• 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, Lloyd Bridges, and Ross Malinger, 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 being captured. The wolf, described as "not a ballet fan", grabs the duck again before being forced to drop him by the hunters. As the story ends, Peter finds the duck crouching at the pond's edge, shivering and frightened because of his terrible experience, and Peter reassures it that he will always be there to protect it. This version even places the bird as a mother, with six eggs that hatch near the ending. The music for this version 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 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 released a scratch version of the main theme, included on the track "More Beats + Pieces", from their album Let Us Play!.
• 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.

  2000s

• In 2001, National Public Radio produced Peter and the Wolf: A Special Report, which treats the familiar 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.
• 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 as "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 is played 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.
• In February 2004, ex-president 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. This recording 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 also a narrated orchestral piece, but the story is told from the perspective of the wolf and has the theme of letting animals live in peace.
• In 2004, Russian model Tatiana Sorokko narrated an arrangement of Beintus' Wolf Tracks with musicians from the Russian National Orchestra on tour in the United States.
• In 2004, the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra recorded a klezmer version of Peter and the Wolf, called Pincus and the Pig: A Klezmer Tale. The recording was narrated by Maurice Sendak and featured his illustrations.
• In 2005, theatre organist Jelani Eddington performed and recorded with narrator George Woods the only existing theatre organ adaptation of Peter and the Wolf.
• Psy-trance artist Eliad Grundland released a musical interpretation of the work, as Space Buddha, titled "Land of The Wolves", on his album Full Circle.
• In 2006, Neil Tobin produced a Halloween-themed narrative called Peter and the Werewolf with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, John Lanchbery conducting.
• In 2009, an episode named "Angelina's Musical Day", Angelina and her friends do a school play of Peter and the Wolf.
• 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.

  2010s

• In 2010, Denver musicians Munly and the Lupercalians released Petr & the Wulf, an alternative take on the original story. Told from the different perspectives of all the characters: Grandfater, Petr, Scarewulf, Cat, Bird, The Three Hunters, Duk, and Wulf. Released on the Alternative Tentacles label.
• 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 2013, filmmaker Wes Hurley premiered his short film Peter and the Wolf – a graphic adult version of the story featuring Peter as a gay werewolf-hunter and imagery inspired by Tom of Finland.
• In 2015, a recording done on the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ, arranged by Josh Perschbacher, and narrated by Michael Barone
• In 2015, the New England Jazz Ensemble debuted pianist Walter Gwardyak's jazz arrangement of Peter and the Wolf for big band. The narration was written and performed by vocalist Giacomo Gates. The recording was self-released on April 22, 2018.

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