Peter and the Wolf

Of all classical works composed specifically for children, Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf has been the most successful. But it didn’t have a particularly auspicious start. In 1936, Prokofiev was commissioned to write for Moscow’s Children’s Theater. It had to be something suitable for the Soviet Young Pioneer movement, praising courage and quick thinking, at the same time introducing young people to the instruments of the orchestra. Prokofiev took the brief and ran with it, turning out something so full of life, atmosphere and colour, not to mention plenty of good tunes, that it continues to appeal throughout the world today. But the premiere was a flop, and it wasn’t until Prokofiev conducted it in the United States in 1938 that it was recognised as an achievement of genius, and by that stage the director of the Children’s Theater had been taken to the gulag. Prokofiev rewrote the text he’d been given, and he did a superb job, so that the words are almost as memorable as the music, and the way they work together is magical. But it is the themes themselves—the wolf (horns), the bird (flute), the grandfather (bassoon) and perhaps best of all the cat (clarinet)—that carry the day. As sound images they have engraved themselves into the hearts of millions, and to this day it’s rare to find a classical musician who can’t recall them instantly.