Music tells a vivid story
Can a piece of music tell a story? Is it possible to understand what is going on in a story without words and pictures to tell us?
The great Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) thought that he could tell a story just by using instruments of the orchestra and melodies.
In 1900, he wrote a wonderful piece of music for young people called Peter and the Wolf.
Prokofiev wanted to do something different with the piece. He wanted to tell an exciting story and at the same time introduce children to the different musical instruments that make up an orchestra.
There are no words or pictures in Peter and the Wolf. Prokofiev tells his story using sounds. Each character in the story is represented by a different orchestral instrument.
Peter is played by the strings and his grandfather by the bassoon. The bird is represented by the flute and the duck by the clarinet. The French horn plays the part of the wolf and the drums bang out to represent the hunters' rifles.
Peter lives with his grandfather at the edge of a dark forest. One morning he goes for a walk in the field in front of the house. High in a tree by the pond a bird is singing loudly.
A fat white duck waddles out of the forest and stops at the edge of the pond. The bird flies down and lands on the ground at Peter's feet. The duck quacks happily and the bird carries on singing its song. Peter turns round and starts to walk towards the forest.
He hasn't seen a cat creeping stealthily out of the forest towards the duck and the bird.
The cat senses a free meal, but the two birds see the enemy just in time. The duck flaps away and the bird flies high into the top branches of a tree.
Grandfather arrives on the scene and takes Peter back inside the garden. They have only been gone a few minutes when a wolf prowls out of the forest and begins to chase the duck.
With one bound, he catches the duck and swallows it whole.
Peter watches from behind the garden gate. He grabs a piece of rope and climbs up the tree where the bird is watching.
Peter ties a noose in the end of the rope and carefully throws the lasso over the wolf's tail. Success! Peter pulls on his end of the rope and the wolf is a prisoner.
Some huntsmen charge out of the forest and stop in amazement when they see the small boy. He has caught the wolf that they have been hunting all morning.
Prokofiev's music is so vivid and exciting that nothing else is needed to tell the story of Peter and the Wolf.
Listen to it and see if you agree.
Edited by Agatha Ngai
