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.