The Symphony Orchestra Peter And The Wolf Analysis

The symphony orchestra, Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev is a story based concert with a variety of instruments. Sergei Prokofiev constructed this orchestra to help teach young children about what certain instruments sound like together and by themselves. A narrator instructs the audience what instruments represent each character or mood. The concert begins with a lento and mezzo-piano type of mood because the string family starts playing first. These elements combined with the beautiful blend of flutes set up for the rest of the concert to have legato articulations melodies (2:50-7:00). As the story goes on, the dynamics change throughout the piece consistently. The woodwind section is responsible for the dramatic and almost cartoonlike
scenes. French horns are used to represent the wolf creeping around during the story. These moments go from pianissimo to fortissimo in a rather quick manner. An uplifting moment is when the woodwinds and the strings play in harmony. When the drums, woodwinds, and strings all play together, it sounds like a fortissimo dynamic that has an outstanding blend with an allegro tempo. However, the mood of the piece is rather hard to describe because the tempo changes rapidly from andante to presto in a matter of seconds. This makes me conclude, that this piece gives the viewer a variety of emotions from the different tempos and dynamics.
A major key that I personally notice is at (26:45-28:00), when all musical groups in the orchestra play at the same moment.
I would describe the texture of this piece to be homophonic because the rhythm flows with the melody. I love the story part of the concert, it gives the audience a reason to listen even more carefully to the instruments being used. For example, when there is a calm lento feeling with the string instruments, a person would get a welcoming feeling. However, when you hear the drums or French horns being played, a person gets an uneasy feeling. This diverse use of instruments is what makes the concert that much more enjoyable to listen to. Sergei almost intentionally plays low pianissimo sounds for the audience for a small amount of time, then the musicians play mezzo beats. He intentionally does this to keep the audience involved in the concert and to keep them focused on the music. I loved how the different instruments can all play by themselves and make a beautiful sound. However, the true beauty comes when all the different instruments flow together to make a unified sound. The symphony orchestra that Sergei composed is a wonderful example of how to teach a younger generation about how a group of diverse instruments can make a variety of sounds and tempos. Even though the story/concert is considered for children, it is still a good base for people to learn about how instruments can tell a story. In conclusion, one could learn a vast majority of things
from this one concert. I personally, learned how different tempos and dynamics can give a story a feeling as if you are actually in the story.