Breakthru Films

Peter and the Wolf airs Wednesday December 8th at 8pm (check local listings).

Sergei Prokofiev’s fanciful musical tale “Peter and the Wolf” is given new life in this innovative new animated interpretation, which won the 2008 Oscar® for Best Animated Short Film. “Oldies will remember the work from school music lessons,” wrote London’s OBSERVER, “while those coming to the story for the first time will be delighted with this darkly comic modernization.” Originally composed in 1936, the piece famously uses personified instruments in the orchestra to tell the story — also penned by the composer — of young Peter and his animal friends the Duck, the Bird, and even a mischievous Cat (represented by an oboe, flute, and clarinet respectively). Peter, himself represented by the string section, becomes an unsuspecting hero and outwits the Wolf (French horns), who’s intent on menacing his small Russian village — not to mention Peter’s beloved animal friends. Conceived and directed by award-winning animator Suzie Templeton, this modern-day “Peter & the Wolf” uses stop-frame model animation, puppets, and digital photography to retell the enduring classic story, and features the Philharmonia Orchestra under the direction of Mark Stephenson performing Prokofiev’s beloved score.

Mark Stephenson also helmed the Philharmonia Orchestra for the film’s live world premiere at London’s Royal Albert Hall in September 2006. The Philharmonia was founded in 1945, primarily as a recording orchestra. It is the world’s most recorded orchestra with more than 1,000 releases and is comprised of more than 80 musicians giving concerts in London and at its residencies and other venues around the U.K., in addition to touring all over the world.

Sergei Prokofiev completed “Peter and the Wolf” after resettling in Moscow from Paris in 1936. By the autumn of the previous year, he had composed a dozen pieces for children, which according to his diary, were “published in a volume entitled ‘Music for Children,’ Op. 65.” Although the official debut of “Peter and the Wolf” on May 2 at Moscow Children’s Musical Theater was not a resounding success, the piece has subsequently delighted audiences of all ages and become his best-known work, performed by almost every ensemble, and used as an instructional tool to help children learn about the different instruments of the orchestra. Discover more about how Prokofiev’s composition was created and its story in the essay by contributor Tim Smith. The winner of numerous international awards, including a Best Animation BAFTA Award for her 2001 short film DOG, director Suzie Templeton reveals more about adapting Prokofiev’s story and creating this animated version in Dialogue. Watch an excerpt from the film, which was made at Poland’s award-winning Se-ma-for animation studio and took five years to complete.

Special funding for “PETER & THE WOLF” is provided by the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust.

For a man conducting a performance nearly every day of the year, Valery Gergiev remains the calm center of the frenzied world of musicians, singers, administrators, politicians, and managers swirling around him. Learn more about the Maestro in this scene from the program.

Peter and the duck enjoy a frozen pond while the hapless cat stalks the raven in this scene from the film.

Producer: Daniel Ross, Colin Fitzpatrick
Graphic Art: Gabriel Torres
Technical Director: Brian Lee
Production Assistant: Diana Cofresí-Terrero
HTML Implementation: Brian Santalone

GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages copyright
© 2008 Educational Broadcasting Corporation.

Thirteen Online is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York’s Kravis Multimedia Education Center in New York City. Anthony Chapman, Director of Interactive & Broadband. Bob Adleman, Business Manager. Tamara E. Robinson, Vice President & Director, Programming.

Television Credits

“GREAT PERFORMANCES: PRIMO”

A Film by
ALLAN MILLER

Producers
MARGARET SMILOW
ALLAN MILLER

Co-Producer
SONOKO AOYAGI LEOPOLD

Supervising Producers
JUNKO TSUNASHIMA
KRISTIN LOVEJOY

RUSSIA CREW

Production Manager
SERGEI BECK

Cameras
NYIKA JANCSO
JEAN-MARC FROMENT

Sound
GERGELY HORNOS

Lighting Assistant
DENIS AMOSENKO

HD Video Engineer
PAVEL KISELIOV

LONDON CREW

Line Producer
OLIVER MACFARLANE

Cameras
TIM MOSES
MARTIN MANSELL

BBC Sound Supervisor
TIM DAVIES

Multi-cam Director
DAVID STEVENS

Vision Mixer
ALISON BARTROP

Production Assistant (music)
YVONNE CRAVEN

Score Reader
ANNA ANTOSZKIEWICZ

NEW YORK CREW

Cameras
DON LENZER
MEAD HUNT

Additional Camera
BRIAN HUANG

Camera Assistant
RONAN KILEEN
JOIA SPECIALE

Sound
ROGER PHENIX
PAUL COTE

Production Assistants
JOHN BENNETT
JENNIE ENGSTROM
JONATHAN FATIGATE

Business Affairs
ARLEN APPELBAUM

Project Management
JANE BUCKWALTER

POST PRODUCTION

Online Editor
DAVID NOLING

Re-recording Mixer
ED CAMPBELL

Sound Editor
DONALD KLOCEK
DAVE ELLINWOOD

Translators
VALERY DMITRIEV
OLGA DOMORADOVA
DMITRY ALEXEEV
VALERIYA KOTOK
KSENYA MALINA
YULIA MUSAYELYAN
EMILIA OSKOTSKY

ARCHIVAL
Valery Gergiev and the Scythian Suite, NPS
Valery Gergiev Catching Up With Music, NPS
The Master and His Pupil, Hasten Films Slowly
New Year’s Eve Gala 2006, St Petersburg Mariinsky Theater
Mariinsky Theater, Bel Air Media, Arte
Queen of Spades, BBC and Mariinsky Theatre
Forbidden Shostakovich, BBC
Stravinsky: Rite of Spring, BBC
Eugene Onegin, featuring Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, courtesy of
The Metropolitan Opera

Still Photographers
MATT STUART BURNS
VALENTIN MIKHAILOVICH BARANOVSKY

For The LSO
Managing Director
KATHRYN MCDOWELL

Head of LSO Live
CHAZ JENKINS

Director of Planning
SUE MALLET

Concerts & Recording Manager
MARC STEVENS

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Guest Leader
ANDREW HAVERON

With thanks to the LSO St. Lukes, Barbican Centre and the City of London

For The Metropolitan Opera
General Manager
PETER GELB

Director of Media Presentations
MIA BONGIOVANNI

Video Production Manager
VICTORIA WARIVONCHIK

For The BBC
Head of TV Classical Music and Performances
PETER MANIURA

For NPS
Head of Music & Dance Programs
HENK VAN DER MEULEN

For The Valery Gergiev Foundation
Managing Director
IGOR ZOTOV

For the State Academic Mariinsky Theatre
Artistic and General Director
VALERY GERGIEV

Marrinsky Multimedia
SERGEI BECK

For Thirteen/WNET NewYork
Executive Producer
MARGARET SMILOW

For White Nights Foundation of America
Executive Producer
R. DOUGLAS SHELDON

For Great Performances
Director of Program Development
BILL O’DONNELL

Executive Producer
DAVID HORN

Produced by Thirteen/WNET New York
in association with
White Nights Foundation of America and BBC and NPS

This program was produced by
Thirteen/WNET New York in association with
White Nights Foundation of America
Who are solely responsible for its content

©2008 Educational Broadcasting Corporation and
White Nights Foundation of America

The contents of these GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages are copyrighted under United States and other copyright laws. You may not download, reproduce, transmit, display, distribute or make derivative works from the contents of the GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages other than for personal use without the advance written permission of the copyright owner. Any unauthorized use of any of the contents of the GREAT PERFORMANCES Online Web pages may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.

Watch a preview:

Presented by Thirteen/WNET New York, the one-hour visit finds the artistic and general director of St. Petersburg’s legendary Mariinsky Theater in high spirits, particularly when discussing his favorite topic: the exhilaration of fine music making. “If musicians can enjoy it, most of the public will enjoy it too,” he says, taking a backstage break from recent conducting chores at the London Symphony, where he presides as principal conductor. “To create this atmosphere of everyone being involved and interested you really have to start with the orchestra.”

Or, in his case, orchestras. In addition to the St. Petersburg and London posts, he is principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic (at least until he steps down this August) and has served as principal guest conductor at the Met. He also managed to found and lead the famous Stars of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg and the Moscow Easter Festival.

“I’m in complete awe,” says Rachel Gough, London Symphony principal bassoonist, who provides the haunting solo that opens Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and which also opens and concludes the telecast. “With complete concentration, focus and energy, he draws us all in like a magnet.” Adds Patrick Harrild, principal tuba, “He hears everything. I love it. And it’s plainly obvious that the whole orchestra love it.”

Singers, too, respond to the special Russian intensity. Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Renée Fleming, shown in highlights from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, bring white-hot passion to the work’s closing moments under the maestro’s tutelage from the Met podium. “He embraces your souls and your spontaneities easily,” says the superstar Siberian baritone. “He is unique.”

Other musical moments in Maestro: Portrait of Valery Gergiev include excerpts from Stravinsky’s Petrushka, Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Easter Festival Overture. Gergiev’s most famous protég´e, Mariinsky soprano Anna Netrebko, is seen seeking advice from her mentor, then offering a thrilling “Or sai chi l’onore” as Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

For a man conducting a performance nearly every day of the year, Valery Gergiev remains the calm center of the frenzied world of musicians, singers, administrators, politicians, and managers swirling around him. “He believes strongly in everything in Russian arts and culture,” says R. Douglas Sheldon, Gergiev’s manager of many years.

Concurring, Gergiev puts it more directly. “My first and most important goal is to continue the tradition.”

Special funding for this telecast was provided by Donald and Jeanne Kahn, Pierre de Labouchere, The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, the Blavatnik Family Foundation, Gloria and RJ Brandes, VTB Bank, Donald M Kendall, Elizabeth and Henry Segerstrom, Sibir Energy plc, Troika Dialog Group, Joan and Sandy Weill, Joan and Irwin Jacobs, Gwendolyn and James Meyer, Dr. M. Lee Pearce and the Dr. M. Lee Pearce Foundation, Tishman Speyer, and Bialkin Family Foundation.

GREAT PERFORMANCES is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS. Special funding for this telecast was provided by the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust and the Benjamin and Seema Pulier Charitable Foundation.

MAESTRO: PORTRAIT OF VALERY GERGIEV premiered Wednesday, May 28, 2008.

Related Web Sites

• White Knights Foundation
• Valery Gergiev’s Wikipedia Entry
• Valery Gergiev on Decca Classics

Grade Levels: 4-6 (ages 9-11)

Time Allotment: One to two 45-minute class periods.

Subject Matter: Music

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Students will be able to:

1. Respond to the tempo and rhythm of music. Tap feet and clap hands to music.

2. Analyze and compare sounds and melodies.

3. Use appropriate terminology to explain music, including “meter”, “pitch” and “beat.”

4. Describe the basic principles of meter and rhythm.

5. Respond to music through movement.

6. Create a model of a 19th-century opera set, design a unique 19th-century costume, or create a concrete example of something related to their research.

STANDARDS AND CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT:

Music Standards

From the MCREL (Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning) Benchmarks
(available online at http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/standardDetails.asp?subjectID=11&standardID=6)

Standard 6. Knows and applies appropriate criteria to music and music performances
Topics: 1. Musical awareness and appreciation; 2. Musical terminology Level II (grades 3-5)
Benchmark 2. Knows appropriate terminology used to explain music, music notation, music instruments and voices, and music performances

Level III [Grade 6-8]
Topic: Elements of music
Benchmark 3. Understands the basic principles of meter, rhythm, tonality, intervals, chords, and harmonic progressions

Media Components

Audio Clips

• Peter’s melody
• Duck’s melody
• Grandfather’s melody
• Bird’s melody
• Cat’s melody

Web Sites

How to Take a Pulse
http://life.familyeducation.com/cpr/first-aid/48241.html?for_printing=1&detoured=1
Tips on how to take a pulse from the Family Education Web site.

Materials

per class:
One large printout of each of the following (download .pdf here):

• graphic representation of grandfather’s melody
• graphic representation of Peter’s melody
• graphic representation of Duck’s melody
• graphic representation of Bird’s melody
• graphic representation of Cat’s melody

Tape or pins to affix the sheets of paper to a wall
Computer with internet access and speakers to play audio clips and/or an instrument to play melodies
(Optional) A variety of instruments for children to use for the extension activity (such as wind instruments, string instruments, percussion instruments, piano, etc.)

Per group of 2 students:

• one watch or stop watch to take a pulse

Per student:

• one sheet of tips on how to take a pulse
• paper and pencil

PREP FOR TEACHERS
Please listen to all of the audio clips (Peter’s melody, Duck’s melody, Grandfather’s melody, Bird’s melody and Cat’s melody) prior to the session.

Print out one copy of “How to Take a Pulse” per student.

Print out one copy of each of the graphic representations (for Peter’s melody, Duck’s melody, Grandfather’s melody, Bird’s melody and Cat’s melody) prior to the session or create your own graphic representations of each melody.

Producer: Anu Krishnan
Graphic Art: Gabriel Torres
Technical Director: Brian Lee
Production Assistant: Diana Cofresí-Terrero
Copy Editor: Leslie Kriesel
HTML Implementation Assistance: Brian Santalone

GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages copyright © 2008 Educational Broadcasting Corporation.

Thirteen Online is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York’s Kravis Multimedia Education Center in New York City. Dan Goldman, Executive Director. Bob Adleman, Business Manager.

About the Contributor

Tim Smith is the classical music critic of THE BALTIMORE SUN. He has also written for THE NEW YORK TIMES, OPERA NEWS, and BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE, among other publications. His writing has won several regional and national journalism awards, including a first place in arts criticism from the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors. He is the author of THE NPR CURIOUS LISTENER’S GUIDE TO CLASSICAL MUSIC (Perigee Books).

Television Credits

“PETER & THE WOLF”

Adapted & Directed by
Suzie Templeton

Producers
Alan Dewhurst
Hugh Welchman

Co-Producer
Zbigniew Żmudzki

Executive Producers
Lars Hellebust
Simon Olswang

Executive Producer for Archangel SA
Luc Toutounghi

Executive Producers for Kreis Consulting
Richard Eliott Lockhart
Robert Whitehouse

Music Director
Mark Stephenson
Supervising Director of Photography
Hugh Gordon

Director of Photography
Mikołaj Jaroszewicz

Production Design
Marek Skrobecki & Jane Morton

Lead Animator
Adam Wyrwas

Editors
Suzie Templeton & Tony Fish

Visual Effects Supervisors
Kamil Polak & Morten Moen

Sound Design by
Chimney Pot

Co-Writer
Marianela Maldonado

Music performed by The Philharmonia Orchestra
Peter and the Wolf
Music & Libretto by Sergei Prokofiev
© Hawkes & Sons (London)

Senior Animators
Krzysztof Brzozowski
Tim Allen
Karoly Papp
Jan-Erik Maas

Animators
Anna Wojtania
Martin Clapp

Additional Animation
Magdalena Bryll
Martin Rhys-Davies
Wojciech Gierłowski
Jonny Templeton

CG Pre-visualisation
Martin Clapp
Ruth Ducker

Line Producer
Alan Dewhurst

Production Manager
Elzbieta Stankiewicz

2nd Unit Director
Marek Skrobecki

First Assistant Directors
Gareth Unwin
David Lawley-Wakelin

Production Coordinators
Carlota Zapata
Adam Ptak

Production Assistants
Agnieszka Kwiecien
Marta Żmudzka-Ptak
Andrzej Bronikowski
Kazimierz Królikowski
Marcin Łunkiewicz
Adam Partridge

BreakThru Films London Office
Director of Sales & Marketing
Neil Mundy

Assistants to Neil Mundy
Egle Jankauskaite
Virginia Acero

Assistant to the Producers
Tamsin Lyons

Education Consultant
Michael Spencer

Premiere Co-ordinator
Adam Partridge

Researcher
Katrin Ribbe

Original Character Design & Storyboarding
Suzie Templeton

Director’s Assistant
Agata Romanowicz

Script Editors
Geoff Lindsey
Tom Meeten
Steve Oram

Pilot Storyboard Artist
Dino Athanassiou

Development Artists
Salvador Maldonado
T.K. Noce
Tom Truscott

Art Directors
Katarzyna Wasiela
Wojciech Jaworski
Paulina Majda

Sculptors
Ewa Maliszewska
Małgorzata Makarewicz
Agnieszka Mikołajczyk
Agnieszka Smolarek
Marcin Zalewski

Silicone Supervisor/Modelmaker
Grant Mason

Puppetmakers
Dariusz Kalita
Olga Duraj
Bartosz Beda
Katarzyna Bajer

Puppet Finishing
Sylwia Nowak
Anna SzczeŚniak
Małgorzata Stepien
Beata Jarmuż
Małgorzata Mikołajczyk
Małgorzata Kaczmarek
Zofia Przybył
Grzegorz Puchacz

Carpenters
Mieczysław Bomba
Marek Bomba
Alfred Lüdert
Zbigniew Majchrzak

Set Artists
Filip Stepień
Piotr Knabe
Marcin Zalewski
Marcin Jasiński
Daniel Cybula
Piotr Dominiak
Sławomir Warmbier
Małgorzata Połacik
Agata Szczerbicka
Agata Augustine
Paulina Narolewska
Anna Lewicka
Barbara Koniecka
Michał Dąbrowski
Gizela Walusz
Jakub Kubiak
Maciej Ficyk
Izabela Nakoneczna
Bogusława Izdebska
Tomasz Kawełczyk
Paweł Rosiak
Katarzyna Rzeźniczak
Marta Szewczyk
Alina Wieczorek
Wiktor Duda
Przemysław Pacholczyk
Radosław Pacholczyk
Katarzyna Niewiadomska

Prop. Makers
Jacek Spychalski
Jerzy Knabe
Krzysztof Rynkiewicz
Kamil Miler
Kazimierz Wojczuk
Joanna Stankowska
Paweł Fabiszewski
Magdalena Janowska
Marcin Józefowicz
Krzysztof Styrcz
Maciej Mastalerz

Riggers
Janusz Grzelak
Jerzy Podgórski

Standby
Bogusław “Franek” Pawlak
Jarosław Kowalewski

Art Department Intern
Nuno Santos

Gaffer
Jaroslav Bedyk

Sparks
Maciej Bedyk
Andrzej Karasiński
Krzysztof Sochacki

Camera Operators
Jolanta Malicka
Bogdan Malicki

Camera Assistants
Małgorzata Bednarek
Magdalena Bryll
Andrzej Górski
Tytus Majerski
Tomasz Wochniak

Motion Control
Andy Bowman
Stuart Galloway

Camera Dept. Interns
Nuno Arezes
Ivan Oliviera

Animation Software
AnimatorDV

Stills Photographer
Paulina Majda

VFX Co-ordinators
Tom Joelson
Artur Zicz

VFX Editor
Otto Thorbjørnsen

Digital Data Management
Katarzyna Okoniewska
Anette Gjertsen
Olga Duraj

3D Artists
Dawid Bunio
Norbert Narożnik
Tim Zaccheo

Digital Compositors
Mateusz Jarmulski
Andrzej Kozłowski
Tytus Majerski
Jacek Rokosz
Piotr Szczepanowicz
Maria Zipunnikow
Anna Orłowska
Małgorzata Tabor
Kacper Czyczyło
Jakub Wroński
John-Paul Harney

Grader
Matt Willis Jones

Credits & Titles
Arkadiusz Augustyniak

IT
Jan Ledwoń
Paweł Januszkiewicz
Radosław Antoniuk
Patryk Han
Damian Kowalski
Marek Kubiak

Educational Development Grant
Kulturell Ryggsekk

Music Producer
Tim Oldham

Music Engineer
Mike Hatch

Music Breakdowns
Rod Howick

Promotional Artwork
Kennedy Monk

PR
Four Communications

Media Partner (Poland)
Kino Polska

Insurance
Torrible’s

Legal Affairs
Peter Coles

The producers thank Amanda Tabak and Ellen Walder, without whose loving support this film could not have been made.

A BreakThru Films & Se-ma-for Studios co-production in association with
Channel Four Television
Storm Studios
Kreis Consulting
Archangel
Arthaus Musik
Polish Film Institute
NESTA
Well Go
TV UNAM
Taewon Entertainment Co. Ltd.

© 2006 BreakThru Peter Ltd/Se-Ma-For Produkcja Filmowa Sp.z.o.o.

For GREAT PERFORMANCES
Director of Program Development
Bill O’Donnell

Production Assistant
Jessica Lacombe

Coordinating Producer
Cara Cosentino

Title and Graphic Design
B.T. Whitehill

Producer
John Walker

Executive Producer
David Horn

PROKOFIEV’S PETER & THE WOLF
THE MAKING OF PETER AND THE WOLF

Produced by
Alan Dewhurst
Hugh Welchman
Tamsin Lyons

Phil Stoole
and
Damien Wasylkiw

Thanks to
Suzie Templeton
Adam Wyrwas
Zbigniew Żmudzki
Hugh Gordon
Mikołaj Jaroszewicz
Sylwia Nowak
Kamil Polak
Paulina Majda
Artur Zicz
Gareth Unwin
and
Agnieszka Kwiecien

Special Thanks to
Inbound Records
and
Dave Dipre

Music conducted and directed by
Mark Stephenson

Music performed by
The Philharmonia Orchestra

Peter and the Wolf Music & Libretto by
Sergei Prokofiev

© Hawkes & Sons (London)

© 2006 BreakThru Peter Ltd & Se-Ma-For

The contents of these GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages are copyrighted under United States and other copyright laws. You may not download, reproduce, transmit, display, distribute or make derivative works from the contents of the GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages other than for personal use without the advance written permission of the copyright owner. Any unauthorized use of any of the contents of the GREAT PERFORMANCES Online Web pages may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.

Breakthru Films

Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” has inspired an Oscar®-winning short film of extraordinary imagination written and directed by British animator Suzie Templeton. In a masterful use of stop-frame technique and lifelike models, the film offers a fresh take on the classic tale, set to Prokofiev’s colorful score from 1936. Templeton, 40, spoke to GREAT PERFORMANCES Online about the five-year effort to bring this updated “Peter & the Wolf” to the screen.

GREAT PERFORMANCES: How did the initial idea for making this film come about?

SUZIE TEMPLETON: The producer [Hugh Welchman] and Mark Stephenson, the conductor, had the idea between them to do a film of “Peter and the Wolf” and they asked me to make it. I hadn’t listened to the Prokofiev piece since I was a child, but I had very strong feelings about it then, and those very strong feelings came right back when they suggested it.

GP: Instead of a very folksy, once-upon-a-time approach, you have created a present-day and sometimes spooky Russian world for Peter. How did your interpretation of the story take shape?

ST: Most of it developed organically. Several options were kicking around about where to set the story. I didn’t want it to be insipid in any way. I wanted it to feel timeless, but also to feel contemporary and talk about things that are relevant to us today. I think we achieved that. I went to Russia twice to do some research for the film. I took thousands of photos. I talked to children and old people.

GP: People who know the story from hearing Prokofiev’s original text recited at concerts and on recordings will notice a few minor differences.

ST: I knew at the start that I wanted Peter to have an intensity and darkness about him. And I knew I wanted him to let the Wolf go free at the end.

GP: In addition to the Wolf’s fate, there’s the question of the Duck. In the original, the poor thing is swallowed whole by the Wolf and is still heard inside him at the end. That postingestion element isn’t in the film.

ST: I did consider it. But I couldn’t find a way to have the Duck in the Wolf’s stomach, which is something I still remember being affected by as a child when I first heard the piece. I couldn’t show that without completely changing the style of the film. It was a not a happy situation for me.

GP: In your film, Peter is pretty much confined to a gloomy, run-down compound with his grandfather, a place that conveys a lot of fears. The nearby town Peter goes to isn’t much better; it presents an unflattering view of Russian society, very much an economically deprived spot with what look like young paramilitary thugs. It’s a very striking image. Have you heard any complaints from Russians who have seen the film?

ST: I know of maybe 10 Russians who have seen it, and I was really happy with their response. Two or three said they couldn’t believe a non-Russian had made the film. That was a really great feeling for me. I wanted it to feel Russian, and they said that’s what it felt like. But one Ukrainian told me I had robbed him of his childhood vision of the piece. So many people have a vision of “Peter and the Wolf” in their heads, a vision of what it meant to them when they were a child, and they don’t want it changed.

GP: What is your vision for this story? The original text doesn’t necessarily seem full of symbols or lessons, but your film, even though there are no words at all, seems to convey lots of different layers of meaning. Are there specific messages you want viewers to think about?

ST: It is a primal story of a boy and a wolf. But [Prokofiev's] text is quite short, actually. To read it, what does it take, three minutes? I had to create all the rest. That gave me a tremendous scope to determine what the music meant to me and what I wanted it to mean. All sorts of interpretations are possible. I do have many subtexts in there, but I would prefer not to talk about them. I’d rather leave that to others to decide.

GP: How difficult was it to find backing for the film?

ST: It’s really hard to raise money for a short film, and this one had a very high budget. The producers worked incredibly hard to get the money. It was a very, very hard sell. It took three years to raise the money. I was mostly shielded from that trauma, and I was busy all of that time anyway working on the project. I didn’t have to go in person to make the pitch to investors, so I was very lucky in that respect. What I was required to come up with were nice pictures and storyboards that the producers could show to give people an idea of what the film would be like.

GP: Was the actual filming fun?

ST: I wouldn’t say it was fun. No, it wasn’t fun at all. But it was definitely interesting, definitely intense — brilliant and terrible at the same time. We were under incredible pressure, all of us, all of the time. It is a dreadful pressure in a form that is so meticulous. You can’t make mistakes. But there is a great joy in making good work and making work at this level with these people.

GP: In regular filmmaking, directors look at rushes, all the footage from each day’s work. In stop-frame animation filming, do you still get rushes?

ST: Yes, but they’re quite short (laughter). You only get two or three shots a day. I would put the rushes into my computer each day in a time line with the music, to make sure it worked.

GP: Could you change things as you went along, come up with different ideas about a shot?

ST: We were on so tight a schedule it was very difficult to change anything. I could tweak small things, ad lib a little bit. But the camera angles, the shot lengths, the sets — they were all set, so we were very much constrained.

GP: After working on this project for five years, can you stand to hear the music of “Peter and the Wolf” anymore?

ST: I listened to it literally thousands of times, repeating little phrases over and over and over again as I was writing and drawing scenes. But after all of that, I am still enjoying it. I think I never became deaf to it, you know, the way you can hear something so often that you don’t actually hear the notes. That didn’t happen. It’s amazing.

GP: How has the postfilming experience been for you?

ST: The reaction was better than we could have ever hoped for, so it will be easier from now on to make more films. But it has been very tough for the producers to get distribution, because it’s a short film and people don’t know what to do with a short film. Going to the Oscars was crazy. I have never been to anything like that, but it was great fun.

GP: Have you settled on your next project?

ST: I am considering several things. I’d like to make a feature story with stop-motion.

Interview by Tim Smith for GREAT PERFORMANCES Online conducted in March 2008.

Breakthru Films

If Sergei Prokofiev had composed nothing except “Peter and the Wolf,” he would have left a sizable mark. The work has helped introduce generations of children to the instruments of the orchestra and the concept of telling a story through music, fulfilling the goal Prokofiev set for himself in 1936. Although this particular narrative, also written by the composer, isn’t entirely cheery — the wolf’s swallowing of an unfortunate duck comes to mind — the sonic side of things is so inventive and engaging that the whole thing seems somehow thoroughly uplifting. Even in the sometimes darker, moodier version of “Peter & the Wolf” brilliantly directed by animator Suzie Templeton being shown on GREAT PERFORMANCES, there is an affecting turn toward the light (moonlight, in this case) at the end. Since the score’s ingenious match of character to instrument enables listeners of practically any age to envision the scenes easily, the brief, original text gets the job done neatly. But chances are, Prokofiev would have loved the way Templeton opens up the story, providing such a rich world of imagery and action that no words are spoken at all, while the music is treated with total respect.

In 1935, in addition to working on his stunning ballet score “Romeo and Juliet,” Prokofiev wrote several short pieces for children, a genre that suddenly seemed to be in demand. Fortuitously, during this same period, the composer attended a couple of events at the Moscow Children’s Musical Theater, taking his own kids along. The director invited him to write something for the theater, and Prokofiev quickly accepted. “In the spring of 1936,” he recorded in his diary, “I started a symphonic tale for children titled ‘Peter and the Wolf,’ Op. 67, to a text of my own. [Prokofiev had first rejected a text prepared by a poet recommended by the theater director, on the grounds that it was clichéd.] Every character in the story had its own motif played each time by the same instrument. … Before each performance, the instruments were shown to the children and the themes played for them; during the performance, the children heard the themes repeated several times and learned to recognize the timbres of the different instruments. The text was read during the pauses in the music, which was disproportionately longer than the text — for me, the story was important only as a means of inducing the children to listen to the music.”

Clearly inspired by the concept, Prokofiev finished composing in one week, taking just another week to do the orchestration. A measure of his devotion to the project can be seen in the fact that he agreed to accept whatever fee the theater could afford.

The scenario of “Peter and the Wolf” is straightforward. A boy (depicted by strings) wanders through nature, observing a duck (oboe), a bird (flute), and a cat (clarinet). The cat tries to catch the bird. Peter’s grandfather (bassoon) admonishes him for wandering in a place where a wolf might attack and makes him return home. From that safe place, sure enough, Peter soon sees a wolf (horns) arrive on the scene. The wolf wolfs down the duck and then threatens the bird and cat. Determined to thwart the aggressor, Peter sneaks back outside and manages to catch the animal, with the help of the bird and a rope. When hunters (lots of timpani and bass drum) arrive on the scene, anxious to kill the wolf, Peter urges them to let the animal be taken to a zoo instead. As they all head off in happy procession, the duck can be heard quacking inside the wolf’s stomach, “for, in his hurry, the wolf had swallowed her whole.”

As Harlow Robinson writes in his 1987 biography of Prokofiev, “If the story has a moral, it seems to be this: don’t be afraid to challenge established beliefs (Grandfather’s caution) or to take risks. It is Peter’s independence, shrewdness and courage that save the day; if he hadn’t disobeyed his grandfather by climbing over the wall, the wolf would never have been caught. Seen in this light, ‘Peter and the Wolf’ is a subtly subversive tract, encouraging children to rely on their wits and not on the greater experience (and inertia) of their elders.”

It’s entirely possible, of course, to view the piece as pure entertainment and music appreciation, devoid of any hidden message.

The first performance featured Prokofiev at the keyboard and was a hit with the young audience at the Children’s Theater. A formal, public performance a few days later “was rather poor and did not attract much attention,” the composer entered into his diary. But the fate of “Peter and the Wolf” quickly improved. Within a few weeks, yet another performance was given in Moscow, and this time, there was no mistaking the triumph. In short order, the work was charming audiences far beyond Soviet Russia. It clearly knew no geographic or demographic boundaries. And the educational element was grasped from the start; concerts for young people were not complete without it.

That Prokofiev should have created such a masterpiece isn’t at all surprising. Robinson explains it neatly: “Long after his own idyllic childhood, he continued to love children for their unfettered imagination, sense of play and inability to dissimulate. That he never forgot what it meant to be a child, and how children think, is evident in the playful but never condescending music he wrote for them, most of all the phenomenally successful ‘Peter and the Wolf,’ written when Prokofiev was a boy of forty-five.”

Over the decades, the work has been performed by virtually every orchestra and conductor and has also attracted an endless list of narrators, including an impressive number of A-listers from virtually every field, among them Sting, David Bowie, Patrick Stewart, John Gielgud, Sophia Loren, Sean Connery, Boris Karloff, Jack Lemmon, William F. Buckley, Captain Kangaroo, and the inimitable Dame Edna Everage (a.k.a. Barry Humphries). And, of course, there have been many comic takeoffs on the story as well, including those by the likes of Weird Al Yankovic, P.D.Q. Bach (a.k.a. Peter Schickele), and Allan Sherman.

Now comes Suzie Templeton’s provocative animated, wordless version, set in our own time and in a Russia that, on the surface, does not seem to have improved much from the bleakest Soviet days. But in that ominous world, the spirit of an inquisitive, sensitive, brave boy glows and grows as brightly as ever.

Referenced Source:
Prokofiev, Sergei. SOVIET DIARY 1927 AND OTHER WRITINGS. Trans. and ed. Oleg Prokofiev. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1992.

Robinson, Harlow. SERGEI PROKOFIEV: A BIOGRAPHY. New York: Viking Penguin, 1987.

–Tim Smith

Tim Smith is the classical music critic of THE BALTIMORE SUN. He has also written for THE NEW YORK TIMES, OPERA NEWS, and BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE, among other publications. His writing has won several regional and national journalism awards, including a first place in arts criticism from the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors. He is the author of THE NPR CURIOUS LISTENER’S GUIDE TO CLASSICAL MUSIC (Perigee Books).

1. Ask your students to stand in a circle. Tell them that you are all going to become the engine of a racing car and that they are going to make the sound of the engine.

2. Ask your students to make the sound of an engine waiting at a traffic light. (Note: The note they pick should be relatively low in their vocal range.) Now, tell your students that you are pressing on the accelerator and that the engine is going faster. Ask them to make the sound of the engine as it is going faster. Now, ask them to go even faster. (Note: The pitch of their voices should get higher.) Ask your students to slow down the engine a little. Then, ask them to slow it down a little more. (Note: The pitch of their voices should get lower as the engine slows.) Now ask them to make the engine noise of a car waiting at a traffic light again.

3. Now, ask them to listen to what happens to their voices as they do this again. Instruct them to speed up and then slow down. Repeat this a few times. Then ask them to make the engine noise of a car waiting at a traffic light.

4. Ask them what happened to the sound of the engine as it went faster. Ask them what happened to the sound of the engine when it slowed down. Explain that as the engine went faster, the pitch got higher. As the engine went slower, the pitch got lower. Explain that the pitch is the highness or lowness of a sound.

5. Now let’s practice raising and lowering the pitch of our voices again. Raise your hand to signal them to raise the pitch of their voices. Lower your hand to signal the lowering of the pitch. Repeat this several times.

6. Now tell students that you are going to make movements with your hands to which you want them to sing along. Slowly raise your hands and then drop them. The class should slowly raise their voices and then slowly drop their voices along with your hand movements. Now, make a wavelike motion (with repeated ups and downs) and have your students follow along with their voices. Tip: If this is difficult for your students, make the sounds along with them.

7. Ask volunteers to take your place, one at a time, as the “conductor,” using their hands to signal the class to sing along to different movements and shapes. Tip: Encourage the conductors to experiment with different movements to see what they will sound like. Here are some examples of shapes that the conductors can trace in the air with their hands.

8. Now reverse the process—PLAY or sing part of a song that the students know well. Ask them to trace that song with their hands in the air.

Learning Activities

Learning Activity 1: The shape of music

1. Tell your students that you are going to play part of a song from “Peter and the Wolf” and you want them to trace the shape of the melody with their hands or bodies. PLAY the opening bars of Peter’s melody while your students listen and trace the shape of the melody with their hands or bodies.Note: PLAY the melody from the audio clip on the computer, play the following notes on an instrument, or hum them.
   Tip: If your students are having trouble tracing the melody with their hands/bodies, do the movement along with them.
2. After playing the music, ask your students to describe in words how the melody moves. (Possible answers: jumping; as if Peter were skipping.)
3. PLAY or hum the opening bars of the Duck’s melody and ask your students to follow along, by tracing the pattern in the air with their hands or bodies.



4. Discuss Duck’s melody and compare it to Peter’s melody. Here are some questions you can ask:
   • How is Duck’s melody different from Peter’s melody? What are some words you can use to describe the differences? (Answer: Peter’s melody is fast and upbeat, while duck’s melody has a smoother slower beat.)
   • How would you describe the pitch of Duck’s melody? Does it start by rising up or going down? (Answer: It starts by going down.) How would you describe the pitch of Peter’s melody? Does it start by rising up or going down? (Answer: It starts by going up.)
   • Is Duck’s melody smooth or skipping? (Answer: It is smooth.)
   • Is the Duck’s melody made up of notes of equal length or notes of different lengths? (Answer: It is made up of notes of different lengths.) Tip: If the students have trouble answering this question, PLAY the melody again and ask the students to clap on each note. You can also ask them to stand up for the longer notes and sit down for the shorter notes.
5. Hand out drawing materials. PLAY Peter’s melody again and ask the students to sketch the shape of the melody as they listen to it.
6. PLAY Duck’s melody again and ask the students to sketch the shape of that melody as they listen to it.
7. Ask them to look at their drawing of Duck’s melody. Ask the students to discuss the patterns of the notes throughout the melody—for example, the contrast between the notes of the Duck’s melody—it starts with one long note and then six shorter ones. Ask them to look at their drawing and think of a way to show this difference in their drawings.
8. Ask the students to compare the two drawings and to use their drawings to help them describe the differences between the two melodies. Optional: Show the students the printouts of the graphic representations of Peter’s melody and Duck’s melody to help them compare the two melodies.

Learning Activity 2: Moving to Music

1. PLAY Bird’s melody Tell your students that in Peter and the Wolf, this music is used for one particular type of animal. Ask them to listen to this and ask them what type of animal it makes them think of. After they have guessed, let them know that in Peter and the Wolf this music is used for the bird. PLAY the music again and ask them to move as a bird might move to the music.
2. Explain that the next piece of music is used along with the movements of the cat in Peter and the Wolf. PLAY Cat’s melody As the students listen to the music, ask them to move along to the melody, as if they were cats.
3. After they have listened and moved to the Bird and Cat melodies, ask them to discuss the two and how their movements were different when listening to each one.

Learning Activity 3: The Pulse of Music

1. Explain that everyone has a pulse. Ask the student to work in pairs and take each other’s pulse. Provide each student with the “How to Take a Pulse” tips from http://life.familyeducation.com/cpr/first-aid/48241.html?for_printing=1&detoured=1.
2. Tell your students: This lesson is about music. Why do you think I just had you take your pulse? What do you think this might have to do with this lesson? Explain to your students, that just like we all have a pulse, music has a pulse too. When we play a piece of music together, we have to all feel the same pulse just like a group of soldiers who are marching together. In music, this “pulse” is called the “beat.”
3. PLAY Peter’s melody again. Ask the class to walk in time to the beat of the music. As they continue walking, ask them to clap to the beat as they walk. Once they have become comfortable clapping to the beat, ask them to do a heavy clap and say, “one” when the first beat of each bar happens and softly clap and count 2, 3, 4 for the rest of the measure. After the students have become comfortable counting the beats, PLAY Peter’s melody again and ask the students to clap/step on the first beat and listen (without counting out loud) to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th beats. After the song has ended, ask the students to discuss their experiences and observations. Explain that in Peter’s melody the beats are arranged in groups of 4. Each group of 4 beats is called a “bar.”
4. PLAY Duck’s melody and ask the class to walk in time to the music, stepping on each beat. After they have listened to the melody, explain that in Duck’s melody the beats are arranged in groups of 3. Each bar has 3 beats. PLAY Duck’s melody again and ask the students to clap or do a heavier step when the first beat of each bar happens and to count quietly for 2, 3. Once they have become comfortable with the counting, stop the music. Then PLAY Duck’s melody again and ask the group to continue walking to the beat, but this time just clap/step on the first beat and listen (without counting out loud) to the 2nd and 3rd beats.
5. After the students have finished counting the beats, ask them how many beats were in each bar in Peter’s melody. (Answer: 4.) Then ask them how many beats were in a bar in Duck’s melody. (Answer: 3.) Explain that meter is a word that describes the organization of beats or “the pulse” of the music. Explain that the meter of Peter’s melody is 4 beats to a bar, while the meter of Duck’s melody is 3 beats to a bar.
6. Review the following elements that relate to melody:
   • pitch
   • pulse
   • meter
   • beats
   • melodic shape

CULMINATING ACTIVITY

1. Match the Shape with the character. Post each of the large graphic representations of the melodies for grandfather, Peter, Duck, Grandfather, Bird and/or Cat in different parts of the classroom. (Feel free to post some or all of the 5 graphic representations for this activity.) PLAY part of one of the 5 melodies and ask the students to stand by the sheet that shows that melody. Now PLAY part of another melody and ask students to stand by the corresponding sheet. Do this a few more times, making sure to play each melody at least once.

EXTENSION ACTIVITY

1. Group the students in pairs. Ask each pair to choose two instruments that sound very different from each other—for example a flute and a drum. Ask them to imagine that these instruments are two people with very different personalities. For example, one character could be shy and quiet and the other could be very outgoing and noisy. Tip: Ask them to think of two people that they know with contrasting characters.
2. Ask the students to create a discussion using only the instruments they have selected. Tip: Ask the students to create a short melody with one instrument to represent one of the characters and then create another short melody with the other instrument to represent the other character.
3. After they have experimented with the instruments and created their melodies, ask the students if their instruments and/or melodies are well suited to the characters they have chosen. If not, ask them to think about possibly changing them to better represent their characters.