If you go
› What: “Peter and the Wolf” in CSO Volkwagen Series.› When: 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7.› Where: Volkswagen Conference Center, 7351 Volkswagen Drive.› Admission: $5-$28.› Phone: 423-267-8583.› Website: www.chattanoogasymphony.org.
Program
› Key: “The Star-Spangled Banner”› Rimsky-Korsakov: “Dance of the Buffoons”› Anderson: “Waltzing Cat”› Mancini: Theme from “The Pink Panther”› Saint-Saens: Selections from “Carnival of the Animals”› Prokofiev: “Peter and the Wolf”
The musical story of "Peter and the Wolf" may have a political subtext, but an upcoming Chattanooga Symphony & Opera performance will take a much lighter approach. It's simply a way to teach children about sections of the orchestra and their sounds using various animals and characters.
The children's classical music work will be highlighted Sunday, Feb. 7, in the CSO's Volkswagen Series at the VW Conference Center. Also featured are other works related to animals, such as Rimsky-Korsakov's "Dance of the Buffoons," in which a goat appears, and Mancini's theme from "The Pink Panther." Kayoko Dan will conduct the orchestra.
"Peter and the Wolf" originated in 1936 when Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev was commissioned by the Central Children's Theatre in Moscow to write a new musical symphony for children. Intrigued by the invitation, he completed the music and text in just four days. The story is designed to be spoken by a narrator with accompaniment by the orchestra.
Each character in the story has a particular instrument and musical theme. The bird is played by a flute, the cat by a clarinet and the duck by an oboe. Grandfather is a bassoon and Peter a collection of stringed instruments, including violin, viola, cello and bass. The wolf is sounded by French horns, and the hunters are represented by woodwind and trumpet, with gunshots played on timpani and bass drum.
Jerry Bowman will serve as narrator at Sunday's performance, and Jessica Laliberte has choreographed scenes for the CCA Dancers.
According to online sources, the political subtext was suggested by American music reviewer Gary R. Lemco, who saw it as an allegory for the political situation in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. In this theory, the characters represented either the various bickering Soviet republics or the nations of Europe. In either scenario, the wolf symbolized anti-Communist Nazi Germany.
Performances of "Peter and the Wolf" have attracted a who's who of celebrities and even world leaders as guest narrators. Among them: Alice Cooper, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton, Sophia Loren, Antonio Banderas, Sharon Stone, Sir John Gielgud, Ben Kingsley, Melissa Joan Hart and Sting.