History Music / PeterAndTheWolf

** Subverted in the Sesame Street version. Here, Telly Monster plays the duck, but when Papa Bear narrates the duck getting eaten, he [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere calls it quits]], pulling his bill off and leaving the scene. He comes back later as one of the Hunters alongside the the Two-Headed Monster.

* CelebrityCameo: The fairy tale has been narrated by countless celebrities over the decades, including Basil Rathbone, Sterling Holloway (voice of [[WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Winnie the Pooh in the original Disney cartoons]]), UsefulNotes/EleanorRoosevelt, Creator/AlecGuinness, Peter Ustinov (twice!), Creator/BorisKarloff, José Ferrer, Series/CaptainKangaroo, Music/LeonardBernstein, Creator/SeanConnery, Creator/RichardAttenborough, Creator/DavidAttenborough, Music/JacquesBrel, Mia Farrow, Music/DavidBowie, Terry Wogan, William F. Buckley Jr., Paul Hogan, John Gielgud (twice!), Music/{{Sting}}, Music/WeirdAlYankovic, Creator/PatrickStewart, Dame Edna, Creator/BenKingsley, Creator/AntonioBanderas, Creator/SophiaLoren (twice), UsefulNotes/BillClinton and UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev.

The work has been recorded numerous times by many different orchestras, and has also been adapted to a variety of other media, including animation, stop-motion animation (namely, [[WesternAnimation/PeterAndTheWolf2006 a 2006 animated short), theatre and ballet. It has also inspired many variants and parodies, some of which include different characters and instruments. The best known of these adaptations in Western media is probably the one from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/MakeMineMusic'' (1946), which gives the animals and hunters names.

The work has been recorded numerous times by many different orchestras, and has also been adapted to a variety of other media, including animation, stop-motion animation (namely, a 2006 animated short), theatre and ballet. It has also inspired many variants and parodies, some of which include different characters and instruments. The best known of these adaptations in Western media is probably the one from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/MakeMineMusic'' (1946), which gives the animals and hunters names.

The work has been recorded numerous times by many different orchestras, and has also been adapted to a variety of other media, including animation, stop-motion animation, theatre and ballet. It has also inspired many variants and parodies, some of which include different characters and instruments. The best known of these adaptations in Western media is probably the one from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/MakeMineMusic'' (1946), which gives the animals and hunters names.

* GenderFlip: Though you have to go to the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] to find it, the wolf in the 2006 version is female [[spoiler:[[MonsterIsAMommy and has a litter of pups to feed]]]].

* MenacingStroll: [[spoiler:When Peter frees the wolf in the 2006 version, they stroll to the town gate together with identical DeathGlares. Nobody, but ''nobody'', dares get in their way.]]

* MisplacedWildlife: The Bird in the 2006 version is very obviously a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_crow Pied Crow]], which is an ''African'' bird. They might have meant it to be a Eurasian Magpie, something you can and do find in Russia, but it looks ''nothing'' like a magpie. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_magpie#/media/File:Pica_pica_-_Compans_Caffarelli_-_2012-03-16.jpg Compare.]]
* MortonsFork: In the 2006 version, Peter is given an terribly unappetizing choice: To either let the wolf - that just devoured his best friend ''alive'' - win, or let the hunters who stuffed him in a garbage dumpster and brandished their guns at him win. [[spoiler:He chooses the former and frees the wolf.]]

* SomewhereAMammalogistIsCrying: At one point in the 2006 film, the wolf slashes Peter across the face with its claws. While this is not technically ''impossible,'' it is still unlikely. Wolf claws are dull because they are used for traction while running and cannot be retracted. Swatting with a paw is a very cat-like action, and not something canines tend to do because they rely mainly on their jaws for fighting and hunting.

* SympathyForTheDevil: In the 2006 version, [[spoiler:Peter sees some bullies abusing the helpless wolf after she is captured. He realizes that both her fates are unpleasant. She can either be humiliated and tortured as a circus animal or be sold as meat for the local butcher. Peter realizes that even though she killed his friend, she only did it because it was her basic nature. He feels sorry for her, and releases her back into the wild - and (unknowingly) back to her cubs.]]

* AdaptationExpansion: The characters get backstories in the 2006 version. Peter is a poor boy in a shantytown; the hunters are drunken louts that [[spoiler:stuff him in a dumpster and threaten him with their guns]]. The Bird is a flightless crow that Peter assists with a helium balloon; the Cat is the grandfather's cherished pet, the duck is Peter's only real friend [[spoiler:until he's SwallowedWhole by the wolf]]. And even the wolf has a backstory in the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]]: [[spoiler:She's female and has a litter of pups that she is trying to feed.]]

* AndroclesLion: In the 2006 version. Peter releases the wolf after seeing its horrible fate and being abused by the onlookers. The wolf walks by Peter to the gate and leaves peacefully as a form of gratitude.

* CanineConfusion: At one point in the 2006 animated adaption, the wolf slashes Peter across the face with its claws. While this is not technically ''impossible,'' it is still odd for a wolf. Wolf claws are dull because they are used for traction while running and cannot be retracted. Swatting with a paw is a very cat-like action, and not something canines tend to do because they rely mainly on their jaws for fighting. Also, wolves and other canines would have difficulty slashing like that because their shoulders don't easily allow for that kind of motion.

* EnemyMine: In the 2006 film, [[spoiler:Peter and the wolf briefly join together because they ''both'' hate the hunters. He escorts the wolf to the edge of town, step for step, and gives her a clear run back into the forest.]]

* HungryMenace: In the 2006 version, [[spoiler:the wolf is just a hungry predator looking for food for her cubs and herself. She didn't kill the duck out of spite or for the sake of evil. Duck was just unfortunate and couldn't escape in time. Peter realizes this in the end and releases the wolf back into the wild.]]
* ItsPersonal: In the 2006 version, Peter's only real friends are the bird and the duck. When the wolf devours the duck alive, Peter assumes a DeathGlare worthy of the wolf herself, and from that point on, [[{{Determinator}} stops at absolutely nothing]] to make sure she is captured - and suffers as he is suffering. [[spoiler:He gets better in the end, and as he's escorting the wolf to the city gates, BOTH of them now wear that expression.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: [[spoiler:The hunters in the 2006 version are hard core versions of this trope. It loses them their quarry when Peter chooses the wolf over them at the end.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: [[DownplayedTrope If you dig deep enough.]] Grandfather is a bit hard on Peter, telling him to stay out of the woods. However, seeing how Peter's parents are never even mentioned, it's strongly implied that they are dead. This makes his protectiveness over his grandson all the more understandable.

* AndroclesLion: In the 2006 version. Peter releases the wolf after seeing its horrible fate and being abused by the onlookers. The wolf walks by Peter to the gate and leaves peacefully as a form gratitude.

* CatsAreMean: The main role of the cat is to serve as a pursuer to the bird, though the wolf is the BigBad of the story.

* NecessarilyEvil: In the 2006 version. The wolf isn't portrayed as a monster or demonic presence. The wolf was merely fulfilling her role in nature as a predator and hunted the duck because she was hungry and needed to provide food for her cubs.

* NecessaryEvil: In the 2006 version. The wolf isn't portrayed as a monster or demonic presence. The wolf was merely fulfilling her role in nature as a predator and hunted the duck because she was hungry and needed to provide food for her cubs.

The work has been recorded numerous times by many different orchestras, and has also been adapted to a variety of other media, including animation, stop-motion animation, theatre and ballet. It has also inspired many variants and parodies, some of which include different characters and instruments. For a partial list, see the Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_the_wolf article]]. The best known of these adaptations in Western media is probably the one from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/MakeMineMusic'' (1946), which gives the animals and hunters names.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The wolf, except in the 2006 version. Taken UpToEleven in the Disney version, where the wolf is pure evil, and the only character in the film without any personality or sentience.

* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: It is never implied that Peter is an orphan, but at the same time we only know he has a very protective grandfather. His parents are never mentioned.

* DarkerAndEdgier or LighterAndSofter: These tropes apply to some adaptations. For example, the Creator/WaltDisney adaptation has Peter hunting the wolf using a [[NerfArm pop gun]] and makes it clear that [[spoiler:the duck survives]], whereas the Music/WeirdAlYankovic version makes it very clear that [[spoiler:the duck dies a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horrible, painful and]] ''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath slow]]'' [[CruelAndUnusualDeath death]] inside the belly of the wolf]]... and then there's Neil Torbin's ''Peter and The Werewolf'' where [[spoiler: the duck (now a raven) is practically the SoleSurvivor]]... [[SincerityMode which was played for laughs]].

** Averted in "Weird Al" Yankovic's version. He goes for undiluted BlackHumor, where the duck dies a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath realistic and]] ''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath slow]]'' [[CruelAndUnusualDeath death]] inside the wolf's stomach [[spoiler:then gets reincarnated as... Creator/ShirleyMclane]].

* GenderFlip: Though you have to go to the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] to find it, the wolf in the 2006 version is female [[spoiler:[[MonsterIsAMommy and has a litter of pups to feed.]]]]

* ItsPersonal: In the 2006 version, Peter's only real friends are the bird and the duck. When the wolf devours the duck alive, Peter assumes a DeathGlare worthy of the wolf herself, and from that point on, [[TheDeterminator stops at absolutely nothing]] to make sure she is captured - and suffers as he is suffering. [[spoiler:He gets better in the end, and as he's escorting the wolf to the city gates, BOTH of them now wear that expression.]]
* JerkAss: [[spoiler:The hunters in the 2006 version are hard core versions of this trope. It loses them their quarry when Peter chooses the wolf over them at the end.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: [[DownplayedTrope If you dig deep enough]]. Grandfather is a bit hard on Peter, telling him to stay out of the woods. However, seeing how Peter's parents are never even mentioned, it's strongly implied that they are dead. This makes his protectiveness over his grandson all the more understandable.

*** The wolf's {{Leitmotif}} has been re-used a couple of times in other media to create a sense of menace, such as it being the theme of Scut Farkus in ''Film/AChristmasStory'', and in the accompaniment of "The Meek Shall Inherit" from the stage version of ''LittleShopOfHorrors'', as the unscrupulous salesmen close in on Seymour.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: How the HELL did Peter and Ivan go from [[ThisIsGonnaSuck cowering from an incoming wolf]] to [[spoiler: have the wolf bound and completely at their mercy?]] The Disney adaption sure isn't gonna tell you.

''Peter and the Wolf'' (''Петя и волк'' in Russian) is a combination of children's story and musical composition by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. During performances, a narrator tells the story while accompanied by music played by an orchestra. Each character in the story is represented by a {{Leitmotif}} played on a unique instrument.

* AdaptationExpansion: The characters get backstories in the 2006 version. Peter is a poor boy in a shantytown; the hunters are drunken louts that [[spoiler:stuff him in a dumpster and threaten him with their guns]]. The Bird is a flightless crow that Peter assists with a helium balloon; the Cat is the grandfather's cherished pet, the duck is Peter's only real friend [[spoiler:until he's SwallowedWhole by the wolf]]. And even the wolf has a backstory in the [[AllThereInTheManual manual:]] [[spoiler:She's female and has a litter of pups that she is trying to feed.]]