The Young Person 's Guide to the Orchestra - wikipedia The Young Person 's Guide to the Orchestra This article is about the composition by Benjamin Britten. For the television series, see Young Person 's Guide to the Orchestra. The Young Person 's Guide to the Orchestra is a 1945 musical composition by Benjamin Britten with a subtitle Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell. It was based on the second movement, `` Rondeau '', of the Abdelazer suite. It was originally commissioned for the British educational documentary film called Instruments of the Orchestra released on 29 November 1946, directed by Muir Mathieson and featuring the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent ; Sargent also conducted the concert première on 15 October 1946 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, England. The work is one of the best - known pieces by the composer, and is often associated with two other works in the context of children 's music education : Saint - Saëns ' The Carnival of the Animals and Prokofiev 's Peter and the Wolf. This work, in the composer 's own words, `` is affectionately inscribed to the children of John and Jean Maud : Humphrey, Pamela, Caroline and Virginia, for their edification and entertainment ''. Contents 1 Instrumentation 2 Structure 3 Narration 4 References 5 External links Instrumentation The Young Person 's Guide to the Orchestra is scored for symphony orchestra : Woodwinds : piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B flat and A and 2 bassoons Brass : 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 3 trombones ( 2 tenors and 1 bass ) and bass tuba Percussion : timpani, bass drum, cymbals, tambourine, triangle, snare drum, cowbell, xylophone, castanets, tamtam, and whip Strings : harp, first and second violins, violas, cellos and double basses Structure The work is based on the Rondeau from Henry Purcell 's incidental music to Aphra Behn 's Abdelazer, and is structured, in accordance with the plan of the original documentary film, as a way of showing off the tone colours and capacities of the various sections of the orchestra. In the introduction, the theme is initially played by the entire orchestra, then by each major family of instruments of the orchestra : first the woodwinds, then the brass, then the strings, and finally by the percussion. Each variation then features a particular instrument in depth, generally moving through each family from high to low ( the order of the families is slightly different from the introduction ). So, for example, the first variation features the piccolo and flutes ; each member of the woodwind family then gets a variation, ending with the bassoon ; and so on, through the strings, brass, and finally the percussion. After the whole orchestra has been effectively taken to pieces in this way, it is reassembled using an original fugue which starts with the piccolo, followed by all the woodwinds, strings, brass and percussion in turn. Once everyone has entered, the brass are re-introduced ( with a strike on the tamtam ) with Purcell 's original melody. The sections of the piece and instruments introduced by the variations are as follows. Theme Allegro maestoso e largamente Tutti, woodwinds, brass, strings, then percussion Variation A Presto Piccolo and flute Variation B Lento Oboes Variation C Moderato Clarinets Variation D Allegro alla marcia Bassoons Variation E Brillante : alla polacca Violins Variation F Meno mosso Violas Variation G Lusingando Cellos Variation H Cominciando lento ma poco a poco accel. al Allegro Double basses Variation I Maestoso Harp Variation J L'istesso tempo Horns Variation K Vivace Trumpets Variation L Allegro pomposo Trombones and bass tuba Variation M Moderato Percussion ( timpani ; bass drum & cymbals ; tambourine & triangle ; snare drum & wood block ; xylophone ; castanets & tamtam ; whip ; percussion tutti ) Fugue Allegro molto Narration The narration for the documentary film was written by Eric Crozier, the producer of the first production of Britten 's opera Peter Grimes, and is sometimes spoken by the conductor or a separate speaker during performance of the piece. The composer also arranged a version without narration. The one without narration is more often recorded. The commentary often alters between recordings. A new narration was written by Simon Butteriss for the Aldeburgh Festival and broadcast live by CBBC presenter Johny Pitts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for the Britten 100 celebrations in 2013. Comedian and author John Hodgman wrote a new narration of The Young Person 's Guide to the Orchestra in 2015 for a series of performances with the Boston Pops. References Jump up ^ `` Instruments of the Orchestra '', British Film Institute, accessed 24 May 2013 Jump up ^ `` Essential Britten : A Pocket Guide for the Britten Centenary '', John Bridcut, accessed 14 January 2014 Jump up ^ `` Programme Notes ''. London Chamber Orchestra. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2013. Jump up ^ `` Programme Notes ''. London Chamber Orchestra. 20 March 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2013. Jump up ^ `` John Hodgman in the Young Person 's Guide : Boston Pops : WCRB : WGBH ''. Jump up ^ Boston Pops ( 14 May 2015 ). `` Excerpts from John Hodgman 's Debut Narration with Boston Pops '' -- via YouTube. Jump up ^ `` Excerpts from John Hodgman 's debut narration with Boston Pops ''. Boosey & Hawkes No. 606. Benjamin Britten -- The Young Person 's Guide to the Orchestra Opus 34. History of the London Symphony Orchestra on Film External links Animated guide presented by Carnegie Hall BBC Radio 4 programme about the piece and the score manuscript Benjamin Britten Opera and operetta Paul Bunyan ( 1941 ) Peter Grimes ( 1945 ) The Rape of Lucretia ( 1946 ) Albert Herring ( 1947 ) The Little Sweep ( 1949 ) Billy Budd ( 1951 ) Gloriana ( 1953 ) The Turn of the Screw ( 1954 ) Noye 's Fludde ( 1958 ) A Midsummer Night 's Dream ( 1960 ) Owen Wingrave ( 1971 ) Death in Venice ( 1973 ) Church parables Curlew River ( 1964 ) The Burning Fiery Furnace ( 1966 ) The Prodigal Son ( 1968 ) Film / Ballet Night Mail ( 1936 ) The Prince of the Pagodas ( 1956 ) Orchestral Sinfonietta ( 1932 ) Simple Symphony ( 1934 ) Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge ( 1937 ) Mont Juic ( 1937 ) Sinfonia da Requiem ( 1940 ) The Young Person 's Guide to the Orchestra ( 1946 ) Concertante Piano Concerto ( 1938, rev. 1945 ) Violin Concerto ( 1939, rev. 1958 ) Young Apollo ( 1939 ) Diversions for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra ( 1940 rev. 1954 ) Cello Symphony ( 1963 ) Vocal / Choral Orchestral Our Hunting Fathers ( 1936 ) The Company of Heaven ( 1937 ) Les Illuminations ( 1939 ) Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings ( 1943 ) Saint Nicolas ( 1948 ) Spring Symphony ( 1949 ) Nocturne ( 1958 ) Cantata academica ( 1959 ) War Requiem ( 1961 ) Cantata misericordium ( 1963 ) Phaedra ( 1975 ) Vocal Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo ( 1940 ) The Holy Sonnets of John Donne ( 1945 ) A Charm of Lullabies ( 1947 ) 5 Canticles ( 1947 -- 74, including Canticle III : Still falls the rain ( 1954 ) Winter Words ( 1954 ) Songs from the Chinese ( 1957 ) Sechs Hölderlin - Fragmente ( 1958 ) Songs and Proverbs of William Blake ( 1965 ) The Poet 's Echo ( 1965 ) Who Are These Children ? ( 1969 ) A Birthday Hansel ( 1975 ) Choral Friday Afternoons ( 1932 -- 1935 ) A Boy was Born ( 1933 ) Te Deum in C ( 1934 ) A Ceremony of Carols ( 1942 ) Hymn to St Cecilia ( 1942 ) Festival Te Deum ( 1944 ) Rejoice in the Lamb ( 1943 ) Missa Brevis ( 1959 ) The Golden Vanity ( 1966 ) Sacred and Profane ( 8 medieval lyrics ) ( 1974 ) Chamber / Instrumental Prelude and Fugue on a Theme of Vittoria ( organ, 1946 ) Six Metamorphoses after Ovid ( oboe, 1951 ) Fanfare for St Edmundsbury ( three trumpets, 1959 ) Cello sonata ( 1961 ) Nocturnal after John Dowland ( guitar, 1963 ) Cello suites ( 1964, 1967, 1972 ) Collaborations Homage to Paderewski ( 1941 ) Variations on an Elizabethan Theme ( 1953 ) Film adaptations War Requiem ( 1989 film ) Named for Britten Benjamin Britten ( train ) The Benjamin Britten High School Britten Inlet Related articles Benjamin Britten : A Life in the Twentieth Century Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten English Opera Group List of compositions by Benjamin Britten Category : Benjamin Britten VIAF : 183881845 LCCN : n81144353 GND : 300028792 BNF : cb139091357 ( data ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Young_Person%27s_Guide_to_the_Orchestra&oldid=803572182 '' Categories : Compositions by Benjamin Britten Variations 1945 compositions Compositions for symphony orchestra Compositions with a narrator Children 's music Music education Hidden categories : EngvarB from September 2013 Use dmy dates from September 2013 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November 2013 Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Deutsch Español Français 한국어 Italiano Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Português Русский ไทย Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 3 October 2017, at 09 : 10. 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Question: who wrote the young person's guide to the orchestra
Answer: Benjamin Britten