What is the name of Britten's orchestral work that introduces the instruments?

Benjamin Britten’s orchestral work that introduces the instruments is The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. Its formal subtitle is Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell, and it was written in 1945.

Britten composed the work for the educational film Instruments of the Orchestra. It begins with the full orchestra presenting a theme, then separates the ensemble into major families: woodwinds, brass, strings, and percussion. Individual instruments subsequently receive their own variations, allowing listeners to hear their distinctive tone colours.

The source material comes from the Rondeau in Henry Purcell’s incidental music for Abdelazer, a play associated with Aphra Behn. After the variations, Britten brings the sections back together in a fugue, gradually rebuilding the orchestra before returning to Purcell’s melody.

The piece is often confused with Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, another famous educational work for young listeners. Peter and the Wolf assigns instruments to characters, while Britten’s guide focuses on orchestral families, instrumental timbres, and musical structure. The original film narration was written by Eric Crozier.