A Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten and The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns is a theatrical tour into the world of the symphonic orchestra, having participated in which, young spectators would learn to recognise the voices of different musical instruments.

A Guide to the Orchestra was intended as a soundtrack for an English educational film Instruments of The Orchestra by James Muir Mathieson, first shown in 1946. Almost simultaneously, the realisation of this story on the concert stage began in Liverpool under the baton of Malcolm Sargent. Preparing the score, Britten foresaw two ways of approaching its performance (with remarks by a commentator or without them) and, accordingly, suggested two names: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell.