Symphony and Animation

Dominique 2021-12-09 08:01:21

This is a unique film from Disney. It is a perfect combination of symphony and animated short film. The imagination, pictures, and music all fit in just right.
Its eight paragraphs correspond to eight different famous songs.
1. "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" gradually transformed from the opening symphony band performance into abstract animation. (John Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor)
2. "The Nutcracker Suite" tells about mushrooms, elves and flowers dancing with the seasons. (Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite)
3. "The Magician's Apprentice" tells the apprentice Mickey Mouse trying to use the master's magic to help himself, and the result has disastrous consequences. (Paul Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice)
4. " The Rite of Spring" shows the process from the time when the earth was born with dense magma to how the dinosaurs rose to extinction. (Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring)
5. "Intermission/Sound Track Debut" tells about the band on the screen temporarily leaving for a break, and shows how the sound track is recorded through a "sound wave" .
6. "Pastoral Symphony" tells about the Greek gods, centaur, faun, and other mythological creatures celebrating the festival together, and was distracted by the lightning thrown by Zeus. (Beethoven: Pastoral Symphony)
7. "Dance of Time" tells about ostrich, elephant, hippo and crocodile dancing ballet together, but when the warriors try to dance together, the scene begins to chaos. (Amirkar-Ponche: Dance of the Hours)
8. "Night of the Barren Mountain" and "Ode to the Virgin" tells how the Demon King Naberger summoned various monsters at night. (Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain) (Schubert: Ave Maria)

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Extended Reading

Fantasia quotes

  • Deems Taylor: Now, look - will the soundtrack kindly produce a sound?

    Soundtrack: [it is silent]

    Deems Taylor: Go on, don't be nervous. Go ahead - any sound.

    Soundtrack: [blows a "raspberry", vibrating as it does so]

    Deems Taylor: [laughs] Well, that isn't *quite* what I had in mind.

  • Deems Taylor: [the soundtrack plays a minor scale on bassoon, ending on a very low note] Go on. Go on; drop the other shoe, will you?

    Soundtrack: [it sounds an even deeper note, obviously the lowest]