The 1940 animated movie Fantasia stays one in every of Walt Disney‘s most interesting achievements, and helped put classical music in entrance of a worldwide viewers. Disney collaborated with conductor Leopold Stokowski for his third animated movie, presenting a characteristic divided into eight separate segments set to well-known works, seven of that are carried out by the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The movie was initially conceived as a comeback car for Mickey Mouse during which the beloved cartoon character stars within the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, however spiralling prices as an alternative satisfied Disney to incorporate the quick as simply one in every of segments of the feature-length manufacturing. Making use of ‘Fantasound’, a brand new system developed by Disney and RCA, Fantasia was the primary industrial movie proven in stereo, paving the best way for cinematic encompass sound.

A sequel was launched in 1999, titled Fantasia 2000, which, like its predecessor, makes use of items of classical music alongside the animated segments, carried out by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with conductor James Levine.

We named Fantasia as one of many finest makes use of of classical music in cartoons. Beneath are the eight items of music used within the unique 1940 characteristic’s eight segments.

Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor

Fantasia‘s graphic opening launched viewers to the symphony orchestra, with stay motion scenes of members of the orchestra taking part in in opposition to a blue backdrop. Animated traces and graphic particulars then mirror the sound of Bach‘s Toccata and Fugue.

Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker

There may be a whole animated part dedicated to The Nutcracker, with music from the ‘Sugar-Plum Fairy’, the ‘Arabian Dance’, the ‘Trepak’ and the ‘Waltz of the Flowers’. We named it as one of many most sudden makes use of of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker in widespread tradition.

Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Dukas’s symphonic poem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is intrinsically linked with Fantasia because of its use within the now-iconic sequence starring Mickey Mouse as (you guessed it) a sorcerer’s apprentice. Bored of mopping the flooring, the apprentice noses via the sorcerer’s spell e-book to discover a spell that may give him a break from the work… with disastrous outcomes. Though it was already a well-liked live performance piece, Disney acquired the music rights in 1937 when he deliberate to launch a novel Mickey Mouse movie, which turned a part of Fantasia.

Stravinsky’s The Ceremony of Spring

One of many animations featured in Fantasia exhibits a visible historical past of the start of Planet Earth, from the planet’s formation to the primary residing creates and subsequently the rise and demise of the dinosaur inhabitants.

Examine why the Ceremony of Spring was so revolutionary.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 ‘Pastoral’

This animated sequence options the world of Centaurs from classical mythology, set in opposition to the music of Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony. Zeus disturbs a pageant for Bacchus, and creates a storm, directing Vulcan to make him lightning bolts to throw on the celebration’s attendees.