Fantasia, Disney’s 1940 animated feature film, is unlike almost all other films. It consists of a series of animated images set to music. While between these selections there is spoken commentary there are no spoken words during the musical numbers. In that sense it is like a “silent” movie with music. It is my favorite film of all time. In two ways this film involves ballet. First, of the eight musical sections, three are from ballets and a fourth has been used in a ballet. Second, this film is what got me interested in ballet. I looked for other performances where moving images were associated with music and where there were no spoken words and realized that dance and in particular ballet was such a case.
Symphony No. 6, in F major, the Pastoral was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and premiered in 1808. In Fantasia the piece lasts 22 minutes and 13 seconds, but the symphony itself is just under 43 minutes long. This is the only one of Beethoven’s nine completed symphonies that has five movements. It is also the most descriptive of these symphonies. Each of the five movements are named. The first is called “Awakening of Cheerful Feeling on Arriving in the Country” and is 4 minutes and 40 seconds long in the film and ends with the views of waterfalls. The second movement is referred to as “Scene by a Brook” and in Fantasia is 6 minutes and 36 seconds long. It ends with the cupids (putti) closing curtains on two lovers. Next is “Merry Gathering of County Folk,” 2 minutes and 51 seconds, which is followed by the Thunderstorm 3 minutes and 27 seconds. Finally there is the “Shepherd’s Song - Happy, Thankful Feelings after the Storm, 4 minutes and 44 seconds.
As with The Nutcracker Suite, this selection focuses on nature - a day in the country. There is no particular story to it, but on the other hand it is not abstract. It presents a series of occurrences. This is one of the things I like about this piece, as well as the worst that happens is a thunderstorm. The film was released in 1940 and in some ways it is reflective of the social norms of that time, such as some racism in the original, the worst of which has since been removed and the coy centaurettes presenting themselves to the eager centaurs. However the mythological characters presented are generally much nicer than in most myths, particularly the centaurs. This is also something that I like. By the way in Greek myth the centaurettes were called kentaurides or centauresses.
The next movement is “Merry Gathering of County Folk” which shows a tame Bacchanal, but the merriment of the centaurettes and centaurs and other mythical beings is interrupted by Hephaestus (Vulcan) forging lighting bolts that are thrown by Zeus. Up until this point the story has been generally happy, but the storm is soon over and everyone rejoices. The thunderstorm hurts no one, but does show female characters protecting younger ones.
As the various characters venture out after the storm we first see Iris the Greek Goddess of the Rainbow, then according to the narrator, Apollo drives the setting sun across the sky, however in Greek myth it was Helios who drove the sun in his chariot. Again, according to the narrator, Morphus the “Greek god of Sleep blankets the sky with darkness.” But, actually Morphus is the god of Dreams. Also based on the look of the deity it could be either male or female, it seems to make more sense for it to be Nyx the Greek goddess of night. Then, as the putti fall asleep on clouds, “Diana, using the crescent of the moon, shoots off an arrow that spangles the sky with stars,” although it was the goddess Selene who was the Greek personification of the moon. The final scene shows the crescent of the moon over a darkened Mount Olympus and all is well. This section starts with the sun rising on Mount Olympus and ends with night and the sun setting over the mountain.
Skipping ahead we first see and hear A Night on Bald Mountain (there is a Bald Mountain in Ukraine, which was part of the Russian Empire when the music was composed). Modest Mussorgsky wrote the music between 1860 and 1867 and it was redone by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1886. The top of the mountain then turns into Chernabog (the god of evil) who then casts a shadow over the village below to attract evil sprites. He is unsuccessful when a church steeple resists his power, but is more successful with the ghosts of executed criminals who fly through a hangman’s noose, he then turns to a ruined fortress and attracts the ghosts of those who had tried to invade the town pulling them from the moat, lastly he goes to the graves of the wealthy citizens of the village and selects the evil among them, these phantoms are joined by witches on broomsticks. Next Chernabog reaches into the earth to pull out the demons of the underworld. They celebrate until stopped by the sound of church bells heralding the coming of the dawn, then all the evil beings slink back from where they had come and Chernabog becomes the top of the mountain again.
With this the music and the feeling of the images completely changes and we hear Ave Maria and see a religious procession of people holding candles, I feel they are nuns, slowly and calmly moving through the countryside. They cross a bridge supported by gothic arches then turn to head into a forest. The trees are all straight. We see a hill with rays of the morning sun as we come out of the forest. The scene ends with the rising of the sun. Ave Maria is latin for Hail Mary and was composed by Franz Schubert in 1825, with its lyrics taken from Sir Walter Scott’s poem “The Lady of the Lake.” The music was originally entitled “Ellens dritter Gesang” (Ellen’s third Song). In the poem Ellen Douglas is in danger and prays to the Virgin Mary to protect her and her father.
The lyrics start:
Ave Maria! Maiden mild!
Listen to a maiden's prayer!
However, in the film the lyrics are different. They were written by Rachel Field and sung by Julietta Novis and are as follows:
Ave Maria! Heaven’s Bride.
The bells ring out in solemn praise,
For you, the anguish and the pride.
The living glory of our nights,
Of our night and days,
The Prince of Peace your arms embrace,
While hosts of darkness fade and cower.
Oh save us, mother full of grace,
In life and in our dying hour.
Ave Maria!
Despite the references to the Catholic Religion it appears that the worshipers are Nature or Sun worshipers. Their Cathedral is the forest and at their altar is the Rising Sun.
These three musical sections cover a period of 24 hours from the rising sun over mount olympus at the start of Pastoral, to the falling of night at its end, then midnight at the start of Bald Mountain and the rising of the sun the next day, over a hill, at the end of Ave Maria. Events start calmly and hopefully then end in the same manner.
Tom,
Symphony No. 6, in F major, the Pastoral was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and premiered in 1808. In Fantasia the piece lasts 22 minutes and 13 seconds, but the symphony itself is just under 43 minutes long. This is the only one of Beethoven’s nine completed symphonies that has five movements. It is also the most descriptive of these symphonies. Each of the five movements are named. The first is called “Awakening of Cheerful Feeling on Arriving in the Country” and is 4 minutes and 40 seconds long in the film and ends with the views of waterfalls. The second movement is referred to as “Scene by a Brook” and in Fantasia is 6 minutes and 36 seconds long. It ends with the cupids (putti) closing curtains on two lovers. Next is “Merry Gathering of County Folk,” 2 minutes and 51 seconds, which is followed by the Thunderstorm 3 minutes and 27 seconds. Finally there is the “Shepherd’s Song - Happy, Thankful Feelings after the Storm, 4 minutes and 44 seconds.
As with The Nutcracker Suite, this selection focuses on nature - a day in the country. There is no particular story to it, but on the other hand it is not abstract. It presents a series of occurrences. This is one of the things I like about this piece, as well as the worst that happens is a thunderstorm. The film was released in 1940 and in some ways it is reflective of the social norms of that time, such as some racism in the original, the worst of which has since been removed and the coy centaurettes presenting themselves to the eager centaurs. However the mythological characters presented are generally much nicer than in most myths, particularly the centaurs. This is also something that I like. By the way in Greek myth the centaurettes were called kentaurides or centauresses.
The next movement is “Merry Gathering of County Folk” which shows a tame Bacchanal, but the merriment of the centaurettes and centaurs and other mythical beings is interrupted by Hephaestus (Vulcan) forging lighting bolts that are thrown by Zeus. Up until this point the story has been generally happy, but the storm is soon over and everyone rejoices. The thunderstorm hurts no one, but does show female characters protecting younger ones.
As the various characters venture out after the storm we first see Iris the Greek Goddess of the Rainbow, then according to the narrator, Apollo drives the setting sun across the sky, however in Greek myth it was Helios who drove the sun in his chariot. Again, according to the narrator, Morphus the “Greek god of Sleep blankets the sky with darkness.” But, actually Morphus is the god of Dreams. Also based on the look of the deity it could be either male or female, it seems to make more sense for it to be Nyx the Greek goddess of night. Then, as the putti fall asleep on clouds, “Diana, using the crescent of the moon, shoots off an arrow that spangles the sky with stars,” although it was the goddess Selene who was the Greek personification of the moon. The final scene shows the crescent of the moon over a darkened Mount Olympus and all is well. This section starts with the sun rising on Mount Olympus and ends with night and the sun setting over the mountain.
Skipping ahead we first see and hear A Night on Bald Mountain (there is a Bald Mountain in Ukraine, which was part of the Russian Empire when the music was composed). Modest Mussorgsky wrote the music between 1860 and 1867 and it was redone by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1886. The top of the mountain then turns into Chernabog (the god of evil) who then casts a shadow over the village below to attract evil sprites. He is unsuccessful when a church steeple resists his power, but is more successful with the ghosts of executed criminals who fly through a hangman’s noose, he then turns to a ruined fortress and attracts the ghosts of those who had tried to invade the town pulling them from the moat, lastly he goes to the graves of the wealthy citizens of the village and selects the evil among them, these phantoms are joined by witches on broomsticks. Next Chernabog reaches into the earth to pull out the demons of the underworld. They celebrate until stopped by the sound of church bells heralding the coming of the dawn, then all the evil beings slink back from where they had come and Chernabog becomes the top of the mountain again.
With this the music and the feeling of the images completely changes and we hear Ave Maria and see a religious procession of people holding candles, I feel they are nuns, slowly and calmly moving through the countryside. They cross a bridge supported by gothic arches then turn to head into a forest. The trees are all straight. We see a hill with rays of the morning sun as we come out of the forest. The scene ends with the rising of the sun. Ave Maria is latin for Hail Mary and was composed by Franz Schubert in 1825, with its lyrics taken from Sir Walter Scott’s poem “The Lady of the Lake.” The music was originally entitled “Ellens dritter Gesang” (Ellen’s third Song). In the poem Ellen Douglas is in danger and prays to the Virgin Mary to protect her and her father.
The lyrics start:
Ave Maria! Maiden mild!
Listen to a maiden's prayer!
However, in the film the lyrics are different. They were written by Rachel Field and sung by Julietta Novis and are as follows:
Ave Maria! Heaven’s Bride.
The bells ring out in solemn praise,
For you, the anguish and the pride.
The living glory of our nights,
Of our night and days,
The Prince of Peace your arms embrace,
While hosts of darkness fade and cower.
Oh save us, mother full of grace,
In life and in our dying hour.
Ave Maria!
Despite the references to the Catholic Religion it appears that the worshipers are Nature or Sun worshipers. Their Cathedral is the forest and at their altar is the Rising Sun.
These three musical sections cover a period of 24 hours from the rising sun over mount olympus at the start of Pastoral, to the falling of night at its end, then midnight at the start of Bald Mountain and the rising of the sun the next day, over a hill, at the end of Ave Maria. Events start calmly and hopefully then end in the same manner.
Tom,
