Part I: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Johann Sebastian Bach
Like any celebrity of anytime, Walt Disney had access to people that other people may not have had the chance to meet. Like anyone in the business he was able to reach out to other artists (in his day, other pioneers). One such artist was Oskar Fischinger, who made his way to the United States in 1936, a move partly prompted by the restrictions in what was termed “degenerate art” by the ruling Nazi party in Germany.
Oskar had self-trained as a painter first, armature musician second and filmmaker third. In the late 1920’s in Germany, he was performing “film shows” that he accompanied with live music. The need to work prompted his move to Berlin and the films that would inspire this segment of Fantasia are created during the year of 1928-1931 as he worked for Fritz Lang (director of Metropolis).
The series of twelve films he created he simply called “Studies” and they were abstract animation synchronized to classical music. A few of the films were picked up for distribution in Japan and the United States in 1931-1932. An American agent from MGM has screened some of his work and convinced Oskar (rather easily) to move to America.
Here’s a link to one of the only Fischinger films I can find online (because it appears that the Fischinger Family Trust has them locked away and love their copyright protections): Study No. 7
When you watch the film Study No. 7, you will recognize the effort that the Toccata and Fugue makes to be abstract. Yes, abstract art is abstract, but even though they bill it as such in Fantasia, it’s not really. It’s very representational and an example of this is how as the film starts it “forces” the audience to be aware of the orchestra first before launching into the animation. This is why Oskar Fischinger is not credited in the final film version of Fantasia. Oskar felt that the Disney and his animators were over-simplifying his work and making it more representational that he ever intended.
This is my favorite piece from the film because it talks to the audience. What does it say? “Hey, if you can get through this, then the rest of the ride is going to be great.” It challenges you out of the gate, telling you right away that what you are about to see if different than any previous Disney feature film that comes before (and for many years, after) it.
Part II: The Nutcracker, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
As Deems Taylor tells the audience (I’m going to paraphrase) this is the one piece of music that Tchaikovsky wrote that he utterly detested. The reason that he strongly disliked the piece was the fact that it was a commissioned work that came with conditions that Tchaikovsky felt hampered him from being creative. First performances of the ballet were not successful, attributed more to the choreography than the music.
The entire ballet is not performed for Fantasia and “its familiar theme jettisoned” and presented as a “nature ballet” celebrating the seasons. Spring is highlighted by Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, the seasons of summer, fall and winter by Waltz of the Flowers. Between these segments are vignettes celebrating the themes of their titles Chinese, Arabian and Russian.
This is one of the sequences that benefits in the DVD format. The restoration of the opening sequence and the dewdrops on the spider web highlight the detail that went into the animation. As for the animation, there are some beautiful things that one would not believe were hand drawn. The most notable of these sequences in my mind is that when the snowflakes fall and the winter fairies appear in them as if the snowflakes were skirts. No computers, not even a Xerox machine for such exquisite detail.
One of the more developed personalities appears in this sequence, that of Hop-Lo, the out of sync mushroom in the Chinese Dance. While the other segments are well formed, there is one that seems out of place to me – the Arabian Dance with the fish. They have always felt “cartoony” to me and all I can see is Cleo from Pinocchio with long tailfins. I don’t know, maybe it’s the lipstick, maybe the eyebrows.
I enjoy watching this segment of the film. Even with my personal feelings about the animation in the Arabian Dance aside, it still manages to capture my attention after repeated viewings.
Part III: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Paul Dukas
This is the segment that spurred Fantasia to life. Originally planned as a feature short, the costs with production skyrocketed. Walt’s brother, Roy who “held the purse strings” of the company realized that they would never get the money they invested into The Sorcerer’s Apprentice back. To offset these costs they decided on the “Concert Feature” concept: stringing together other like endeavors to create a film length experience. This segment of the film was also one of the first completed, because it had been planned for release in 1939.
Even though the story stars Mickey Mouse, he does not speak in the course of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. His entire performance is done in pantomime. This portion of the film is unique to me because of the behavior of Mickey Mouse in the course of telling this story. He behaves in ways that many people would associate with Mickey’s behavior. It boggles my mind that our beloved Mickey would even consider the “easy way out” on performing his assigned task. Not to mention the act of violence in destroying the magical broom.
However, I always have to remind myself that this is Mickey Mouse in a performance – which he’s performing in a role he normally would not take. In other words, if he was an actor, this is the performance that he would submit to the academy for lead actor. This is the clearest instance where the music is central to the story and pushes the action in the story forward.
The level of detail is this segment is glorious. The backgrounds are consistent; the characters are natural in the environment. They are animated as if they belong there and are not separate from the world in which they live. The subtly of the fade to black and white animation (after the destruction of the broom) and back to full color is divine. The personality of Yen Sid (the sorcerer) for the few minutes he is on screen is well defined.
Every time I watch this segment, I always want to give a little thank you to the artists that worked on it. Because without their efforts, the rest of the film would have never been conceived or created.
Part IV: The Rite of Spring, Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky
It took a long time for me to like anything by Stravinsky. Ironically, the first piece of his that I could listen to without my mind wandering off and tuning out is his ballet The Firebird 1919 (abridged version) which was used in Fantasia 2000. History now reveals that Stravinsky was one of the great modern composers of his time. He was the only composer of music that was featured in Fantasia that was alive at the time of its release.
The piece featured in Fantasia is now one of Stravinsky’s best known works, The Rite of Spring. For Disney and his artists to have chosen this piece (that was only twenty-six years old) at the time was bold, considering the theme of the ballet and the strong reactions at the premiere. While I respect what the ballet in which this piece was composed for wishes to express, it’s a piece of music that I’m not particularly fond of.
The version used is rearranged from the original and Stravinsky was not impressed with the musical arrangement and thought it was detestable. He also has been critical of the animators conceding that they understood the meaning of the piece but felt the resulting work was that of idiots. I suppose I can understand why he reacted the way he did because I believe that it’s perfectly natural to want to preserve one’s own work and legacy as the artist intended. (Maybe he was annoyed how some minor edits changed the mood of the piece, we may never know.)
The animation in this piece is familiar to many people, even if they had no idea that it was part of Fantasia. Because the concept of the segment is to describe the beginnings of life on the planet earth, it was used as an instructional film to school children for a number of years. It was one the best representations of prehistoric life readily available for years. The piece is as cold as it is accurate in showing how violently the earth was created, the slime of life in the oceans and the evolution and death of the dinosaurs.
I admire the work that went into the creation of this segment; however, if I’m not fully caffeinated, this piece seems to take as long as the evolution of the dinosaurs to pass. The color pallet in this piece is that of earth tones, dark greens and blues when they appeared and gives this feeling of being constantly dark. It’s not true, there are places that the destruction of the earth by lava seems so real, my mind forgets that it’s animated action.
It’s wonderful that after it’s over, we break for an intermission and… the Soundtrack.
Part V: Intermission and Soundtrack
After listening to the Rite of Spring the opportunity for an intermission is welcome.
Upon return of the film, there is a brief interaction with the Soundtrack. Now I know that is something that is lost on modern audiences (more on that in a moment), but it’s done for two reasons. The first is to emphasize the importance of the sound to the experience. The second is to cleanse the pallet, because really, the Rite of Spring lingers (especially on repeated replays that do not have the fifteen minutes or so programed in) in the mind.
When films are made, the accompanying sounds (music, effects, and dialog) are physically recorded on to same piece of photographic film which carries the image. The left side of the film is where this information is recorded (which is why the soundtrack enters and exits to the viewer’s left). Because of the effort that was taken to create a stereophonic sound environment during viewing, for Fantasia, the sound was recorded on separate strips of film (which was important for the films completion and I’ll talk about that in Part VIII). This segment really gives the average audience a touch of knowledge and a slight appreciation for the technology used to create the overall experience.
The next segment moves away from the dreary and into an array of color.
Part VI: Pastoral Symphony, Ludwig van Beethoven
The choice of this piece was not made with the other segments of Fantasia. In fact, another piece, Cydalise et le Chèvre-pied by Gabriel Pierné was chosen initially. The writing team was having a difficult time telling a definite story with that particular piece of music. Yet they had a very definite idea, they knew that they wanted to tell a story in a mythological time. This idea was inspired by the title of the opening march of Cydalise “The Entry of the Little Fauns”. After some discussion and some disagreement, they decided to replace the music with something that could tell “a very definite story”.
The selected replacement piece, the Pastoral Symphony was selected because it could be animated to the theme of classical mythology with a cast of characters to match. Centaurs, cupids and Pegasus all gather in a celebration for Bacchus. Some of the characters are animated with a certain level of seriousness (such as the Gods that watch and interfere with the party on the ground). Others are more relaxed, such as Bacchus himself who is more of a caricature. Others are a blending of the two, in particular, the centaurs.
It is unclear to me in what production order this segment came in, but of the unique things about the segment is the use of color. Many of the backgrounds have brilliant shades that are not used in any other segment of the film. In fact, the background artists were given free rein to use whatever colors they wanted. Since the Disney Studio had their own in house paint creation, it was easy for them to create whatever they wanted. One of the colors was even inspired by a jam sandwich – “Mrs. Huffine’s Boysenberry Jam”. This color was used for a number of background bushes.
As I have previously mentioned in an earlier post, this segment has been edited from its original release. I think that in this case, it would be easier to cite a paragraph from IMDB about this:
“The original “Pastoral Symphony” segment featured extremely politically-incorrect “pickaninny”-type African American little-girl centaurs who perform servant duties for the female centaurs. These scenes were first edited in the 1969 re-release of the film by physically cutting the offending footage from the film (resulting in an obvious sound jump). … A brief account of this story and at least one actual cel photograph are presented in the book “Cartoon Confidential” by Jim Korkis and John Cawley (Malibu Graphics Press).”
Aside from the edits and the nature of them, the fantasy and the wistfulness that this captured in this piece is always a delight to watch. One of the film’s popular characters was Peter Pegasus, the spunky black Pegasus that enjoyed the thrill of flight. In fact, there was talk that he would appear again in a future version of Fantasia, perhaps even with the abandoned Cydalise music. While this segment is long, it doesn’t feel as long as say The Rite of Spring feels is.
Part VII: Dance of the Hours, Amilcare Ponchielli
The original ballet was a celebration of the different times of the day and the Disney artists preserve this in their animation of the Dance of the Hours. The key thing that I think of every time I see this is an echo from one (maybe even both) of the making of documentaries about Fantasia. They knew that the sequence would be funny if it was believable. I take this to mean that if the animals looked too cartoony the effect would be lost. If the dance moves were faked (without any consideration for the actual movements of the body or the actions that comprise the art of the dance), replacing the dancers with animals wouldn’t be enjoyable.
We are greeted by the ostriches in the early morning. The choice animal really emphasizes the ballet movements as they rise and slowly begin their day. Because the ostrich is naturally neck and leg watching the “diva” ostrich (Mlle. Upanova) stretch and perform is almost hypnotic. It does get a little silly (naturally) with the consumption of breakfast of the rest of the ostriches.
Then we are introduced to the hippopotami that represent mid-day, and the prima ballerina (Hyacinth Hippo) who is a little lazy, very much spoiled. As with the ostriches, they are realistically animated and the same style appears in the circus parade sequence of Dumbo. If anything, they are caricatures of ballerinas that happen to be hippos. If anyone were to ask me personally if there was any one cartoon character that I thought I was it would be Hyacinth. She may have the curves, but she has the self-confidence of a ballerina. It’s almost as if she’s saying “I earned my place here and I am damned beautiful.”
As dusk comes to pass, a number of elephants come to participate in the dance. I always find it interesting to watch because only a few years later, Dumbo is produced and it uses both elephants and bubbles. The elephants in Fantasia are purposefully identical unlike in Dumbo where they are distinct personalities. I recall (from various documentaries) that bubbles are some of the most difficult things to animate. There are classes that use the bubble as a test to see the development and abilities of animators. Just as in the Nutcracker Suite, there are hundreds if not thousands of bubbles. The complement of the feat is this: they do not distract from the story because they seem natural.
The night and the finale are ushered in with the appearance of Ben Ali Gator and his crew. He is obviously fascinated with Hyacinth and the results are hilarious (as well as disastrous for the set). The crew of alligators is not in love with their hippopotami counterparts as Ben Ali is in love with Hyacinth. In fact, some seem to want to make snacks of them and some of the previous dancers. After seeing Fantasia 2000, the sequence of The Carnival of the Animals makes me think of the madcap behavior exhibited in the Dance of the Hours. I can even recall a few of the Loony Tunes shorts that let the music drive the action on the screen.
I enjoy this sequence because while it tells a story about a day, it design and thought put into the characters to tell the story is just as unique as the concept of Fantasia itself.
Part VIII: Night on Bald Mountain, Modest Mussorgsky and Ave Maria, Franz Schubert
This sequence is often considered the balancing of “The Profane and the Divine”. The contrast of the two pieces is done on purpose. The history of “Night on Bald (bare) Mountain” is that it is a reflection of Russian literary works that emphasized the folklore of witches, and the event depicted is what is called a witches Sabbath. While there are no witches (traditional pointy hat wearing) obviously present in the piece and the leader of the celebration is represented by the imposing character of Chernabog. He conducts the demons he summons in time with the music that surrounds you. There is no emphasis on humans, but on various ghosts, ghouls and spooks.
One of the more interesting aspects of animation of this sequence to me happens at the very beginning, as Chernabog begins to wake. How his shadow pours from his fingers and how this night “floods” the town and trickles to the graveyard. As night arrives there, the ghosts and ghouls appear seemingly from their graves. I like the look of these characters, almost as if they are chalk drawings on black paper and the ripple effect they have as they soar into the air.
As I mentioned above, there is no direct emphasis on humans. There is a great sequence where Chernabog creates three dancing women out of fire. They move with a bit of a sensual pitch, but that seems to annoy the great demon and he promptly turns them to grotesque farm animals – a pig, a dog and a goat. In fact, this whole sequence really is about him searching for the best possible set of demons to terrorize the town below.
I really enjoy (as an adult) the little monster demons that take joy in just being there with their little dances and their awkward bodies. I am reminded of the motley crew of demons that hangout with Jareth in Labyrinth during the sequence where he plays with Toby (You remind me of the babe. What babe? The babe with the power. What power? The power of Voodoo. Who do? You do. Do what? Remind me of the babe).
However, he runs out of time. The church bells ring and Chernabog has to abandon his grand plans. The monsters begin to slink away and the ghosts and ghouls dejectedly return to the graveyard. There is one skeletal horse and rider that always look to me especially disappointed that they were unable to scare anyone.
As the church bells continue to ring to announce the coming of the new day, we soon are launched into the music and the longest multiplane sequence to date in Ave Maria. This was very ambitious on the part of the production team. In fact, this was the last sequence filmed before the premiere.
The Ava Maria sequence was recorded with the multiplane camera in one continuous take – trice. The first time the sequence was recoded, the wrong camera lens was used, capturing a wide screen version of the segment. However, the segment was not designed that way and you could see the artists and machinery scrambling about in the film. That take was scrapped.
The second time the artists tried to record the sequence there was an earthquake at the studios. I believe that it was Ollie Johnston that recalled the events – the artists watched in horror as the glass panes shook but did not break. Because the sequence was designed as one single take, there could not use what was previously firmed and started again.
Remember how I had previously mentioned that it was a bonus that the soundtrack was on separate film? The third take of the Ava Maria sequence was finished and arrived in New York and was spliced into the film with only hours to spare before the film’s premiere showing.
As for the work itself, I believe it to be a spiritual celebration of the worship. I know that the Ava Maria has certain religious ties, but I think that the artists gave the music a story without having to explicitly tie an organized religion to it. The conceptual drawings for the piece make it very clear that it is a parade of nuns, however since the segment focuses on the scenery more so, many may not recognize them as such. I also appreciate the fact that instead of showing them arrive at a cathedral, they elude to one by the shapes of the trees and the eventual breaking of the dawn.
I am sure that my comments about Fantasia as a whole at least inspire someone to take a second look at the film it is was one that was dismissed out of hand previously. I don’t think I have really done a justice to the artwork or even clearly explained why it strikes me so. This is so much more than a cartoon, it really is something that ties two things I love together – music and animation. It’s disappointing to know that the Disney studio didn’t make a profit on this film until many years later and that Walt was not alive to see the late 1960’s and mid 1970’s when audiences truly embraced what he was trying to do.
References
Now, I did not properly notate all of the various sources in each section that I used, but here is a list of sources that I referred back to as my own memory failed me.
Wikipedia Articles:
Fantasia (film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasia_(film)
Deems Taylor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deems_Taylor
Leopold Stokowski http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_Stokowski
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toccata_and_Fugue_in_D_minor,_BWV_565
The Nutcracker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutcracker
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorcerer%27s_Apprentice_(Dukas)
The Pastoral Symphony http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._6_(Beethoven)
The Dance of the Hours http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_the_Hours
Night on Bald Mountain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_on_Bald_Mountain
Ave Maria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellens_dritter_Gesang
Oskar Fischinger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Fischinger
Other Websites:
Fantasia (1940) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032455/
Fischinger Trust http://www.oskarfischinger.org/
Pastoral Symphony Uncut http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPKpFNm3QMM
Books:
Taylor, Deems. Walt Disney’s Fantasia. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1940. Print.
Culhane, John. Walt Disney’s Fantasia. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987. Print.
Film, Documentaries and/or films made for television:
Fantasia (Special 60th Anniversary Edition). Dir. James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford I. Beebe. Perf. Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor. Walt Disney Video, 2000. DVD.
The Making of Fantasia. Dir. Unknown. Perf. Various. Walt Disney Video, 2000. DVD.
Fantasia (Walt Disney’s Masterpiece). Dir. Ben Sharpsteen, Bill Roberts, Ford Beebe, Hamilton Luske, James Algar. Perf. Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, Walt Disney. Walt Disney Home Video, 1991. VHS.
Fantasia: the Making of a Masterpiece. Dir Unknown. Perf. Michael Tucker. Walt Disney Home Video, 1991. VHS.