Fantasia (1940)

Fantasia (1940) (from Greek phantasia: “imagination”, “the power to make something visible in the mind”)

Fantasia is composed by eight segments,

• Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (c. 1704–1707) – Johann Sebastian Bach
• The Nutcracker Suite (1892) – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1897) – Paul Dukas
• The Rite of Spring (1913) – Igor Stravinsky
• The Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No. 6) (1808) – Ludwig van Beethoven
• Dance of the Hours (1876) – Amilcare Ponchielli
• Night on Bald Mountain (1867) – Modest Mussorgsky
• Ave Maria (1825) – Franz Schubert

All of them are in orchestral form. They are played Philadelphia Orchestra and conducted by Leopold Stokowski.

Introduction: the Orchestra

The orchestra (from Greek orchestra: “to dance”) is a large ensemble of musicians playing a range of different instruments together, organized into families/sections.

A full (or “symphony”) orchestra typically has four main sections: strings, woodwinsd, brass, and percussion:

Section	Instruments
Strings	- Violins (split into “first” and “second” violins, playing different parts) - Violas - Cellos - Double basses
Woodwinds	- Flutes - Oboes - Clarinets - Bassoons (- Piccolo, English horn, or contrabassoon as variants: sometimes)
Brass	- Trumpets - French horns - Trombones - Tuba
Percussion	- Timpani (tuned drums) - Other (as needed): snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, xylophone, triangle… (- Sometimes: harp, piano, or celesta)

A full symphony orchestra can range from about 70 to over 100 musicians. Smaller groupings have their own names — a chamber orchestra is smaller (maybe 15–40 players), and a string orchestra uses only the string section.

The conductor stands at the front, doesn’t play an instrument, but leads the ensemble: setting tempo, dynamics, and interpretation, and keeping everyone together.

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

The Toccata and Fugue in D Minor was atributed to Johann Sebastian Bach () for solo organ (arranged by Leopold Stokowski to orchestra).

Bach was the main composer of the Barroque musical period, which goes roughly from 1600 to 1750 AD.

Some of the main characteristics are the following:

• Continuous bass: una línea de bajo constante, normalmente tocada por un instrumento como el clave o el órgano junto a un instrumento grave (violonchelo, fagot), sobre la cual se improvisaban armonías. Es la columna vertebral de casi toda la música barroca.

• El contrapunto: como vimos con la fuga, varias líneas melódicas independientes que se entrelazan, en vez de una simple melodía con acompañamiento.

• Terraced dynamics: dramatic contrast between forte (strong) and piano (light) sections, fast and slow,

• Ornamentations: trines, mordents, and melodical adorns very elaborated.

• New forms: the Opera appeared, and also some forms were consolidated, such as the suite, the concert, the sonata, the tocatta, and the fugue.

A Tocatta (from italian toccare: “to touch”) is a virtuosic improvisatory showpeace, typically for a keyboard instrument (organ, hapsichord…) designed to show off the performer’s technical skills. They are usually fast, virtuosic and free-flowing in structure.

A fuge (from latin fuga: “flight” or “chase”) is a more formal interweaving piece with multiple independent voices (melodic lines) which interpret a main theme successively.

The subject (main melodic idea is introduced alone), then a second voice enters with the same subject (usually transposed: translated to other notes respecting the distance between each of them), while the first voice continues with a countersubject. More voices join one by one, each starting the subject while the others weave complementary lines around it.

The subject gets passed around, developed, sometimes inverted or altered, and the piece builds in complexity as the voices “chase” each other.

That’s a classic pairing in Baroque keyboard music: showmanship first, then craftsmanship. Bach did that in other works too, like his various Preludes and Fugues of Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Piano) that required a well afinación in all the tonalities possible.

The Nutcracker Suite

The Nutcracker Suite (1972) is a music composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for a ballet The Nutcracker

A ballet is a form of staged theatrical dance, combining choreographed movement, music, a narrative or story (in most cases) told by the dance, and costumes, sets, and staging.

It originated in the Italian Renaissance courts (15th century) as elaborate court entertainments. Then it was heavily developed and formalized in France under Louis XIV (himself an avid dancer) in the 17th century (that’s why much of the technical vocabulary is French: corps de ballet (all dancers), pas de deux (duet), plié, pirouette, arabesque, divertissement (short varied dances)).

It later flourished enormously in Russia in the 19th century, where composers elevated ballet music from being merely functional and danceable to genuinely great, complex orchestral art in its own right (before, scores were often considered a lesser, purely functional genre compared to opera or symphonic music).

A suite is a collection of short instrumental pieces or movements grouped together and performed as a set — usually connected by a shared origin (like coming from the same larger work) or a common character or theme, but each movement still stands somewhat independently, often with its own tempo, mood, and style.

During the Romantic era, composers began pulling movements from a larger work (an opera, ballet, incidental music…) and repacked them as a standalone orchestal suite, as a highlight reel (it’s different from a Baroque dance suite).

Tchaikovsky took eight movements from the ballet The Nutcracker and arranged them into The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a, so audiences could enjoy highlights without needing the full ballet, sets, dancers, or story.

1. Miniature Overture
2. March
3. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
4. Russian Dance (Trepak)
5. Arabian Dance
6. Chinese Dance
7. Dance of the Reed Flutes (Mirlitons)
8. Waltz of the Flowers

In Fantasia the first and second movements were removed and they also re-ordered the remaining six: Sugar Plum, Chinese, Reed Flutes, Arabian, Trepak, Waltz of the Flowers.

An overture (from French ouverture: “opening”) is an instrumental introduction played before to a larger work like an opera, ballet, oratorio, or musical. It sets the mood or atmosphere, and introduce the musical themes that will appear later.

A march is a steady piece, usually 2/4 or 4/4 historically tied to military processions. It was choreographed as a formal, processional movement in ballet (a famous one is the Radetzky Marsch, played in Viena in New Year by clapping each tempo, who honorates Austrian field marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz after a military victory in North Italy).

Trepak (or Tropak) is a traditional Ukrainian folk dance, fast, energetic, and danced in 2/4 time. It’s characterized by a rapid tempo that often accelerates, a vigorous, athletic movements, historically danced by men, featuring high kicks, squats, jumps, and fast footwork, and simple, driving, repetitive rhythmic patterns that build energy and excitement.

The Arabian Dance and The Chinese dance are imagined versions of those musical traditions.

In The Dance of the Reed Flutes they mimic a mirliton. They were simple wind instrument that work like a kazoo: you hum or sing into a tube, and a thin membrane inside vibrates, giving the sound a distinctive buzzy, reedy quality.

And finally, a waltz is a dance in triple meter (3/4 time), with a distinctive “ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three” lilt. It originated in Austria and Germany in the late 18th century. It became the dominant ballroom dance of the 19th century (exemples stand out such as the Wiener Walzer or “the Blue Danube”)

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

L’Apprenti sorcier (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) (1897) is a symphonic poem by Paul Dukas, based on the homonimous Goethe’s 1797 ballad-poem Der Zauberlehrling (also based on a story of ancient Greek satirist Lucian).

A symphonic poem is a single-movement orchestral piece designed to musically illustrate or evoke a specific extra-musical idea (a story, a poem, a painting, a place) without following the traditional multi-movement structure of a symphony. The music follows the narrative or emotional arc of its source material.

This was a Romantic-era innovation, pioneered largely by Franz Liszt in the mid-19th century, as composers wanted more freedom to let story dictate musical form rather than fitting stories into pre-existing abstract structures like sonata form.

L’Apprenti sorcier tells the same story that represents the films. In Goethe’s poem, besides, the old sorcerer scolds the apprentice at the end with the moral that powerful forces should only be summoned by those who’ve truly mastered them.

The Rite of Spring

Le Sacre du printemps (“The Rite of Spring”) (1913) by Igor Stravinsky is a ballet score composed by Igor Stravinsky for the Ballets Russes company in Paris, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky.

It depicts scenes from pagan pre-Christian Russia, specifically ancient fertility rituals celebrating the arrival of spring. The ballet is structured in two parts:

1. “Adoration of the Earth”: a tribe celebrates the coming of spring with ritual games, dances, and processions honoring the earth.

2. “The Sacrifice”: the tribe selects a young woman, the “Chosen One,” who must dance herself to death as a sacrificial offering to ensure the earth’s fertility for the coming year.

Intermission

An intermission (from Latin intermissio: “to interrupt”, “to send in between”) is a planned break or pause in the middle of a longer performance (a play, opera, ballet, concert, or film) during which the audience can leave their seats, stretch, use the restroom, get refreshments, or just rest before the second half begins.

In many operas and ballets intermission is silent. Some composers wrote a composite intermission with music as an emotional or atmospheric bridge. That was very common in the late XIX century opera. It stands out the Intermezzo de Cavalleria Rusticana

The Pastoral Symphony

The Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No. 6) by Ludwig van Beethoven is his own musical depiction of a day in the countryside, feelings evoked by nature. He was an avid walker who loved spending time outdoors around Vienna. The symphony is a love letter to that experience.

A symphony (from Greek symphonia: “sounding together”) is a large-scale orchestral work, almost always structured in multiple movements, each with its own tempo, character, and often its own internal formal structure. It’s considered one of the most prestigious and substantial forms in Western classical music: the “big statement” piece for a full orchestra (roughly analogous to what a novel is to literature versus a short story or poem).

Haydn and Mozart stablished its structure in the late 18th century (Classicism period) in four movements:

1. First: usually fast, in sonata form (a structure with an exposition presenting themes, a development section that transforms/explores them, and a recapitulation that returns to the opening themes). Often the most substantial, “argumentative” movement.

2. Second: typically slow, lyrical, expressive — the emotional heart of the piece.

3. Third: traditionally a minuet and trio (a stately dance in triple meter) in the Classical era

4. Finale – usually fast and energetic again, bringing the work to a satisfying, often triumphant close.

Beethoven and later composers (Romantic period) often replaced the third movement with a scherzo (meaning “joke” in Italian): faster, more energetic livelier, and often also more rhythmically playful or surprising.

The Pastoral Symphony is structured in five movements (rather than the usual four) and is .

1. “Awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside” (Allegro ma non troppo) – warm, relaxed, pastoral melodies suggesting arrival and contentment.

2. “Scene by the brook” (Andante molto moto) – flowing, gentle string figures evoke rippling water; famously ends with woodwinds imitating actual birdsong — Beethoven specifically wrote in the score that the flute represents a nightingale, the oboe a quail, and the clarinet a cuckoo.

3. “Merry gathering of country folk” (Allegro) – a lively, rustic dance, evoking villagers celebrating — deliberately a bit rough and “unpolished” sounding in places, imitating folk musicians.

4. “Thunderstorm” (Allegro) – dramatic, turbulent, one of the most vivid storm depictions in classical music — rumbling low strings and timpani for thunder, sudden dynamic shifts, and a real sense of nature’s power.

5. “Shepherd’s song: happy and thankful feelings after the storm” (Allegretto) – the storm passes, and a serene, grateful, hymn-like melody (evoking a shepherd’s pipe) closes the work in peace and gratitude.

This symphony sits at a transition point moving from the balanced “abstract” ideals of Classical-era symphonies toward the more emotionally expressive, narrative-driven Romantic era that would follow. Beethoven himself added a note fearing it might be seen as too “literal” rathing than staying in the more “elevated” abstract emotional realm.

In the film appear mythological figures associated with

Centaurs were

Fauns were Roman, derived from Faunus, the Roman god of the forest, fields and wild nature, associated with fertility and shepherds. They are minor woodland spirits: half-human, half-goat (horns, goat legs), often mischievous and associated with music, wine, and revelry. They’re very similar to the Greek satyr, a comparable half-goat, half-human nature spirit tied to Dionysus.

Cherubs come from a Hebrew and biblical tradition. In the Old Testament, כרובים (cherubim) are powerful, fearsome angelic beings guarding sacred spaces (like the entrance to Eden), often described with multiple wings and composite animal-like features.

The chubby cute baby angel comes from the putto: a chubby, winged, nude child figure common in Roman and later Renaissance/Baroque art, originally representing minor love/nature spirits (related to Cupid/Eros imagery), with no biblical connection at all.

Over time, Christian art fused the “cherub” concept with “putto” visual style of the Roman.

Actually Roman, not Greek in origin — derived from Faunus, a Roman god of the forest, fields, and wild nature (associated with fertility and shepherds). Fauns are minor woodland spirits: half-human, half-goat (horns, goat legs), often mischievous and associated with music, wine, and revelry. They’re very similar to — and often visually confused with — the Greek satyr, a comparable half-goat, half-human nature spirit tied to Dionysus. Over centuries, Roman and Greek imagery got blended together in art, so today “faun” and “satyr” are often used almost interchangeably, even though they come from technically distinct mythological traditions.

Cherubs
Not Greek or Roman at all — they come from a completely different source: Hebrew/biblical tradition. In the Old Testament, cherubim (כרובים) are actually powerful, somewhat fearsome angelic beings guarding sacred spaces (like the entrance to Eden), often described with multiple wings and composite animal-like features — nothing like the chubby baby image we picture today.

The “cute baby angel” look actually comes from a separate Roman tradition: the putto (plural putti) — a chubby, winged, nude child figure common in Roman and later Renaissance/Baroque art, originally representing minor love/nature spirits (related to Cupid/Eros imagery), with no biblical connection at all. Over time, Christian art fused the biblical “cherub” concept with the visual style of the Roman “putto,” creating the round-cheeked winged baby image that eventually made its way into Fantasia and pop culture generally.

So the Pastoral segment is a genuine mythological mashup: Roman fauns + Greek centaurs + biblical-turned-Roman-art cherubs + Greek gods (Zeus, Iris, Bacchus/Dionysus—also technically Roman/Greek versions blended) — historically messy, but visually cohesive because centuries of Western art had already been blending these traditions together long before Disney did it.

Centaurs, fauns, cherubs, and Greek mythological figures in a pastoral countryside, culminating in a storm led by Zeus.

The Dance of the Hours

The Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli.

A comedic ballet performed by ostriches, hippos, elephants, and alligators.

Night on Bald Mountain

Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky. The demon Chernabog summons spirits and the dead from a mountain at night.

Ave Maria

Ave Maria by Franz Schubert. A serene procession of hooded figures walking through a forest into the light of dawn, dispelling the darkness of the previous segment.