Category: Fantasia

TCHAIKOVSHY’S NUTCRACKER PART II

With a simple cut-away transition, suddenly we are looking down on a surface of water and seeing a reflection of flower blossoms falling toward us from above. The actual blossoms meet their reflections and then skim away downstream on the...

TCHAIKOVSKY’S NUTCRACKER — PART I

By the 1930s Tchaikovsky’s (1840-1893) 25-minute suite of eight dances had completely eclipsed his full-length three-hour ballet written in 1892 a year before the composer’s death. No longer, however: the full two-act ballet nowadays has become a Christmastime staple. Still,...

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH’S TOCCATA AND FUGUE IN d MINOR

“Our object is to reach the very people who have walked out on this Toccata and Fugue because they didn’t understand it. I am one of those people,” confessed Walt Disney, “but when I understand it, I like it.”[1] Originally,...

Eyes and Ears at the Same Time!

During September, 1938, Disney convened a series of meetings with Stokowski along with Fantasia’s onscreenhost Deems Taylor (1885–1966), supervising directors Joe Grant (1908–2005) and Dick Huemer (1898–1979) and other staff to audition many many 78rpm recordings of classical music in...

An Orgy of Color, Sound and Imagination

An absolutely singular accomplishment! Upon the film’s release Otis Ferguson of The New Republic described Fantasia as “…one of the strange and beautiful things that have happened in the world.”[1] Fantasia premiered November 13, 1940, at the Broadway Theater (originally...