| Night on Bald Mountain | Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) |
| “Dance of the Hours” from La Gioconda | Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886) |
| The Sorcerer’s Apprentice | Paul Dukas (1865-1935) |
| INTERMISSION | |
| In Other News | Anthony Joseph Lai (b. 1984) |
| The Firebird Suite (1919) | Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) |
View today’s full program book HERE
Program Notes by Ava McDowell
(Note: These notes are in a narrative style and the pieces are not in the order they are performed.)
The Walt Disney Company
It’s 1936 and Mickey Mouse is having an identity crisis. This iconic character, the face of the Walt Disney Company, was being overshadowed by newcomers Goofy and Donald Duck. What was a mouse, or rather a company President, to do?
Walt Disney (1901-1966) was a cartoonist, animator, entrepreneur, and producer. He began as the cartoonist for his Kansas City high school newspaper, moving on to advertising after graduation, but always with an interest in film. While working for an ad agency in 1920, Disney borrowed a book on animation and taught himself.
Disney moved to Hollywood in 1923 and opened the Disney Brothers Studios with his brother Roy. In partnership with New York distributer, M.J. Winkler, they produced their cartoon series about a little girl in a cartoon world, Alice’s Wonderland, until 1927. At Roy’s suggestion, the name of the company was soon changed to Walt Disney Studio.
Disney’s next series based on the character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, proved to be more successful than expected. When Disney asked for more money, he learned that, the distributor had secretly signed away almost all of Disney’s animators and owned the rights to Oswald.
Disney and remaining animator Ub Iwerks needed a new character, and in 1928, Mickey Mouse was born. Mickey made his debut in the first ever post-produced sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie, on November 18, 1928 to rave reviews and launching a series of Mickey Mouse cartoons.
Following the popularity of Mickey Mouse, Disney hired composer/arranger Carl Stalling who suggested an animated series telling short stories through music. Stalling’s suggestion, known as Silly Symphonies, became a combination training ground for new animators, and a test lab for trying new methods.
One episode of the series, Flower and Trees, won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Cartoon for 1932, Disney’s first. He would go on to hold the record for the most Academy Award nominations (59) and wins (22) by an individual.
In 1934, recognizing that the future of the Disney company would rest on feature-length animated films, he informed his team their next project was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Despite skepticism from Hollywood, Snow White opened on December 21, 1937 and became the highest grossing film of all time until surpassed by Gone with the Wind.
Ever the innovator, Disney expanded the company to include Mickey Mouse merchandise, and added the new characters of Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and Minnie Mouse. Before long, Mickey’s sales were slumping as the other characters sales grew. Disney decided the vehicle for Mickey’s comeback would be as the star of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
Disney contracted with Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra in 1937. Stokowski was so enthusiastic about Disney’s idea that he offered to conduct the piece for free.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
In the history of one-hit-wonders, Paul Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice is second only to Pachelbel’s Canon in D in popularity, but without Walt Disney, generations of Americans would have no idea the work existed.
Paul Dukas studied piano and composition at the Paris Conservatory, becoming close friends with Claude Debussy. Dukas won many prizes for his compositions, but was never able to win the most prestigious prize, the Prix de Rome. After finishing second in 1888, he dropped out and joined the Army.
Following his military service, Dukas began a career as a music critic, teacher, and composer. He was known to be highly self-critical and often abandoned or destroyed works he felt were not good enough. It is believed that he destroyed twice as many compositions as he published, including a large number shortly before his death.
Dukas published one symphony, one opera, eleven piano works, and two orchestral works – one of which was his most famous, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Johannes von Goethe found the story of a sorcerer-in-training in the 2nd century writings of Greek satirist Loukianos (Lucian) and retold it as the poem, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in 1797. One hundred years later, Dukas retold the story through music, and in 1936, Disney added the animation.
The simple lesson of not allowing one’s reach to exceed their grasp, is depicted by a young apprentice (Micky Mouse) who tries to wield a bit of his master’s magic, only to find that he is unable to stop what he started.
Musicologist, William Runyan wrote, “Dukas’ work owes much of its popularity to its engaging story, but its success is founded in the composer’s marvelous ability to spin out phrases that are built upon simple musical ideas – the story literally comes alive in sound.”
Fantasia – Development
Stokowski “had some very interesting ideas on instrumental coloring which would be perfect for an animation medium,” Disney’s New York representative reported. Disney thought their collaboration “would be the means of a success and should lead to a new style of motion picture presentation.”
By January 1938, with production costs far exceeding the budget, Roy Disney realized that this short film would never recoup its cost. Walt, however “saw this trouble in the form of an opportunity. This was the birth of a new concept.” The concept became the full-length feature film, Fantasia.
During a series of meetings in September 1938, the final music selections were made. Disney’s instructions were simple: Picture the music. This was a departure from the team’s work on Snow White, and the two films in development, Bambi and Pinocchio where the objective was to fit the music to the picture.
Some of the rejected pieces included Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G minor and Troika, Mussorgsky’s Song of the Flea, Debussy’s Clair de Lune, and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.
The film opens with Deems Taylor introducing the program and Bach’s, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, followed in order by The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours, and closing with Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain combined with Ave Maria.
Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda – Ponchielli
Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh. Here I am at Camp Granada…
Did you sing those words in your head? Picture a dispirited little boy at a summer camp? Imagine dancing hippos, ostriches, and elephants? How about a party ending with host revealing the dead body of his wife? All three would be accurate.
Amilcare Ponchielli is perhaps opera’s greatest forgotten composer. A hugely successful and influential composer, conductor, organist, and teacher, he was second only to Verdi in popularity during the 1870s until his death in 1886.
Ponchielli composed eleven operas, along with numerous sacred and concert works. Most of which are rarely performed with the exception of La Giaconda (1876), his most famous and enduring work. Following his graduation from the Milan Conservatory, he served as composer and conductor in theaters in Cremona and Milan, eventually finding a home at La Scala.
Ponchielli devoted his final years as maestro di cappella of the Bergamo Cathedral and professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory where he counted Puccini, Mascagni, and Tebaldini among his students.
Dance of the Hours is Ponchielli’s most well-known piece, as well as opera’s most parodied. This stand-alone ballet takes place near the end of Act 3.
Alvise, head of the Spanish Inquisition, has discovered his wife Laura has been unfaithful. He orders her to commit suicide by drinking poison, condemning her for all eternity, then throws a party and invites Venetian nobility to attend.
Dance of the Hours is the centerpiece of the evening’s entertainment and revelry. However, at the end of the ballet, the tolling of the funeral bell shatters the revelry and Laura’s body is revealed. (Spoiler alert: Gioconda replaced the poison with sleeping potion, a la Romeo and Juliet.)
Walt Disney used the ballet in the animated film, Fantasia (1940), albeit with a completely different cast of characters in a four-section comedic caricature. The parts of the day were portrayed by Madame Upanova and her company of ostriches as Morning, Hyacinth Hippo and her servants as Afternoon, the bubble-blowing troupe of Elephanchine as Evening, and Ben Ali Gator and company as Night. The finale brings all of the characters together in a dance that, literally, brings down the house.
The Dawn theme reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963, staying there for three weeks thanks to Alan Sherman’s heartfelt plea from summer camp, Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda.
One can only wonder what Ponchielli would think of how he is remembered. Perhaps he would quote Beetle George Harrison’s quip: “It doesn’t bother me as long as they keep paying the royalties.”
Mussorgsky: A Night on Bald Mountain
Modest Mussorgsky was fond of the more earthy aspects of Russian music, quite the opposite of his friend, the great Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Following Mussorgsky’s death in 1881, Rimsky-Korsakov set aside his own work to assemble, edit and orchestrate many of his friend’s works. Unfortunately, many were also gentled so as to be more civilized for the masses. Case in point, the sanitized version of tonight’s work in Disney’s “Fantasia”.
Rimsky-Korsakov recomposed “A Night on Bald Mountain” in 1886. He strove to “preserve in it all that was best and adding as little of mine as possible.” In this particular work, he succeeded, as the work contains all of the frightening images that make this piece a Halloween favorite.
According to Russian legend, Bald Mountain is the setting for the annual witches’ Sabbath that is held on St. John’s Night (the night before the June 24th feast of St. John the Baptist). Each of the sections of the orchestra takes on a part of the scene: Eerily flying strings, screeching winds, and ominous low winds and brass.
In his version of the Mussorgsky score, Rimsky included this brief description of the event: “Subterranean sounds of supernatural voices. Appearance of the spirits of darkness, followed by that of Satan himself. Glorification of Satan and celebration of the Black Mass. The Sabbath revels. At the height of the orgies, the bell of the village church, sounding in the distance, disperses the spirits of darkness. Daybreak.”
Disney’s version follows this general outline with the giant devil Cheranabog summoning evil spirits and restless souls to Bald Mountain where they dance until the church bells summon the procession of the faithful, sending the spirits away, as “we hear the Ave Maria with its message of the triumph of hope and life over the power of despair and death,” as described by composer and conductor Deems Taylor.
Fantasia – Release, Reissues, and Reception
Fantasia was released as a “theatrical roadshow” in thirteen cities, beginning with the Broadway Theater in New York City on November 13, 1940 with the remaining twelve released throughout 1941. Each location’s run lasted anywhere from two month at the Pittsburgh Fulton Theater to 15 months at the Broadway
The roadshow format allowed each theater to be fitted with Disney’s Fantasound, an innovative multi-track recording system that would, according to Disney, “create the illusion that the actual symphony orchestra is playing in the theater.”
The film was a phenomenal success, grossing $1.3 million by April 1941. However, the production cost of $2.28 million, coupled with renting and fitting the theaters, resulted in a loss for Disney.
Following the entry of the US into WWII, RKO took over distribution of the film. To make it more affordable for theaters and patrons, the film was cut down from the original 125 minutes to under 90 minutes and shown using a mono soundtrack.
The film was reissued in 1946 with all of the animation restored, and shortened introduction and bridge sections, the new running time of 115 minutes would become the standard for all future releases.
In subsequent years, the film was edited and reissued multiple times, each time finding a new audience to enthrall. The fiftieth anniversary reissue followed a painstaking two-year restoration. This is the version that was released for home viewing in 1990 with 14.2 million copies purchased.
Audiences loved Fantasia, but critics were split. Film critics considered it a “masterpiece”, a “dream of a symphony concert.” Even the legendarily tough critic Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote, “motion-picture history was made last night. Fantasia…is simply terrific.”
Music critics, along with composer Igor Stravinsky, praised the quality of Disney’s Fantasound, while simultaneously denouncing Stokowski’s arrangements, the orchestra’s performance, and worried the visual images would damage the integrity of the music.
Fantasia 2000
Disney’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, co-produced Fantasia 2000. The film began production in 1990 with James Levine conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice made an encore appearance along with seven new segments consisting of: Beethoven Symphony No. 5, Respighi Pines of Rome, Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue, Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102, Saint-Saens The Carnival of the Animals, Finale, Elgar Pomp and Circumstance – Marchs 1, 2, 3, 4, and finally, Stravinsky Firebird Suite.
Much like the original, the film premiered as part of a five-city tour December 17, 1999 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Unlike the original, the film was screened above the orchestra playing on stage.
The following January, it was released to IMAX theaters for four months, worldwide that summer, and on video in November 2000. While Fantasia 2000 did well in theaters, it was not as well-received as the original.
Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite
Igor Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum, Tsarist Russia on 17 June, 1882. His father, Fyodor, was a famous opera singer in the St. Petersburg Imperial Opera. Determined that his children would have more secure professional lives, he insisted that Igor study law. In 1902 Stravinsky met Rimsky-Korsakov, and following his father’s death later that same year, he began his formal musical composition studies.
Igor was a mere 27 years old when he received his first commission from Russian ballet director Serge Diaghilev to create a fantastical ballet for the 1910 season. Stravinsky chose to base his ballet in the Russian folk-tale of the firebird.
The story of The Firebird is such: Out hunting, Prince Ivan spies a fabulous bird with plumage of fire, which he tries to capture. The bird leads him to a magic garden owned by Kastchei, an evil ogre who holds thirteen princesses captive and turns any would-be rescuers to stone. Ivan succeeds in capturing the Firebird, but is persuaded to set it free in exchange for a magic feather that can be used to call the bird to his aid.
After the Firebird leaves, Ivan attempts to rescue the princesses, and just before he himself is captured, he calls for the Firebird’s aid. With its help, Ivan destroys Kastchei’s immortal soul. The ogre, his castle, and all of his monsters vanish. The Firebird leaves, Ivan weds the most beautiful princess, and together they reign over the now peaceful kingdom
Despite reservations of taking on such an important assignment, the result was stunning, propelling Stravinsky to stardom overnight (literally). After the premier, Claude Debussy enthusiastically rushed backstage to personally applaud the young composer. Capitalizing on his success, Stravinsky wasted no time in preparing an orchestral suite and The Firebird has remained a part of both the ballet and orchestral repertoire.
Disney’s envisioned the close of Fantasia 2000 as the “emotional equivalent” of Night on Bald Mountain in the original. With the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption as the inspiration, Disney tells a story of earth’s destruction and renewal.
Fantasia Legacy
Fantasia has had a lasting legacy in American culture. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was adapted into a feature-length film in 2010. It has been referenced, parodied, or spun-off in myriad television shows. Atari, Sega, and Xbox, among others, have developed games based on the film. A live concert tour, Disney Fantasia: Live in Concert has been touring the world for more than a decade.
The Sorcerer’s Hat was a fixture of Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World from 2001 to 2015. Night on Bald Mountain is a feature of the Storybook Land Canal Boats at Disneyland Paris. Several images and props from the film are on display at Disneyland in California.
Fantasia received two honorary awards for music and animation in 1942. It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1990.
Fantasia is timeless. Fantasia is an idea in itself. I can never build another Fantasia.
I can improve. I can elaborate. That’s all.
Walt Disney
In Other News
Anthony Joseph Lai (b. 1984)
(notes provided by the composer)
“In Other News” is a short, loosely programmatic work inspired by my observations of televised journalism.
Musically speaking, the piece examines broader definitions of dissonance and consonance. The terms are typically applied to harmony that creates tension and then resolves, but this piece explores non-harmonic relationships in search of similar effects. Through the evolving treatment of a short motif, the listener will hear irregular meter or phrasing resolving to regular, as well as other musical contrasts such as staccato vs legato, heavy vs light, and quintal vs tertian chord construction.
Programmatically, this piece was written as I noticed a lack of news coverage on the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East that affected my hometown of Dearborn so deeply. The piece is meant to shift to the uncomfortable at unexpected moments and in unexpected ways. This is an attempt to musically capture the contrast between American cable news coverage and overseas news outlets.
It begins with a striking chord in the piano and harp as a flute introduces a curious theme. As the music wanders between sounds of comfort and discord, it gives way to a sweeping, nautical passage–a warm and jovial image of a welcoming port town on the Mediterranean. This section reflects my own experience with the wonderful people of Tyre, Lebanon, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in 2023.
The listener is then asked to experience with me the horror of watching the news from the region not long after. The chaos of airstrikes and ground invasion overtake the theme, and though the music eventually ends in a moment of peace, it concludes the way these conflicts tend to: without true resolution.
Be sure to look through our program book online and patronize our advertisers.