Disney’s Two Fantasias

Music History Through Animation

Background “The beauty and inspiration of music must not be restricted to a privileged few, but must be made available to every man, woman and child.” - Leopold Stokowski, 1940

“Fantasia is.. the beginning of a new technique for the screen.. and a greater development of sound recording and reproduction.” - Walt Disney, 1940

- Disney’s idea of marrying animation and music had begun in 1929 with the Silly Symphonies series (The Skeleton Dance, 1929, Flowers and Trees, 1932, first Technicolor release, The Old Mill, 1937, first multi-plane animation). Mickey was purposely left out.

- by late-1930’s, Mickey’s popularity was failing, so Disney conceived the idea of starring Mickey in a Silly Symphony based on Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

- Disney ran into Stokowski in a Beverly Hills restaurant and discussed the idea with him. They soon elaborated it into a feature length film consisting of several contrasting musical works. Disney at first called it The Concert Feature.

- Stokowski suggested Fantasia, a musical term meaning “a composition unrestricted by formal design, free reign for fantasy and imagination”

- originally conceived as a continually changing concert program, with new pieces added and old ones withdrawn on a continuing basis.

Leopold Stokowski• born in London, 1882 emigrated to New York in 1905• 1912 conductor of Philadelphia Orchestra• an early champion of recorded orchestra music -

• “The recording process will one day reproduce music better than heard in the concert hall”

• experiments with 3-channel stereo sound at Bell Labs • Philadelphia Orchestra transmitted over three phone lines to Washington, DC

• unconventional positioning of instruments in order to produce a better recording• conducted without a baton (hands only), as shown in Fantasia and parodied in Long Haired

Hare

• by 1937 was well known to American audiences through film & radio appearances

• had developed a 9 microphone recording system (mixed to mono) for earlier film recording.

• was eager to collaborate with Disney on a new recording/reproduction technology

Recording Session

- 44 RCA ribbon mics pre-mixed into 6 discrete channels: 1. Violins 2. Violas 3. Cellos & Basses 4. Brass 5. Woodwinds 6. Timpani & other percussion - additionally, 7. mono mix of channels 1-6 8. reverb (distant mic of entire orchestra) 9. (added later) - animator’s click track

-used 8 optical recorders so that each instrument section could be recorded separately, allowed re-balancing of instrument groups at later mixdown- individual instrument groups sometimes overdubbed later

- The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Stokowski- April 7, 1939, continued for 2 months. Nighttime sessions- used 400,000 feet of flammable nitrate optical stock, which had to be housed in a separate building for safety

developed many techniques which were decades later to become standard procedure for film recording: - multi-track recording - multi-microphone premixing of instrument groups - overdubbing

MixdownThe 8 recorded orchestra tracks were mixed into a 4-channel optical master:

1-3 Music tracks 4. Control track

- Stokowski supervised the mixdown. He was fascinated by the mixing board and called it “the ultimate in conducting”

Audio engineer William Garrity had to invent many devices to handle the mixing process, including the pan pot - rotary control that allows the sound to be moved from one speaker to another.

Track 4 was a recording of tones that controlled the volume of the other three tracks, allowing a greater dynamic range than was possible using optical recordings alone. (The tones were recorded from an oscillator Disney puchased from inventors David Hewlitt and William Packard. )

Fantasound

- only two theatres ever bought a permanent system - one in NYC for the 1940 premiere, 2nd in LA shortly afterwards

- Disney developed a ‘roadshow’ version that could be installed temporarily - still required 1/2 railroad boxcar to move

- specially designed & installed multi-channel theatre audio system. The first true “stereophonic” or “surround” system

- double-system - projector and sound playback were separate devices, electro-mechanically synchronized

- audio played back on custom designed 4 channel “film phonograph”

- three large loudspeaker horns for L-C-R, dozens of smaller speakers for rear of theatre.

- 2 4-channel optical “phonigraphs” , 11 amplifier racks, power supplies, etc.

- the racks stretched over 45 feet and required 400 vacuum tubes

Fantasia Program

1. Johann Sebastian Bach — Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565 (Stokowski's own transcription for symphony orchestra) (abstract images)

2. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Nutcracker Suite Op. 71a (a variety of dances, just as in the original, but danced by animated fairies, mushrooms, fish, etc.)

3. Paul Dukas — L'apprenti sorcier (Mickey Mouse in the role of the apprentice)

4. Igor Stravinsky — The Rite of Spring (early history of the planet Earth, dinosaurs and their extinction)

5. Ludwig van Beethoven — 6th symphony in F, Op.68 "Pastorale" (centaurs, fauns, and other creatures of classical mythology lounge about, cavort, fall in love, etc.)

6. Amilcare Ponchielli — La Gioconda: Dance of the Hours. Also a ballet in the original, performed in the film by elephants, ostriches, hippos, and alligators.

7. Modest Mussorgsky — Night on Bald Mountain (the demon Chernabog and other fiends have an orgy one night until driven back down by the light of day), to

8. Franz Schubert — Ave Maria (monks march in the light of morning)

Fantasia’s Legacy- Nov. 13 1940 - Disney spent over $1 million on the New York premiere - $85,000 just on the sound system.

- was generally a critical success with film reviewers

- Art Digest: “an aesthetic experience never to be forgotten”

- Nov 1940 Time Magazine featured Stokwoski on its cover

- classical music purists thought it diluted the music

- but audiences stayed away, due partly to the Depression, US entry into WWII. Roadshow theatre prices were very high, required reserved seating.

- overall cost was $2.2 million, which was not recovered in full until 1970

- after its premiere run, was re-released in a shortened version, with mono sound, in 1942

- 1955 - nitrate negatives & masters had deteriorated, but a new release master was made from single survivng 4-channel print

- the 60s were good to Fantasia - two releases (1963, 1969) finally showed some profit

- 1984 - the original soundtrack was replaced by a new digital recording

- 1991 - digital audio restoration allowed the original Stokowski recordings to be resurrected. 5.1 Surround and 70mm film allowed it to be recovered more or less completely

SEQUELSMake Mine Music (1946)

First Disney “package” film. After the disappointing response to Fantasia’s classical pretensions, more emphasis put on popular music.

Includes: Peter and the WolfCasey At the BatJohnny Fedora and Alice BluebonnetThe Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met

as well as two shorts featuring Benny Goodman’s Band, All the Cats Join In and After You’ve Gone

SEQUELSMelody Time (1948)

Very little classical music.

Includes: Blame It On the SambaBumble Boogie (Romsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee)Johnny AppleseedLittle TootTrees (Joyce Kilmer poem)Pecos Bill

Fantasia 2000

1. Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 (abstract patterns resembling butterflies)

2. Ottorino Respighi - Pines of Rome (frolicking humpback whales in an unusual setting)

3. George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue (an episode of New York City 1930s-era scenes drawn in the style of Al Hirschfeld)

4. Dmitri Shostakovich - Piano Concerto No. 2: Allegro (a portrayal of the Hans Christian Andersen tale The Steadfast Tin Soldier)

5. Camille Saint-Saëns - The Carnival of the Animals: Finale (a flock of flamingos, one with a yo-yo; music arranged by Peter Schickele)

6. Paul Dukas - The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Mickey Mouse, from the original Fantasia, conducted by Leopold Stokowski)

7. Edward Elgar - Pomp and Circumstance Marches (The story of Noah's Ark, with Donald Duck as a first mate to Noah; music arranged by Peter Schickele)

8. Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird. The story of a spring sprite and her companion Elk. Digital version of the multiplane technique.