Monday, May 30, 2011
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. It is the third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The film consists of eight segments set to pieces of classical music as conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which were performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Music critic and composer Deems Taylor provides live-action introductions to each segment.
The idea for Fantasia arose in 1937 while Disney planned to revive the declining popularity of Mickey Mouse with The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a more elaborate edition of the Silly Symphonies series. As production costs grew, Disney reconsidered Stokowski's suggestion to expand the concept and produce a feature-length film with a variety of illustrations set to musical pieces. The soundtrack was recorded using a multi-channel sound process called Fantasound, making Fantasia the first commercial film released in stereo.
Fantasia debuted as a roadshow theatrical release on November 13, 1940 to mixed critical reaction. It failed to generate a large commercial audience at first, and the limitations in reproducing Fantasound left Disney in financial straits.
Fantasia was theatrically re-released multiple times with amounts of its original footage and audio being deleted or restored. The film has made a profit since 1969 and earned $76.4 million in domestic revenue. Fantasia is the 21st highest-grossing film of all-time when adjusted for inflation. Its success has led to a sequel, Fantasia 2000, various spin-offs and merchandise.
Night On Bald Mountain is a composition by Modest Mussorgsky.Inspired by Russian literary works and legend, Mussorgsky made a witches' sabbath the theme of the original tone poem, completed on 23 June 1867 (St. John's Eve). St. John's Night on the Bare Mountain and Rimsky-Korsakov's "musical picture" Sadko (also composed in 1867) share the distinction of being the first tone poems by Russian composers.
As with so much of Mussorgsky's music, the work had a tortuous compositional history and was arranged after his death in 1881 by his friend and fellow member of The Mighty Handful Rimsky-Korsakov. It was never performed in any form during Mussorgsky's lifetime. The Rimsky-Korsakov edition premiered in 1886, and has become a concert favorite.
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