"It's my very pleasant duty /to welcome you here... /on behalf of Walt Disney, /Leopold Stokowski... /and all the other artists /and musicians whose combined talents... /went into the creation of this new form of entertainment, Fantasia." "What you're going to see... /are the designs /and pictures and stories... /that music inspired in the minds /and imaginations... /of a group of artists." "In other words, /these are not going to be... /the interpretations /of trained musicians." "Which I think is all to the good." "So now we present... /the Tocatta and Fugue in D-Minor /byJohann Sebastian Bach... /interpreted in pictures /by Walt Disney and his associates... /and in music /by the Philadelphia Orchestra... /and its conductor, /Leopold Stokowski." "You know, it's funny how wrong /an artist can be about his own work." "Now, the one composition of /Tchaikovsky's that he really detested... was his Nutcracker Suite... /which is probably the most /popular thing he ever wrote." "Incidentally, you won't see /any nutcracker on the screen." "There's nothing left /of him but the title." "And now we're going to hear a piece of /music that tells a very definite story." "It's a very old story." "One that goes back almost 2,000 years." "A legend about a sorcerer /who had an apprentice." "He was a bright young lad /very anxious to learn the business." "As a matter of fact, /he was a little bit too bright... /uh, because he started practicing /some of the boss's best magic tricks... /before learning /how to control them." "Mr. Stokowski." "Mr. Stokowski." "My congratulations, sir." "Congratulations to you, Mickey." "Gee, thanks." "Well, so long." "I'll be seein' ya." "Good-bye." "When Igor Stravinsky wrote his ballet, The Rite of Spring... /his purpose was, in his own words, /to express primitive life." "So Walt Disney and his fellow artists /have taken him at his word." "Instead of presenting the ballet /in its original form... /as a simple series of tribal dances, /they have visualized it as a pageant... /as the story of the growth /of life on earth." "It's a coldly accurate reproduction /of what science thinks went on... /during the first few billion years /of this planet's existence." "So now imagine yourselves /out in space... /billions and billions /of years ago... /looking down on this lonely, /tormented little planet... /spinning through /an empty sea of nothingness." "Uh, before we get into /the second half of the program... /I'd like to introduce /somebody to you... /somebody who's very important to Fantasia." "He's very shy and very retiring." "I just happened to run across him /one day at the Disney studios." "But when I did, I realized... /that here was not only an indispensable /member of the organization... /but a screen personality." "And so I'm very happy to have /this opportunity to introduce to you... /the soundtrack." "All right." "Come on." "That's all right." "Don't be timid." "Atta soundtrack." "Now, watching him, I discovered /that every beautiful sound... /also creates /an equally beautiful picture." "Now, look." "Will the soundtrack /kindly produce a sound?" "Go on, don't be nervous." "Go ahead." "Any sound." "Well, that isn't quite /what I had in mind." "Uh, suppose we hear /and see the harp." "Uh, now one of the strings..." "say, oh, the violin." "And now..." "now one of the woodwinds... /a flute." "Very pretty." "Uh, now let's have a brass instrument..." "the trumpet." "Oh, all right." "Now, uh, how about /a low instrument... the bassoon?" "Go on." "Go on." "Drop the other shoe, will you?" "Well, now to finish, suppose we see /some of the percussion instruments... /beginning with the bass drum." "Thanks a lot, old man." "The symphony that Beethoven /called the Pastoral... /his sixth, is one of the few pieces /of music he ever wrote... /that tells something /like a definite story." "He was a great nature lover, /and in this symphony... /he paints a musical picture /of a day in the country." "Now, of course, /the country that Beethoven described... /was the countryside /with which he was familiar." "But his music covers /a much wider field than that... /and so Walt Disney /has given the Pastoralsymphony... /a mythological setting." "Now we're going to do one of the most /famous and popular ballets... /ever written..." "The Dance of the Hours... /from Ponchielli's opera La Gioconda." "It's a pageant /of the hours of the day." "All this takes place /in the great hall... /with its garden beyond... /of the palace of Duke Alvise, /a Venetian nobleman." "The last number /in our Fantasia program... /is a combination of two pieces /of music so utterly different... /in construction and mood that /they set each other off perfectly." "The first is /A Night on Bald Mountain... /by one of Russia's greatest composers, /Modeste Mussorgsky." "The second is Franz Schubert's /immortal Ave Maria." "Musically and dramatically, /we have here... /a picture of the struggle /between the profane and the sacred."