In 1929, MICKEY MOUSE starred an episode called "The Opyr House" where he played the famous "Hungarian rhapsody number 2", composed by F. Liszt (1811-1886). The animation film is in black and white and we can listen to "Yankee Doodle" and another two melodies from "Carmen" opera, by G. Bizet (1838-1875): Toreador Song and Habanera.
Mickey es the manager of an Opera Theater. He is the one acting as a virtuoso pianist at the end of the show. Isn't is incredible to think that this cartoon was created almost 100 years ago!?
The whole episode is easy to find in the net, I am just providing the piano performance scene.
On the other hand, short films from "Silly Symphonies" collection (also belonging to Disney) were produced between 1929 and 1939. In those cartoons, they didn't use recurrent characters. The first one (still in black and white) was "The Skeleton Dance" (still very popular, nowadays) where music of a foxtrot can be hear.
However, the first one in color was "Flowers and Trees", where music of several composers were used: A. Rubinstein (Kamennoi-Ostrow op. 10/22, in the credits), F. Mendelssohn (Ruy Blas' Oberture), A. Margis (Valse Bleue), F. Chopin (Funeral March), F. Schubert (Erlkönig), L .van Beethoven (Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral") and F. Mendelssohn again (Wedding March).
"Flowers and Trees" was a success and won the first Academy Award for Animated Short Subjects.
"Music Land" (1935) shows the forbidden love between a princess-violin living in Symphony Land and a prince-saxophone living in Isle of Jazz. Both countries are physically separated by the Sea of Discord. L. van Beethoven's Menuetto in G represents the traditional Symphony Land while a rhythmical music represents the Isle of Jazz. F. J. Gossec's Gavotte is used to escort the "hide-and-seek" game between lovers.
War starts when in Symphony Land the prince-saxophone is arrested and locked into a jail-metronome! Isle of Jazz launches several notes-weapons while Beethoven's 3rd Symphony partners in the background. Symphony Land countercharges with R. Wagner's famous Ride of the Valkyries (in an arrangement for organ).
Happily, fighters decide to set apart their differences and they get married, in the end. Of course, now we will hear the Wedding March of R. Wagner and we will see a Harmony Bridge that connect both lands. Here is the link to the whole film.
There are a lot of tiny details that make this short very charming: a clarinet-telescope, string-body-trees in the forest, the S.O.S. is written in a staff, even the color of the notes-weapons is different depending on which side is launching the attack*, not to mention the continuous reference to the big gap between both worlds (classical-serious and jazz-fun).
*Regarding the colors, they bring kind of a subliminal message: can you make a guess?
Later, a new episode was premiered: "Symphony Hour" (1942). This time, the music employed was from F. von Suppé (1819-1895): the overture of the operetta "Light Cavalry". Mickey Mouse performs the rol of conductor, while his friends play the instruments in the orchestra (you can watch it here).
At the beginning, they are rehearsing and everything seems to be in order (I really enjoyed watching Clarabelle Cow playing the violin in such a virtuosic manner). However, the situation starts to go wrong when an accident takes place and the instruments are smashed under a lift!
Despite the strange rings of the music, the audience seems to be delighted and we can hear how they clap enthusiastically at the end!
It is very remarkable the care they take when synchronizing music and actions, this aspect is very appreciated and enhances the overall outcome.
If I had to point out a few down sides, I would say that there are some scenes that could be censored, nowadays (according to the educational standards): Pete is smoking, his motivation (making money) and his grumpy character with poor tolerance for failure are NOT the things that we want to teach our kids. Also, I must say, that a pistol is shown briefly at the end (around minute 6), but, to be fair, it doesn't seem to be too important since the image lasts 1 or 2 seconds.
The Symphony Hour that I was writing about is considered a remake of "The Band Concerto" (1935). This is the first color film having Mickey Mouse as main character. In here, the dearest mouse is again the conductor, but this time it is an open air venue. Donald Duck is selling ice-creams but he wants to make some music with his flute. Mickey doesn't agree.
We can listen to "William Tell" music, composer by G. Rossini (1892-1868), and some other melodies and tunes.
The concert is fraught with incidents: besides Donald's breaks, a bee is fluttering and a tornado bursts, devastating everything! Here you have the link for the episode.
Once again, I need to praise the good work done: synchronizing music and images is one of the best traits in this pieces. It wouldn't be the same, if the filmmakers didn't pay so much attention to it. You can look at the tornado scene, the force becomes more destructive and the music goes along with that increased tension.
At last, I would like to talk about some episodes starred by Minnie: they belong to a set named "Maestro Minnie " that was part of a TV show called "Mickey Mouse Works". This episodes were premiered around the year 2000 and many of them were launched again in the next years. Minnie is the conductor and we will have the chance to listen to symphonic music like:
- Ep. 1 "Ladies Night" - Guillermo Tell (G. Rossini). Minnie seems to be in the wild west.
- Ep. 5 "Goofy for a Day" - Hungarian Dance No. 6 (J. Brahms). Minnie wants to conduct a classical music piece but the instruments are willing to play other music than hers (from minute 11:20).
- Ep. 10 "Mickey and the Culture Clash"* - We can hear the famous Lullaby (J. Brahms) while Minnie falls asleep, but the instruments carry on even without a conductor.
- Ep. 13 "The Mouse who came to dinner" - The fly of the bumblebee (N. Rimsky-Korsakoff). Minnie has to deal with an annoying bee.
*In this episode there is a segment starred by Mickey, where he believes that playing the piano is not that hard. Why should he "waste" his time? But the day of the concert approaches and he starts to freak out because L. van Beethoven's "Moonlight" piano sonata is not an easy work!.
Next the company released "Disney's House of Mouse" (2001-2003). We can find "Rent Day" (Season 1, Episode 9) which compasses another "Maestro Minnie " short film: "Symphony Circus".
I hope you enjoyed reading this post.
Next one will be on Disney too, but I will focus in longer films: "Fantasia" (1940), "Fantasia 2000" and "The Three Musketeers" (2004).
See you!
Comments