Final Project: Musical Exploration Christopher R. Bennett MUS-223-H7322 Appreciation & History of Music Professor Victor Soto Medina Southern New Hampshire University April 21st, 2024
Disney's Fantasia uses a piece of music called Sorcerer's Apprentice (L'Apprenti sorcier) by Paul Dukas. Paul Dukas was a French composer that was born on October 1st, 1865, and died on May 17th, 1935, both in Paris, France. He started and completed Sorcerer's Apprentice in 1897. During the 1890's in Paris the political parties disagreed about everything and could never come together to make good decisions. Which caused turmoil within. Also, the Dreyfus Affair, which was when a French Army Captain Dreyfus was accused and found guilty of handing secret documents to the Imperial Germany military. The Dreyfus Affair caused a split in the intellectual community. The French, during this time-period, were in turmoil throughout their political parties and intellectual community but the artistic community was thriving. I chose this piece of music because it was the first one that I really recognized and wanted to know more about the history and origin of it. Sorcerer's Apprentice (L'Apprenti sorcier) is arguably the best and definitely most popular music composed by Paul Dukas. Paul Dukas was a French composer that was born on October 1st, 1865, and died on May 17th, 1935, both in Paris, France. He started and completed Sorcerer's Apprentice in 1897. During the 1890's in Paris the political parties disagreed about everything and could never come together to make good decisions. Which caused turmoil within. Also, the Dreyfus Affair, which was when a French Army Captain Dreyfus was accused and found guilty of handing secret documents to the Imperial Germany military. The Dreyfus Affair caused a split in the intellectual community. The French, during this time-period, were in turmoil throughout their political parties and intellectual community but the artistic community was thriving. I chose this piece of music because it was the first one that I really recognized and wanted to know more about the history and origin of it.
Paul Dukas uses a variety of musical instruments in his Sorcerer's Apprentice (L'Apprenti sorcier). The instrumentation that he uses throughout this piece of music consists of a piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, a brass clarinet, 3 bassoons, a contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, a glockenspiel, a suspended cymbal, a triangle, a bass drum, a harp, and strings. The way that Dukas uses these instruments together creates a story for the listener to hear. It has the format of a story with a beginning, a build up and then a climax, with the ending to follow. Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas is thrilling and dynamic from the start to the finish. Paul Dukas composed this piece of music as symphonic poem. The rhythm is slow and fast as the story is being told, with almost a mythical feeling throughout. As the music plays the tempo changes going from slow to fast and fast to slow, with all the music coming