We are most familiar with it from "Fantasia" the legendary Disney film of 1941. But it was known almost entirely as a piece of orchestral music before that. Scary in itself, and you can see why a stable of disturbed cartoonists could go wild with it.
I think Disney was right that a lot of music is intended to convey imagery, and they did a pretty good job of getting the imagery right, especially in sorcerer's apprentice and the one with the donkey.
ReplyDeleteI think the claim that Tocatta and Fuege in D minor was intended to be purely abstacat is just nuts though. We may be imagining different things when we hear it, but everyone is imagining something, even if they've never seen Rollerball.