Tomoko enjoys films, and appreciates the music that is incorporated into them.
One specialized type of film is animated films, which started almost as early as “real life” films. As examples,, Gertie the Dinosaur in 1914 and the first feature-length animated film el Apostol in 1917 greatly attracted audiences. These silent films were often accompanied by piano and organ music, and classical pieces were sometimes used because of their familiarity. Even modern animated films, especially cartoons, continue to incorporate classical pieces. Here is a sampling.
One of most well known cartoons that used classical music
was Bugs Bunny’s What’s Opera Doc?, which featured Wagner’s Tannhӓuser
chorus. Wagner is less well known for his piano compositions. For instance, his
Wesendonck Lieder for piano and voice were studies for Tristan and
Isolde.
Several other classical piano pieces have become tropes for
cartoons because of their vivid connotations:
· Rachmaninov’s Prelude in C# Minor
· Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody
· Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song” from Leider ohne Worter
· Rimsky’ Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee
Probably the first full-length animated movie that comes to
mind when linked to classical music is Disney’s 1940 Fantasia. Piano
composers who were featured in that movie included:
· Johann Sebastian Bach with his organ music Toccata and Fugue in D minor
· Tchaikovsky with his Nutcracker Suite; Percy Grainger arranged the Flower Waltz for piano, and Mikhail Pletnev adapted seven segments of the Nutcracker into a concert suite for piano
· Paul Dukas with his Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which he also transcribed for two pianos
· Stravinski with his Rite of Spring, which was also composed as a two-hand and four-hand arrangement
· Mussorgsky with his Night on Bald Mountain, for which he had written a version for piano and orchestra
· Franz Schubert with his Ave Maria, for which Franz Liszt arranged in three versions for piano.
Animated films have
helped to popularize classical piano, including exposing children at an early
age, to animate their interest. Tomoko would approve.
