Fantasia

Night on Bald Mountain & Ave Maria

The last segment in Fantasia is a combination of two pieces of music so utterly different in construction and mood that they set each other off perfectly....Musically and dramatically, we have a picture of the struggle between the profane and the sacred.

Night on Bald Mountain ~ Modest Mussorgsky

Night on Bald Mountain, is a dramatically-terrifying celebration of evil during the night of the Witches' Sabbath. As night falls at the foot of Bald Mountain, the lord of evil, the Black God Chernobog appears on the top of the jagged peak. He is the God of Evil in Slavic mythology.

The Russian word "лысая" (lïsaya) literally means "bald", but is used in this case figuratively for a mountain supposedly barren of trees.

Bela Lugosi served as a live-action model for Chernabog, the demon in "Night on Bald Mountain." Lugosi spent several days at the Disney studios, where he was filmed doing evil, demon-like poses for the animators to use as a reference. However, the animator in charge was dissatisfied with Lugosi's performance thus someone else was used.

The nocturnal Chernabog summons the demons, skeletons, & other evil creatures from their graves & empower the restless souls.

The horror of the evil in Night on Bald Mountain comes to an abrupt end with the sound of the Angelus bell, which send Chernabog and his followers back into hiding.

The multiplane camera tracks away from Bald Mountain to reveal a line of faithful robed religious figures with lighted torches. The camera slowly follows them as they walk through the forest and ruins of a cathedral to the sounds of the Ave Maria.

Ave Maria ~ Franz Schubert

The god of evil realizes the power of good is too strong. The spirits draw back and return to their resting places in their graves. The sky lightens as peace returns. Light triumphs over darkness, goodness over evil.

Schubert's Ave Maria is actually the second part of the seventh segment. The end of the first part blends seamlessly into the second part without a pause.

In the drifting morning mist at the base of the mountain, white-hooded figures with glowing candles move in a procession.

The silhouettes proceed up a shallow-sloping hill, among natural forms that resemble the architecture of a cathedral (trees are tall and completely vertical, resembling columns, and branches cross together to form gothic arches), the predawn sky filled with colour by the coming sunrise.

As the rays of the reddish sun rises, the powers of light are triumphant over the powers of death.