Fantasia

The Pastoral Symphony –Dance of the Hours

The Pastoral Symphony ~ Ludwig van Beethoven

The Pastoral Symphony takes place on the slopes of Mount Olympus. It is a comical and romantic romp of characters, taken from Greek mythology, who frolic on the countryside.

The symphony that Beethoven called the Pastoral, his Sixth, is one of the few pieces of music he ever wrote that tells something like a definite story. He was a great nature-lover, and in this symphony, he paints a musical picture of a day in the country. Now, of course the country that Beethoven described was the countryside with which he was familiar. But his music covers a much wider field than that, and so Walt Disney has given the Pastoral Symphony a mythological setting.

The Pastoral Symphony utilized delicate color styling to depict a mythical ancient Greek world of centaurs, families of pegasi, the gods of Mount Olympus, fauns, cupids, and other legendary creatures and characters of classical mythology. It tells the story of the mythological creatures gathering for a festival to honour Bacchus, the god of wine riding his horned donkey, Jacchus, which is interrupted by Zeus, who decides to have a little fun by throwing lightning bolts at the attendees.

Dance of the Hours ~ Amilcare Ponchielli

Dance of the Hours from his opera La Gioconda, is an animal ballet. It is a burlesque, satirical parody of classical ballet divided into four parts. It is an enjoyable tribute to poetry in motion through ballet, performed in a Great Hall by a group of atypical, anthropomorphic dancers, including ostriches, hippos, elephants, and alligators. This was one of the most famous and popular ballets ever written..It's a pageant of the hours of the day.

(1) Ostrich Ballet (Morning): The dancers of the morning are represented by Madame Upanova and her ostrich students.

(2) Hippo Ballet (Daytime): The dancers of the daytime are represented by Hyacinth Hippo and her hippo servants. (For this section the piece is expanded by a modified and re-orchestrated repetition of the "morning" music.)

(3) Elephant Ballet (Evening): The dancers of the evening are represented by Elephanchine and her bubble-blowing elephant troupe.

(4) Alligator Ballet (Night): The dancers of the night are represented by Ben Ali Gator and his rival alligators.

The finale sees the chaotic chase that ensues between all of the characters seen in the segment until they eventually decide to dance together. The segment ends with the palace collapsing in on itself.