Walt & Leo. Life Magazine, 1939.
A PASTORAL: STOKOWSKI & WALT
by Paul F. Anderson
I was recently going through my Fantasia drafts and story meeting transcripts looking for any information on the black centaurette Sunflower. A good friend is writing an article on this topic, and was looking for just one more item, the proverbial cherry on the sundae (which as many of you know, I completely understand!). I found a bit for him, but not a lot. However, in searching I ran across this delightful and insightful exchange between Walt and Leopold Stokowski from a 1939 story meeting. I present it here at DHI for your consideration and edification.

STORY MEETING ON
“FANTASIA – BEETHOVEN’S SYMPHONY NO. 6”
August 8, 1939

Meeting Held: Sound Stage

(Meeting was held for the purpose of having Stokowski run music tracks for Walt, Ham Luske, Otto Englander, Ben Sharpsteen, Webb Smith, Ed Penner, and all Beethoven personnel.)

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WALT: On this Pastoral, I think we have a marvelous idea to fit the music, but of course it is just a rough idea, now. The pastoral idea is there, except we are doing it with mythological characters. We are doing it with a fantastic setting–Mount Olympus. This makes the whole thing impossible to stage. We don’t want to follow anything that might have been done on the stage. We want to pick something in our medium. We don’t get too serious, because I don’t feel anything really serious. I feel it is in a light vein–but we’re not going to be slapstick; there is a certain refinement in the whole thing. We’ll go for the beautiful, rather than the slapstick. But I feel we have a perfect liberty to be humorous.

STOKOWSKI: Beethoven is definitely humorous.

WALT: I feel it from the music. When he inserts a cookoo [sic] bird in the score, you now he is trying to be funny. I thought there might be some misconceptions of what we had in mind–that maybe you felt we are going to go overboard and make a Donald Duck out of it.

STOKOWSKI: The thing I want is to be loyal to you and the picture, and to be sure that we don’t offent the kind of worship there is all over the world for Beethoven.

WALT: I think this thing will make Beethoven.

STOKOWSKI: That’s true. In a certain sense, it will. Some who have never heard his name will see this.

WALT: It creates a whole new feeling, a whole new sympathy for this music. I know it’s supposed to be country folk dancing and all that, but we have that. We have Bacchus. He brings all the centaurs and centaurettes in to his gay party, and they are having a good time. It’s just as if you went out and show scenes wherever this was; but instead of birds and animals of today, we have mythological characters in a world of fantasy.

STOKOWSKI: The more fantasy, the better.

WALT: We have just a whole bunch of ideas thrown in. We have to find some order, and I say let the music suggest that order and not force something against the music.

STOKOWSKI: That wouldn’t be a good idea. Could we see a Leica of it, sometime?

WALT: Yes, we have half a Leica. How much do you have?

GEORGE STALLINGS:
The first two movements. The Third is broken down, and we’re working on the last two now.

STOKOWSKI: I can imagine a treatment of Greek mythology which would be realistic. Then I can imagine other treatment [sic] which would be very fantastic and free, not exact of the old mythology. That would be good.

WALT: I don’t think it would be wise for us to do the serious treatment.

STOKOWSKI: Not realistic, then?

WALT: It couldn’t be realistic, because it isn’t real. I think there have been serious minds interpreting these things from mythology before.

STOKOWSKI: But they had definite ideas of Bacchus and the other gods. I think we can make that much freer.

WALT: In those days do you think they were any more serious than we are about Santa Claus?

STOKOWSKI: Yes, it was their religion.

WALT: Do you think it was a real religion, or like we have fairy tales today?

STOKOWSKI: Santa Claus was a religion way back. That’s pre-Christian.

WALT: That was before my time.

STOKOWSKI: Now it has become fantastic.

WALT: That’s what we should do. I don’t think it’s wise for our medium to try to be serious. We have to think of the whole balance of the concert. This has to be something light. The music suggests it; I feel it that way. I would like the music better if, in my mind, that’s what I thought it was intended to be. The storms in Rite of Spring are terrific. To balance the program, we should treat this thing lightly.

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