Carnival of the Animals

[Woody13]

Today I was listening to Carnival of the Animals by the French pianist and composer, Camille Saint-Saëns. Several of the passages from this composition are used in various Disney cartoons, feature films and attractions such as "Skeleton Dance", "Beauty and the Beast", "Fantasia" and "Impressions de France". I suspect that many other Disney attractions or films also use portions of this composition. Can anyone add to this list? Do you know of a web page that might list all of the classical music compositions that are used in Disney cartoons, feature films and attractions? Thanks.

 

[Woody13]

I have done a little more research and it turns out that the music in "The Skeleton Dance" is from an Edvard Grieg composition rather than Saint-Saëns. I'll have to search some more until I find the name of the piece.

I found the composition. It is Edvard Grieg's "March of the Trolls". I found this at a great site called, "The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts" at the following link:

http://disneyshorts.toonzone.net/years/1929/skeletondance.html

 

[The Mom]

My recollection is that much of the music from Sleeping Beauty is from the Sleeping Beauty Suite by ?Tchaikovsky.

 

[Woody13]

Originally posted by The Mom
My recollection is that much of the music from Sleeping Beauty is from the Sleeping Beauty Suite by ?Tchaikovsky.

Yes, it was adapted by George Bruns from Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty Ballet" and the lyrics to "Once Upon a Dream" were written by Sammy Fain and Jack Lawrence.

 

[Woody13]

I think I now have the definitive answer to the part of my question concerning "The Skeleton Dance". I just watched "The Skeleton Dance" (hadn't watched it in over a year) and realized that both Grieg's "March of the Trolls" and Saint-Saëns' "Fossils" (from the "Carnival of the Animals") are played in this 1928 cartoon. The credits list the great Carl W. Stalling under the music byline.

What confused me was that I always associate "skeleton" music with "Danse Macabre". Danse Macabre is the name of Opus 40 by Camille Saint-Saëns , written in 1874 . The piece is a tone poem, depicting a skeleton playing the violin in a graveyard as his deceased companions dance around the graves. The piece makes particular use of the xylophone to imitate the sounds of rattling bones. :hammer: