Quote:
Originally Posted by Bêthberry
Whether Fantasia's version of Bald Mountain is consistent with Stravinsky's idea is grounds for discussion but that difference doesn't denigrate the creativity of Fantasia, how it inspired audiences.
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Night on Bald Mountain was a tune by Modest Mossorsky and has nothing to do with
Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky, save that both were used in different parts of Walt Disney’s
Fantasia.
About
rights to reuse, that Stravinsky did not sue suggests that Disney had full rights to adapt
Rite of Spring as he saw fit. Similarly Jackson had full rights to make any changes in
The Lord of the Rings that he wished to. Similarly William Shakespeare had full rights to modify the tales of
Hamlet and
King Lear into tragedies (though the earlier tales he adapted had happy endings). Similarly Columbia Pictures were fully within their rights in taking a serious minor western tale called
Cat Ballou and changing it into an enormously successful comedy film.
Nahum Tate in 1621 modified
King Lear to have a happy ending, and dropped the fool from the play, and married Edgar and Cordelia. This was the version presented until 1838 and reduces any changes that Jackson made in
The Lord of the Rings to almost nothing. This version appears to have
inspired many viewers, including Samuel Johnson.
The film director Akira Kurosawa modified Shakespeare’s original
Macbeth and
King Lear into his films
Throne of Blood and
Ran.
In short, that adapters have full rights is generally a given. The question which may be discussed is whether the adaptation was a wise one. I have seen this account of Stravinsky complaining before but not seen any discussion about whether Stravinsky has a point. This tends to suggest that Stravinsky does not, or perhaps rather that people who discuss the film
Fantasia tend to be more knowledgeable about animation than about music.
Although see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rite_of_Spring :
Among those impressed by the film was Gunther Schuller, later a composer, conductor and jazz scholar. The Rite of Spring sequence, he says, overwhelmed him and determined his future career in music: “I hope [Stravinsky] appreciated that hundreds—perhaps thousands—of musicians were turned onto The Rite of Spring ... through Fantasia, musicians who might otherwise never have heard the work, or at least not until many years later”.