''Music Land'' is a ''

Silly Symphonies ''Silly Symphony'' is an American animation, animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally inte ...

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

released in 1935.

Plot

The short begins by showing a map of Music Land, before zooming in to show the Land of Symphony, a massive classical-themed kingdom where the princess (an

anthropomorphized Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

) grows bored with the slow ballroom dancing and sneaks out. Across the Sea of Discord is the Isle of Jazz, a giant

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

-themed kingdom alive with hot jazz music and dancing, but the prince (an

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

) takes little interest in it. Sneaking out, he spots the princess across the sea with the aid of a clarinet-telescope, and instantly falls in love with her. He quickly travels across the sea on a xylophone boat to meet her. Their flirting is interrupted, however, when the princess' mother (a

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

) sends her guards to lock the prince in a metronome prison tower. To escape this predicament, he writes a note for help (the melody of "

The Prisoner's Song "The Prisoner's Song" is a song copyrighted by Vernon Dalhart in 1924 in the name of Dalhart's cousin Guy Massey, who had sung it while staying at Dalhart's home and had in turn heard it from his brother Robert Massey, who may have heard it while ...

") and passes it to a bird, which brings it to his father (a

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

), who raises the battle cry - a jazz version of the military tune "

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

". The Isle of Jazz deploys its multi-piece band as

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

, bombarding a quarter of the Land of Symphony with explosive musical notes to a jazz/ swing number. The Land of Symphony returns fire via organ pipes that rotate into

cannons A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder dur ...

, launching and roaring extremely loud and furious musical interceptors to the refrains of

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's "

Ride of the Valkyries The "Ride of the Valkyries" (german: Walkürenritt Ritt der Walküren, links=no) refers to the beginning of act 3 of ''Die Walküre'', the second of the four operas constituting Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''. As a separate piece ...

". The princess intervenes to stop the war by waving the flag of surrender, but falls into the sea when a symphony note hits her boat. The prince struggles to escape his cell, but an explosive note helps him by landing next to it and blowing it up, and he rushes to save her, but ends up struggling as well. Both parents see what is happening and quickly cease fire to rescue their children. When they finally save their children, separate them from each other, and start to glare at each other, the king starts taking a liking to the queen, and they decide to make peace via handshake. The story ends on a happy note with a

double wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

, between the prince and princess, and the king and queen, presided over by a

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

minister, as the citizens of both lands dance on the newly built Bridge of

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

and a

rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

with musical notes all over it appears in the sky as the Land of Symphony rebuilds itself.

Production

In an attempt to bridge the gap between

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

and

, the short features music from

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

's '' Eroica'' and

's "

", as well as various popular classical, jazz, and miscellaneous tunes. The film contains no actual speech, but has the characters instead communicate with musical tones, with each 'speaking' through use of the sound of the particular instrument upon which they are based. According to

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

, the film's story originated in the genuine musical dilemma of American society; some people in the 1930s viewed jazz as the end of civilization, similar to how some parents today tend to be perplexed by their children's music interests. Incidentally, the saxophone prince's father is a caricature of the "King of Jazz",

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, ...

. The film was edited into a ''

Walt Disney Presents The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 to the present. The pr ...

'' episode titled "

Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom ''Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom'' is a 1953 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and directed by Ward Kimball and Charles A. Nichols. A sequel to the first ''Adventures in Music'' cartoon, the 3-D short '' Melody'' ( ...

" (after the 1953 short) in 1959 with reorchestrated music and narration by Professor Owl ( Bill Thompson), and was featured in '' Walt Disney Cartoon Classics Limited Gold Edition II: The Disney Dream Factory'' (1985), ''The Best of Disney: 50 Years of Magic'' (1991), ''Songs of the Silly Symphonies'' (2001), and ''The Making of 'Pinocchio': No Strings Attached'' (2009). Since then, the Walt Disney Presents episode, "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom" and its reorchesrated version of the cartoon, ''Music Land'', had been long forgotten. In an exhibition of "some of the most inspired and memorable uses of classical music in animation", the film was screened in its entirety at 'What's Opera, Doc? – Animation and Classical Music' as part of the ' Marc Davis Celebration of Animation' hosted by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

at the

Samuel Goldwyn Theater The Samuel Goldwyn Theatre is a screening-only movie theater named after filmmaker Samuel Goldwyn. It is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California, at headquarters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Th ...

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

in May 2010.

Recognition

The ''

Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'' writes that as one of the earliest of the ''Silly Symphonies'', "''Music Land'' is a place fraught with tension, with the Sea of Discord lying between the Isle of Jazz and the Land of Symphony", and that the action is hardly as dramatic as ''

Saving Private Ryan ''Saving Private Ryan'' is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set during the Battle of Normandy in World War II, the film is known for its graphic portrayal of war, especially its depictio ...

''. It is noted that "It is the first glimpse, as well, of a critical aspect of animating inanimates: how to use an object's structural particulars -- the tuning peg on a cello, the mouthpiece on a saxophone -- to best effect." In ''Dictionary of Films'' by

Georges Sadoul Georges Sadoul (4 February 1904 – 13 October 1967) was a French film critic, journalist and cinema writer. He is known for writing encyclopedias of film and filmmakers, many of which have been translated into English. Biography Sadoul was ...

and Peter Morris, it is offered that the film has "an extraordinary range of graphic design and an imaginative use of sound."

Home media

The short has been released several times on VHS, the first time in 1985 on '' Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: Limited Gold Edition II - The Disney Dream Factory: 1933-1938'' and 1991's ''Walt Disney Mini-Classics: Peter and the Wolf''. It was later released three times on DVD. The first time in 2000 as a bonus feature on ''

Make Mine Music ''Make Mine Music'' is a 1946 American animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is the eighth Disney feature animated film, released on April 20, 1946. During World War II, much of Walt Disn ...

'', on December 4, 2001 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies - The Historic Musical Animated Classics'' and in 2005 on '' Walt Disney's Classic Cartoon Favorites: Volume 6 - Extreme Music Fun''.

References

Marcus, Kenneth H.
Musical metropolis: Los Angeles and the creation of a music culture, 1880-1940
'. illustrated ed.

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

; 2004 ited June 8, 2010 . p. 182.

External links

''Music Land''
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{Wilfred Jackson 1935 films 1935 short films 1935 animated films 1930s musical fantasy films American musical fantasy films 1930s Disney animated short films American animated short films Visual music Animated films without speech Silly Symphonies Fictional-language films Films directed by Wilfred Jackson Films produced by Walt Disney Films set in a fictional country Animated films about music and musicians Films about classical music and musicians Jazz films Films scored by Leigh Harline Films about prejudice 1930s American films