Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is the first segment in Fantasia. It is an abstract segment, based on what might run through your mind while listening to the piece.

Plot
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is introduced by Deems Taylor. The first third of the segment is live-action, featuring the orchestra playing the piece as they are illuminated by abstract light patterns. The other two thirds involve abstract images, such as rolling red hills, golden towers, and violin bows.

Fantasia begins immediately (there are no opening credits or logos of any sort) with the curtains being opened to reveal an orchestra stand. Musicians are seen ascending the stand, taking their places, and tuning their instruments. Master of ceremonies Deems Taylor arrives and delivers an introduction to the film. Stokowski appears and begins conducting the first strains of his own orchestration of the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, by Johann Sebastian Bach (originally written for solo organ).

The first third of the Toccata and Fugue is in live-action, and features an orchestra playing the piece, illuminated by abstract light patterns set in time to the music and backed by stylized (and superimposed) shadows. The first few parts of the piece are played in each of the three sound channels (first the right, then the left, then the middle, then all of them) as a demonstration of Fantasound. The number segues into an abstract animation piece—a first for the Disney studio—set in time to the music. Toccata and Fugue was inspired primarily by the work of German abstract animator Oskar Fischinger, who worked for a brief time on this segment. The animation segues back into the live-action footage of Stokowski as the piece concludes, setting the precedent for the rest of the musical numbers.

Although the Philadelphia Orchestra recorded the music for the film (excepting The Sorcerer's Apprentice), they do not appear onscreen; the orchestra used onscreen in the film is made up of local Los Angeles musicians and Disney studio employees like James Macdonald and Paul J. Smith, who mime to the prerecorded tracks by Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Originally, the Philadelphia Orchestra was slated to be filmed in the introduction and interstitial segments, but union and budgetary considerations prevented this from coming to pass.

Credits

 * Director(s): Samuel Armstrong
 * Story: Elmer Plummer, Lee Blair, Phil Dike
 * Art: Robert Cormack
 * Background Painter(s): Joe Stalhey, John Hench, Nino Carbe
 * Animation Supervisor(s): Unknown
 * Animator(s): Art Palmer, Cornett Wood, Cy Young, Daniel MacManus, Edwin Aardal, George Rowley, Joshua Meador
 * Special Effects: Oskar Fischinger
 * Music: "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach

Trivia

 * Despite the Philadelphia Orchestra recorded the music for the film (excluding The Sorcerer's Apprentice), they do not appear onscreen; the orchestra used in the film is made up of local Los Angeles musicians and Disney studio employees like James Macdonald and Paul J. Smith, who mime the prerecorded tracks by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Originally, the orchestra was to be in the film, but union and budgetary considerations prevented this from happening.