Donald Duck and Edward Elgar: English March in Disney Animation

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31318/2522-4190.2022.133.257322

Keywords:

Donald Duck, cartoon animation, Disney animation, the interaction of music and animation, compositions of Edward Elgar, march, “Pomp and Circumstance marches”

Abstract

Relevance of the study. The interdisciplinary approach is one of the advanced methods of studying artistic phenomena in the modern science of humanities. It is especially relevant for the study of the compositions of E. Elgar, as his orchestral music has taken the place of a kind of migratory content in modern culture, which is increasingly presented not in academic concerts, but in interspecific formats of mass cultural affiliation: ceremonial events, cinematic soundtracks, different shows, etc. Scientific consideration of the process of this functional transformation of E. Elgar’s works and the nature of the interaction of his music with the visual range is a perspective and creative vector of musicology.

The scientific novelty of the study. For the first time the principles of the interrelation of “Pomp and Circumstance marches” with the eponymous episode “Fantasies 2000” are described at the historical-chronological, compositional, imaginative, dramaturgical as well as intra-thematic levels. A new perspective on the artistic and genre content of E. Elgar’s marches (which are the original cultural component of the modern multimedia space) is proposed and argued.

The main objective(s) of the study is to reveal the nature of the interaction of music and animation on the example of the episode about Noah’s Ark from “Fantasy 2000” with Donald Duck in the lead role and the soundtrack based on “Pomp and Circumstance marches” by Edward Elgar.

The methodology is based on the principles of interdisciplinary research and concentrates on the interaction of two types of art — animation and music. The biographical-historical method, genre, and thematic methods of music analysis are used. The approach to animation is a study of the artistic features of the character, analysis of the technical features of his drawing, and characterization of the principles of visual composition and dramaturgy.

Results of the study. Characteristics of Donald Duck as the main hero of the episode about Noah’s Ark from the film “Fantasy 2000” is described. In parallel, the artistic portrait of Edward Elgar as the creator of “Pomp and Circumstance marches” (which became the basis for the soundtrack of this episode) was studied. The general structure and artistic material of these works of art are analyzed.

The nature of the interaction between the visual component of the animation and the thematic complex of the Elgar’s cycle of marches is studied. The following principles of interaction of music and animation are singled out and argued: affinity of forms; the relationship between mosaicism and integrity; monothematism as a structural and compositional basis of the material organization; figurative and emotional flexibility as a dramaturgical basis for development; quoting a concert ritual within the cinematic genre; features of humor; imaginational and dramaturgical parallelism.

The significance of the research lies in the expansion of the array of scientific intermedia works devoted to the connections between the music and animation arts. The article enriches the panorama of analytical research on the work of E. Elgar as part of English orchestral modernism.

Author Biography

Maryna Haiduk, P. I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine

Postgraduate Student at the Department of History of World Music

References

Aranovskij, M. G. (1987). The structure of the musical genre and the current situation in music [Struktura muzykal’nogo zhanra i sovremennaja situacija v muzyke]. Moscow: Sovetskij kompozitor, pp. 5–44 [in Russian].

Bendazzi, G. (2020). Animation: A World History. Volume I: Foundations: The Golden Age [Svitova istoriia animatsii. Knyha persha: vid pochatku do zolotoi doby]. Kyiv: ArtHuss, 416 p. [in Ukrainian].

Blair, P. (2021). Carton Animation with Preston Blair [Malovana animatsiia z Prestonom Blerom]. Kyiv: ArtHuss, 128 p. [in Ukrainian].

Gamburg, L. A. (2005). The Paradoxes of 20th Century English Music: Sir Edward Elgar: Sir Paul McCartney: Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber: An Amateur’s Reflections [Paradoksy anglijskoj muzyki ХХ veka: sjer Jedvard Jelgar: sjer Pol Makkartni: sjer Jendrju Llojd-Uebber: razmyshlenija diletanta]. Kyiv: Gramota, 119 p. [in Russian].

Kovnackaja, L. G. (1986). English music of the twentieth century: origins and stages of development [Anglijskaja muzyka ХХ veka: istoki i jetapy razvitija]. Moscow: Sovetskij kompozitor, 216 p. [in Russian].

Korchova, O. (2020). Musical modernism as terra cognita [Muzychnyi modernizm yak terra cognita]. Kyiv: Muzychna Ukraina, 490 p. [in Ukrainian].

Kravtsov, N. (2019). History of animation. How art is born [Istoriia animatsii. Yak narodzhuietsia mystetstvo]. Kyiv: ArtHuss, 192 p. [in Ukrainian].

Selby, A. (2019). Animation [Animatsiia]. Kyiv: ArtHuss, 224 p. [in Ukrainian].

Solomonova, O. B. (2006). And when the face laughs, the mind does not rejoice with it. Laughing looking glass of Russian musical classics [I kogda smeetsja lico vmeste s nim ne veselitsja um. Smehovoe zazerkal’e russkoj muzykal’noj klassiki]. Kyiv: Zadruga, 380 p. [in Russian].

Solomonova, O. B. (2008). The Laughing World of Russian Musical Classics [Smehovoj mir russkoj muzykal’noj klassiki]. Manuscript of Dissertation work for gaining the degree of the Doctor of Art Criticism by specialty 17.00.03 Music Art. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine. Kyiv, 436 p. [in Russian].

Bellano, M. (2015). Painted Orchestras. Orchestration and Musical Adaptation in Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. In: Relaciones Música e Imagen En Los Medios Audiovisuales. Oviedo: Ediciones de la Universidad de Oviedo, pp. 277-287 [in English].

Cowgill, R. and Rushton, J. (2006). Europe, Empire, and Spectacle in Nineteenthcentury British Music. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 320 p. [in English].

De-la-Noy, M. (1983). Elgar: The Man. London: Allen Lane, 239 p. [in English].

Grant, J. (1993). Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters. 2nd ed. New York: Hyperion, 384 р. [in English].

Henry, W. (1938). My Life of Music. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 495 p. [in English].

Kennedy, M. (1984). Elgar the Man by Michael De-la-Noy. In: Music & Letters. Vol. 65. No. 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 270-272 [in English].

Pirie, P. J. (1956). Crippled Splendour: Elgar and Mahler. In: The Musical Times. No. 97 (1356), pp. 70–71. Doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/938017 (accessed: 10.10.2021) [in English].

Shakespeare, W. (2021). Othello, the Moore of Venice. In: Shakespeare homepage. Available at: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/othello/full.html (accessed: 10.10.2021) [in English].

Shelokhonov S. Edward Elgar. Biography. In: Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0253365/ (accessed: 10.10.2021) [in English].

Smith, D. R. (1984). Donald Duck. This Your Life. In: Starlog. July, pp. 52-54, 88-89 [in English].

Smith III, J. E. (1994). The Evolving Forms of Humor in the Donald Duck Cartoons. Theses and Dissertations of the Master of Arts, 3838. Grand Forks: University of North Dakota, 81 p. [in English].

Stradling, R. and Hughes, M. (1993). The English Musical Renaissance, 1860-1940: Construction and Deconstruction. New York: Routledge, 282 p. [in English].

Thomas, F. and Johnston, O. (1981). The Illusion of Life. Disney Animation. New York: Abbeville Press, 575 p. [in English].

Published

2022-03-21

How to Cite

Haiduk, M. (2022) “Donald Duck and Edward Elgar: English March in Disney Animation”, Scientific herald of Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, (133), pp. 94–110. doi: 10.31318/2522-4190.2022.133.257322.

Issue

Section

PROCESSES OF THE INTERACTION OF ARTS