The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Dukas) The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Dukas) " The Sorcerer's Apprentice (French: "L'apprenti sorcier") is a symphonic poem in the key of F minor by the French composer Paul Dukas, written in 1897. Subtitled "Scherzo after a ballad by Goethe", the piece was based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1797 poem of the same name. By far the most performed and recorded of Dukas's works, its notable appearance in the Walt Disney 1940 animated film "Fantasia" has led to the piece becoming widely known to audiences outside the classical concert hall. Inspired by the Goethe poem, Dukas's work is part of the larger
The Sorcerer's Apprentice cartoon scenery machine and getting himself into a big heap of trouble. Like the "Fantasia" segment, there is no dialogue, save for a line by Buster in the end. There is a live action film, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (2010), featuring a scene based on Goethe's poem (and the "Fantasia" version), produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Nicolas Cage. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels alluded to Goethe's poem in "The Communist Manifesto", comparing modern bourgeois society to "the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells." The