The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Dukas) Romantic genre of programmatic music, which composers like Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy, Jean Sibelius and Richard Strauss increasingly explored as an alternative to earlier symphonic forms. Unlike other tone poems, such as "La mer" by Debussy or "Finlandia" by Sibelius, Dukas's work is, like works such as "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" by Strauss, descriptively programmatic, closely following the events described in the Goethe poem. It was customary, in fact, to publish the poem as part of the orchestral score. The instrumentation of the piece consists of two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two soprano clarinets and bass clarinet, three bassoons
Virgilius the Sorcerer uses as the source of his spells which in popular culture can be a book containing lists or evil deeds. Virgilius the Sorcerer Virgilius the Sorcerer is a fairy tale about the poet Virgil by Andrew Lang who included it in "The Violet Fairy Book". Medieval legends attributed magical powers to the poet Virgil, but even among these legends, this tale attributes a very high level of power to him. Among his accomplishments in the tale, Virgilius is a quick thinker, using his magical powers to defeat corruption and military attacks and spirits. One of his spells was to make