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 Bells (poem) form: first movement, slow movement, scherzo, and finale, thus honoring the poem's four sections. (The work is sometimes performed in English, using not Poe's original, but a translation of Balmont's adaptation by Fanny S. Copeland.) The Scottish composer Hugh S. Roberton (1874–1947) published "Hear the Tolling of the Bells" (1909), "The Sledge Bells" (1909), and "Hear the Sledges with the Bells" (1919) based on Poe's poem. Josef Holbrooke composed his "The Bells, Prelude, Op. 50" on Poe's poem, and American folksinger Phil Ochs composed a tune to the poem recorded on his album "All the News That's Fit to Sing".