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One evening late in 1937, Walt Disney was dining alone in one of the red leather booths in Chasen's Restaurant in West Hollywood when across the room, he spotted the famous conductor Leopold Stokowski. Stokowski was also dining alone, so Disney invited him over to his booth and started pitching a project to him. Disney鈥檚 biggest star, Mickey Mouse, was declining in popularity: he needed a makeover and a comeback. The invitation to Stokowski was to collaborate on a short film, with a redesigned Micky starring in Goethe鈥檚 story of the Sorcerer鈥檚 Apprentice, set to music by Paul Dukas.

But Stokowski wanted more. Right there in Chasen鈥檚, he suggested to Disney that the idea could become much bigger: a feature-length film, presenting a wide range of classical music. He even pitched a title: Fantasia.

For the time being, Disney resisted. But the director soon began to see how Stokowski鈥檚 idea might not only revive the career of Mickey Mouse, but provide the opportunity to show the world that he, Walt Disney, was more than just an entertainer, a creator of funny cartoon animals. He was a technical innovator, an educator... an artist.

Fantasia, of course, DID feature the very latest technical innovation in animation alongside well-known pieces of classical music (including Bach鈥檚 D Minor Toccata and Fugue, Tchaikovsky鈥檚 Nutcracker and Beethoven鈥檚 Pastoral Symphony) recorded by Stokowski with his Philadelphia Orchestra. The recording technology was innovative, too. The Disney engineers designed a new system called Fantasound, an early version of surround sound. For its debut run in 1940, every theatre where the film was shown had to have Fantasound installed - which is one reason that Fantasia was a commercial failure.

This is one of 100 significant musical moments explored by 麻豆社 Radio 3鈥檚 Essential Classics as part of Our Classical Century, a 麻豆社 season celebrating a momentous 100 years in music from 1918 to 2018. Visit bbc.co.uk/ourclassicalcentury to watch and listen to all programmes in the season.

This archive recording features the 麻豆社 Symphony Orchestra with conductor Sakari Oramo.

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