Dance of the Reed Flutes (Fantasia) Lyrics — Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• An orchestral miniature from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite, adapted as part of Disney's Fantasia (1940).
• In the film, it is staged with blossoms and petals moving like dancers on a stream, turning a ballet cue into nature choreography.
• Performed for Fantasia by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, with Deems Taylor as the on-screen narrator for the program.
• On modern soundtrack editions, it appears as a short standalone track within the Nutcracker Suite group.

Fantasia (1940) - film segment cue - not diegetic. Placement: inside the Nutcracker Suite sequence, after earlier vignettes of fairies and mushrooms, the imagery shifts to flowers and petals skimming water, tumbling and regrouping as if a ballet corps has been recast as botany. Why it matters: the piece is light on its feet, and the animation answers with motion that feels weightless but organized, like nature taking a dance class.

As music, it is a lesson in restraint. The tune does not need a big climax; it needs clean lines. Tchaikovsky writes a bright, delicate figure that repeats with just enough variation to keep it from feeling mechanical. Fantasia leans into that design, using repetition as a visual engine: a new petal, a new ripple, the same graceful pulse.

I like how the film does not treat this cue as filler between showpieces. It is a palate cleanser, sure, but it also carries a thesis: animation can translate orchestral color into physical personality. The flutes feel like quick brushstrokes, and the scene paints with them.

Creation History

The music originates in The Nutcracker, first presented in 1892, and later extracted by Tchaikovsky into a concert suite. For Fantasia, Disney recorded the score with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski, presented as a concert-style program narrated by Deems Taylor. The cue has remained part of the Fantasia music catalog through reissues and compilation soundtracks.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

There is no character plot in the usual sense. The film uses the cue as a vignette: flowers and petals move across water, shift formations, and drift into small cascades. It is choreography without people, a miniature ballet staged with plants.

Song Meaning

The meaning here lives in the adaptation. In the concert hall, the cue often reads as a decorative charm, a quick dance that shows off timbre. Fantasia gives it a second identity: an argument that elegance is not exclusive to humans. The scene frames beauty as a natural system, patterns repeating in different bodies and different scales.

Annotations

1. The pulse stays even, and the figures repeat like a looped ribbon.

   That repetition is not a limitation; it is a design choice. The best performances keep it buoyant, so the pattern feels like skipping stones rather than stamping feet.

2. The melody sounds small, but the orchestration makes it shimmer.

   In Fantasia, that shimmer becomes a visual motif: tiny movements adding up to a whole scene. It is orchestral pointillism, and the animation mirrors it.

3. The cue lands between bigger set pieces like a breath between sentences.

   In film terms, it is pacing craft. The program needs contrast, and this is contrast delivered with taste rather than noise.

Texture and motion

Listen for the way the line seems to hover rather than push. A flutey top layer can read as playful, but the underpinning is tidy. That balance is why the cue adapts so well to visuals: it gives you sparkle without chaos, structure without heaviness.

Technical Information

• Artist: Leopold Stokowski and The Philadelphia Orchestra
• Featured: Deems Taylor (program narration across the film, not within this track)
• Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Producer: Walt Disney Productions (film music production context)
• Release Date: November 13, 1940 (soundtrack catalog date used by major digital editions)
• Genre: Film soundtrack; classical orchestral
• Instruments: Orchestra with prominent flute writing
• Label: Walt Disney Records (modern catalog editions)
• Mood: Light, brisk, airy
• Length: 1:48
• Track #: Disc 1 - Track 4 (on widely circulated soundtrack sequencing)
• Language: Instrumental
• Album (if any): Fantasia (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
• Music style: Miniature dance cue with transparent orchestration
• Poetic meter: Not applicable (instrumental)

Questions and Answers

Is this a Disney original composition?

No. It comes from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, later organized into a concert suite, and Fantasia adapts it as part of that suite sequence.

Who performs the Fantasia recording?

The Philadelphia Orchestra performs the score for Fantasia under conductor Leopold Stokowski.

What happens on screen during this cue?

The film shows flowers and petals moving like dancers on a stream, with formations that echo a ballet ensemble.

Why does the cue feel so short?

It is designed as a miniature. In the suite, it functions as a quick color change, and the film uses it as a pacing pivot between other vignettes.

Is Deems Taylor part of this track?

He narrates the program in the film, but the cue itself is instrumental in soundtrack sequencing.

What is the musical hook?

Clear, repeating figures and bright orchestral color, with flute writing that keeps the line nimble.

How should it be interpreted in performance?

Light articulation, steady pulse, and transparent balance. If it becomes heavy, it stops dancing.

Why did Disney choose this piece for animation?

Because the timbre suggests motion and pattern, giving animators a ready-made choreography map without needing dialogue.

Additional Info

The cue has a busy afterlife because Fantasia itself has never stopped touring the culture. Orchestras still perform live-to-film programs, re-staging the idea of animation as a concert companion. When the Philadelphia Orchestra advertises Fantasia in Concert, it is not selling a nostalgia object so much as a format: the movie as a moving listening lesson.

On the collector side, track listings for Fantasia releases tend to preserve this cue as a compact entry inside the Nutcracker grouping. Some editions list it at 1:48 or 1:49, a small discrepancy that usually comes down to indexing and fades rather than a different performance.

If you are curious about how deeply this segment has seeped into interpretation, note how often writers describe it in choreography language: flowers "dance" rather than "move," and the stream becomes a stage. That metaphor is not decoration. It is the adaptation's core idea.

Key Contributors

Entity	Relation	Statement
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky	composer	Tchaikovsky composed the music later excerpted as The Nutcracker Suite.
Leopold Stokowski	conductor	Stokowski conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra for Fantasia's recordings.
The Philadelphia Orchestra	performer	The orchestra performed the Fantasia score recording sessions.
Deems Taylor	narrator	Taylor narrated Fantasia's concert presentation format.
Walt Disney Productions	producer	The studio produced Fantasia as a classical-music anthology film.
Library of Congress	archival source	The Library of Congress documents the film's music, performers, and narration as part of its music-and-animation exhibit.

Sources: Library of Congress music-and-animation exhibit page on Fantasia, Apple Music album listing for Fantasia (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Music of Fantasia (1940 film) track listing reference, Discogs master release listing for Walt Disney's Fantasia, YourClassical composers-datebook entry on Fantasia recordings, Philadelphia Orchestra listing for Disney's Fantasia in Concert