Thursday, March 24, 2016

Goethe in The New Yorker: Addendum

I posted already on Adam Kirch's article on Goethe, but The New Yorker has had a follow up, a letter in the magazine (3/7/16) by Carol Sims Prunali, writing from Rome, Italy. She reminds us that we "may may have been exposed to some [of Goethe's poetry] without knowing it: anyone who has seen Disney's Fantasia has seen an enactment of ... 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice.'"

This orchestral work, by the French composer Paul Dukas, was based on Goethe's poem, "Der Zauberlehrling." As Prunali writes, "it is hard to forget the army of brooms, or the eyes of the sorcerer." Mickey, of course, as the apprentice, is wonderfully endearing. Herewith a link to that scene in the movie. Here is also a link to the poem, in German and in English. The translation is by Brigitte Dubiel.

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