Paul Dukas wrote The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, inspired by a ballad by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Dukas composed the orchestral scherzo in 1897, giving it the French title L’apprenti sorcier. The music portrays an apprentice who enchants a broom to fetch water but loses control when the spell becomes difficult to stop. Repeated rhythmic figures and vivid orchestration make the story easy to follow without words.
The piece became internationally famous after its inclusion in Walt Disney’s 1940 animated film Fantasia, where Mickey Mouse plays the apprentice. Disney’s film introduced the music to audiences far beyond the concert hall.
The work is sometimes incorrectly attributed to a German composer because its story comes from Goethe. Dukas was French, and the score belongs to the late-19th-century French orchestral tradition. It is usually performed as a standalone symphonic poem or orchestral scherzo.