The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was composed by Paul Dukas in 1897 inspired by a poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

The story tells of an old wizard, who leaves his apprentice to tidy up. Taking control of the wizard’s magic, the apprentice summons a broom to do the tidying up for him and emptying buckets of water. The floor is soon covered with water. Realising he cannot stop the broom, the apprentice splits the broom in two with an axe, but each of the pieces becomes a whole broom that takes up a bucket and continues fetching water, now at twice the speed. At this increased pace, the entire room quickly begins to flood. The old wizard returns and saves the day.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice was already a popular concert piece, it was brought to a much larger audience in the 1940 Walt Disney animated concert film. You may have seen the sequel, Fantasia 2000! You can enjoy listening to the music on YouTube.

Some great classical pieces of music are based on books and fantasy stories.

Top Ten Children's Witches and Wizards books:

1. Winnie the Witch by Korky Paul
2. Meg & Mog by Helen Nicoll
3. Beast Quest Series by Adam Blake
4. The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart
5. Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
6. Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum
7. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
8. The Witches by Roald Dahl
9. The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas
   Don’t worry, there’s books on wizards, witches, magic and magical animals for adults too! Why not try .
10. Wizard’s first rule?

And any other titles?

For more information, visit the Summer Reading Challenge website.

Article posted 20 August 2020