Disney's Music Trivia:
• Sammy Fain and Jack Lawrence wrote half a dozen songs in 1952 for an early incarnation of the project. In the following year, Walt decided that the score for the film should be based on Tchaikovsky's ballet score,
making all but one of Fain and Lawrence's songs unusuable for the movie. Only one of their creations, "Once Upon a Dream", had been based on music from the classic ballet, specifically the "Sleeping Beauty Waltz"
• Originally, Walter Schumann was the composer and musical director assigned to the project. However, Walt and him had major disagreements about the music, and ultimately Schumann was fired.
One example would be the scene, in which the fairies appear in the film at the beginning and how Schumann handled the music for the gift scene.
Walt suggested one theme for all the fairies and to use different orchestrations for it. Schumann responded: "We have a time limit. Actually each of these takes seven seconds, like establishing a melody." Walt countered,
insisted of the "Good Fairies Theme" for all of them, as they work as a team all time. "We have one for Maleficent and one for the good fairies so we don't get into the complicated type of thing", he responded
• George Bruns was assigned to the project, recommended by animator Ward Kimball. The first scene Walt was shown during a meeting was the bluebird sequence. Bruns had scored the scene using some of Tchaikovsky's music on the flute.
Walt approved the scene's underscoring, stating: "Yeah, I think that's the idea of we want to get...that's going to work fine." Afterwards, Walt was introduced to the composer for the first time. George Bruns happened to be
a physically large person. Walt noted "God, I'm glad I didn't say anything bad about the music."
• The seventy-five minute film is composed by 101 musical sequences, most of them based on music by Tchaikovsky
• According to Bruns, he was able to adapt Tchaikovsky's music for about two-third of Sleeping Beauty. For the other third, he wrote original music in the style of Tchaikovsky. "It was a heck of a job to do", the composer remembered later.
Bruns was able to extend and arrange Tchaikovsky's often short melodies to fit for the specific scene. One example is the "Magical House Cleaning" scene, where Bruns adapts the fairy dance melody and builds it up to its dramatic conclusion.
Among the original compositions are the "Main Title" and all other fanfares, the "Prologue", "Maleficent Appears", "Do You Hear That?", "The Royal Argument", "Prince Philip Arrives / How to Tell Stefan", "Aurora's Return", "Poor Aurora" and the
second half of "A Fairy Tale Come True"
• Because of a musicians' strike, the musical score was recorded in Berlin, Germany with the Graunke Symphony Orchestra from September 8 through November 25, 1958. It marks the first soundtrack to be released in full stereo.
The chorus was recorded back in the United States by the Disney Studio Chorus and the voice actors
• Mary Costa had to drop her Southern accent to a more British one for the voice as well as the singing part of the film
• There were several unused songs created for Sleeping Beauty. A title song, written in August 1952 by Jack Lawrence and Victor Young, as well as several songs penned by Jack Lawrence and Sammy Fain in 1952/53.
"Holiday", which was replaced by "Hail to the Princess Aurora"; "It Happens I Have a Picture", which was replaced by "Skumps (Drinking Song"); "Sunbeams (Bestowal of Gifts)", an early version for the gift scene;
"Mirage (Follow Your Heart)", which would have lured Princess Aurora to her fateful encounter with the spinning wheel, as well as "Where in the World", a song with a similar concept as "I Wonder".
Walter Schumann wrote "Berries to Pick", which would have been sung by Briar Rose. However, Walt didn't like the idea of recyling the happy-go-lucky number, similar to those of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
In later stages of the project, when George Bruns was music director, several unused songs were penned by the team. "Go to Sleep" by an unidentified lyricist; a prologue theme with lyrics by Tom Adair;
"Evil-Evil" written by Adair and Ed Penner, which would have been sung my Maleficent and her Goons; as well as "Riddle Diddle One, Two, Three", a vocalization of the "Magical House Cleaning" theme, sung by the faires