A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture
Mendelssohn's 1827 overture turned Shakespeare's forest into an independent orchestral drama.
Related
Time and place
Summer 1826, Berlin, in the Mendelssohn family garden. After reading a German translation of Shakespeare's comedy, the seventeen-year-old Felix wrote a piano duet version and played it with his sister Fanny at a family concert on 19 November 1826. The orchestral version was first performed in Stettin, then in Prussia, on 20 February 1827, conducted by Carl Loewe.
What happened
Four wind chords open the overture like a breath before the curtain. Violins dart in and bring the fairy world of E minor; the lovers have a warm theme, the craftsmen a clumsy one, and Bottom's bray is drawn by sliding strings. Mendelssohn packed these characters into sonata form in a single movement. There is no stage and no text, yet listeners can hear who walks, who argues and who runs.
What changed
The concert overture could now stand alone, no longer tied to an opera or a play. Programme music did not have to tell a story; timbre and rhythm could suggest a scene. In 1843 Mendelssohn's incidental music for the whole comedy was performed and placed the overture at its head. The Wedding March and the Nocturne became new favourites. Later tone poems and concert overtures followed the path this piece opened.
Listen to the turn
Begin with the four wind chords and hold their breath in mind. Then follow the violins as the fairy figure flickers above. Finally listen for Bottom's bray, where strings turn a comedian into an animal. The three ideas take turns like a play without words.
Related
This turn belongs to Romantic; see Overture and Incidental Music, and Flute.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- Grove Music Online, entry "Mendelssohn, Felix" — overture dates and first performance checked, not quoted
- R. Larry Todd, Mendelssohn, A Life in Music (Oxford University Press) — family premiere and Stettin performance checked, not quoted
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.