The Play
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedic play written by William Shakespeare between 1590 and 1596. “The play portrays the adventures of four young Athenian lovers, a group of amateur actors, their interactions with the Duke of Athens, Theseus, the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta, and with the fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world. It features three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazonian queen, Hippolyta, and set simultaneously in the woodland, and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon.”[1]
The Incidental Music
The Overture for A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written in 1826 when Felix was just 17 years old. After being inspired by reading the play, he wrote to his sister Fanny on July 7, 1826 of his desire to undertake a work of “immense boldness” – to dream the “midsummernightsdream”[2]. That summer he spent weeks in his family’s garden, drawing inspiration for the now timeless music. Composing the piece was not all smooth sailing though. When he originally shared a draft of his composition with his friend A.B. Marx (who was also a composer, music critic and theorist), he approved the introductory chords and the piece’s elfin dance, but said that he could perceive “no Midsummer Night’s Dream in the rest”[3] – encouraging him to recast the piece. This proved to be the best possible advice, and in one month Felix produced the work which has since stood the test of time as a seminal masterpiece and set the standard for all subsequent concert overtures.
Approximately seventeen years later Mendelssohn completed the rest of the suite as he added a series of short works as incidental music for the play, utilizing themes and motives from his earlier written Overture. The work was written on commission from Prussian monarch King Friedrich Wilhelm IV who was seeking to mount a revival of the arts in berlin and had hired Felix as his court’s Kapellmeister.
[1] Cincinnati Ballet, “Felix Mendelssohn”, https://www.cballet.org/performances/midsummer/aboutmidsummer (accessed October 1, 2013)
[2] Todd, Larry R. Mendelssohn: A Life in Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003
[3] Todd, Larry R. Mendelssohn: A Life in Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedic play written by William Shakespeare between 1590 and 1596. “The play portrays the adventures of four young Athenian lovers, a group of amateur actors, their interactions with the Duke of Athens, Theseus, the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta, and with the fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world. It features three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazonian queen, Hippolyta, and set simultaneously in the woodland, and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon.”[1]
The Incidental Music
The Overture for A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written in 1826 when Felix was just 17 years old. After being inspired by reading the play, he wrote to his sister Fanny on July 7, 1826 of his desire to undertake a work of “immense boldness” – to dream the “midsummernightsdream”[2]. That summer he spent weeks in his family’s garden, drawing inspiration for the now timeless music. Composing the piece was not all smooth sailing though. When he originally shared a draft of his composition with his friend A.B. Marx (who was also a composer, music critic and theorist), he approved the introductory chords and the piece’s elfin dance, but said that he could perceive “no Midsummer Night’s Dream in the rest”[3] – encouraging him to recast the piece. This proved to be the best possible advice, and in one month Felix produced the work which has since stood the test of time as a seminal masterpiece and set the standard for all subsequent concert overtures.
Approximately seventeen years later Mendelssohn completed the rest of the suite as he added a series of short works as incidental music for the play, utilizing themes and motives from his earlier written Overture. The work was written on commission from Prussian monarch King Friedrich Wilhelm IV who was seeking to mount a revival of the arts in berlin and had hired Felix as his court’s Kapellmeister.
[1] Cincinnati Ballet, “Felix Mendelssohn”, https://www.cballet.org/performances/midsummer/aboutmidsummer (accessed October 1, 2013)
[2] Todd, Larry R. Mendelssohn: A Life in Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003
[3] Todd, Larry R. Mendelssohn: A Life in Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003