Overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1826 and later incorporated into his incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1843. One of the first concert overtures, it was written when Mendelssohn was only 17 and inspired by his reading of a German translation of the Shakespeare play.

Whilst a romantic piece in atmosphere, the overture incorporates many classical elements, being cast in sonata form and shaped by regular phrasings and harmonic transitions. The piece is also noted for its striking instrumental effects, such as the emulation of scampering 'fairy feet' at the beginning and the braying of Bottom as an ass (effects which were influenced by the aesthetic ideas and suggestions of Mendelssohn's friend at the time, Adolf Bernhard Marx).

Following the first theme representing the dancing fairies, a transition (the royal music of the court of Athens) leads to a second theme, that of the lovers. A final group of themes, suggesting the craftsmen and hunting calls, closes the exposition. The fairies dominate most of the development section and ultimately have the final word in the coda, just as in Shakespeare's play.