Dreams of Shakespeare: Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream

Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn was a Sunday child. Not only was he a great composer and pianist, but also an avid sportsman, very good at languages and philosophy (he even studied with Hegel) and a good painter. From an early age, Mendelssohn was able to combine his talent for tender, expressive melodies and sparkling agility with unparalleled compositional skill. In this way, as a boy, he even surpassed prodigy Mozart. At seventeen, he composed the overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, music in which fairies dance and love resounds. Sixteen years later, he wrote more elaborate music to accompany the play. It is beautifully evocative and atmospheric music full of love. The "Wedding March" is still played at many weddings.

Dreams of Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare's romantic comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream describes the adventures of four young lovers and a group of amateur actors in a moonlit forest, where fairies, elves and magic reign supreme. Full of references to classical Greek mythology and brimming with lighthearted humor, it is a multi-layered work. Mendelssohn perfectly captures that stratification in his delightful music.