Secure, privileged, and brimming with inspiration and optimism toward the future, Felix Mendelssohn was a gifted composer who, with Abraham, his father, supported his music, and Carl Friedrich Zelter, his teacher, gave him a solid music education with a rich classical core. His parents’ home in Berlin was a salon where poets, philosophers, and musicians visited. By the time he was 17 years old, a young Felix had already composed string symphonies and chamber works such as the Octet in E-flat major (Op. 20). His well-rounded education, which also included painting, languages, literature, and philosophy, not only enriched his life but also his musical compositions, providing a diverse set of influences that would shape his unique style.
Inspired by the German translation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in his family circle the summer of 1826, Felix Mendelssohn embarked on a creative journey. To blend the fantasy world of William Shakespeare with what he had learned in his classical music education.
Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream sets the scene for this wonderful Shakespeare work with the high scurrying strings that suggest fairy dances, the noble lovers’ theme, the braying of “Bottom’s donkey” in the winds, and the raucous rustic dance of the mechanicals.
Completed on August 6, 1826, the first premiere of the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream took place at the Mendelssohn residence, where their home concerts were well known. The audience was amazed at the sophistication of his work, especially at such a young age. It wasn’t until a year later, on February 20, 1827, in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland), that the first public performance of the work took place. Mendelssohn had just turned 18 two weeks earlier, and he had to travel 80 miles through a blizzard to get to the concert. Despite the challenging journey, with Mendelssohn conducting, the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream proved to be a resounding success, with German critics hailing it as a breakthrough, and one calling it “a new voice in music.”
Within a few years, Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream became part of the repertoire in other major German cities and began to circulate abroad. Its popularity continued to grow, and within a decade, it spread across Europe, becoming one of Mendelssohn’s most performed and admired works.