Tips and Pieces: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In 1595 William Shakespeare wrote a play called "A Midsummer Night's Dream". This light-hearted story is about a series of silly and magical events. A group of people spends a night in an enchanted forest, and the fairies who live in the forest play tricks on them. At the end of the play, the main character finds true love. Some of the characters include the king of the fairies, Oberon, the queen of the fairies, Titania, and Puck, a mischievous fairy who causes trouble.

Mendelssohn and his family enjoyed reading Shakespeare's plays, and in 1826 when he was 17, Mendelssohn composed the "Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream". This was a piano duet for him to play with his sister. He was so pleased with the piece that he wrote a version for full orchestra, which was first performed in the garden of his family's house for a small audience. From this simple start, the work became very popular, and Mendelssohn was asked to perform it all over Europe.

In 1842, 17 years after Mendelssohn composed the "Overture", he was asked to write more music for a production of the play in Leipzig. The music Mendelssohn composed goes perfectly with what he wrote as a boy and includes a Scherzo, a Nocturne, and a Wedding March. These too became famous are often performed with the Overture as a suite. The Wedding March is frequently played at weddings all over the world.