Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream (reference recording: George Szell / Royal Concertgebouw)

Album available // Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream by George Szell
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Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's
00:00 Incidental music, Op. 61: I. Overture, Op. 21 (2023 Remastered, Amsterdam 1957)
11:46 Incidental music, Op. 61: II. Scherzo, Op. 61, No. 1 (2023 Remastered, Amsterdam 1957)
16:09 Incidental music, Op. 61: III. Notturno, Op. 61, No. 7 (2023 Remastered, Amsterdam 1957)
21:52 Incidental music, Op. 61: IV. Wedding March, Op. 61, No. 9 (2023 Remastered, Amsterdam

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Conductor: George Szell
Recorded in 1957, at Amsterdem
New mastering in 2023 by AB for https://classicalmusicreference.com/
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Sixtine De Gournay: "Who doesn’t have in mind the Wedding March from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream? A cliché of American films and series whenever a wedding is on the horizon, it nevertheless conceals a work of much greater subtlety. Composed on a whim, the overture is a jewel of orchestration. Mendelssohn would later add the rest of the score to fulfill a commission. He achieved the remarkable feat of recapturing the freshness and energy of youth in a unified whole.

The composer was only 17 years old when he wrote this overture inspired by Shakespeare. Mendelssohn was certainly not the first to turn to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Purcell had already set it to music in 1692 in a semi-opera, The Fairy Queen. Mendelssohn likely didn’t know this work, as Baroque repertoire was seldom performed at the time. While he had attended the Berlin premiere of Der Freischütz, young Felix had likely not heard Oberon when he wrote his score for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Indeed, Weber’s opera premiered in April 1826 in London at Covent Garden, and Mendelssohn wouldn’t make his first trip to England until 1829.

However, Mendelssohn had been immersed in Shakespeare’s works since childhood. His highly cultured family placed great emphasis on literature. Felix acted out Shakespeare’s plays with his brother Paul and sisters Fanny and Rebecka, notably during the summer of 1826, when he composed an overture for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It took him only a month to write this orchestral page. The extraordinary mastery of orchestration strikes the listener from the very first measures, already revealing the composer’s genius. Mendelssohn was only 17. The overture was premiered on February 20, 1827, in Stettin, following two private performances.

In 1842, Mendelssohn resumed work on the piece. The King of Prussia requested incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Mendelssohn added one scherzo, six melodramas, three marches (March of the Elves, Wedding March, Fanfare and Funeral March), a chorus for female voices with two soprano solos, an intermezzo, a nocturne, a "bergamasque," and the finale. The expanded work premiered in Potsdam during a performance of Shakespeare’s play on October 14, 1843, and in Leipzig on October 30. (...)"

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Other Album available // Schubert: Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished" & No. 9 "The Great" by George Szell
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Felix Mendelssohn PLAYLIST (reference recordings):    • Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) Fa...