Online Music Library

Felix Mendelssohn – A Midsummber Nights Dream Incidental Music, Op 61

Notes:

We are performing movements – Intermezzo, Notturno and Wedding March

If you have difficulty downloading or printing the parts please let us know: icorchestra@gmail.com

 

Strings –

Violin 1

Violin 2

Viola

Cello

Bass

Woodwind

Flute 1

Flute 2

Oboe

Clarinet 1

Clarinet 2

Bassoon

Brass

Horn in G part 1

Horn in G part 2

Trumpet in C  part 1

Trumpet in C part 2

Trombone

Percussion/Conductor

Timpani

Full Score

Youtube/MP3:

Youtube link  This link is to the full suite. Our 3 pieces are:

  • Zwischenaktsmusik (which we will play first) @ 23 minutes 46 seconds (approximately)
  • Nocturno @33 minutes (approx.)
  • Hochzeitsmarsch @40 minutes 43 seconds (approx.)

Youtube link with Score

Program Notes:

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 – 1847)
 
A Midsummer Nights Dream, Incidental Music, Op.61, No.5 Intermezzo;
No.7 Notturno; No.9 Wedding March, 1842-43.
 
Felix Mendelssohn and his family were ardent fans of the works of William Shakespeare, which had been translated into German in 1790. Felix and his sister Fanny loved A Midsummer Night’s Dream and put on many home performances, with each child playing many roles. In a letter Fanny wrote, “We have really grown up together with the Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Felix, in particular, has made it his own.”
 
In 1843, Mendelssohn was commissioned by the King of Prussia to write incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and it premiered in 1843 at the King’s palace in Potsdam. As a
longtime fan of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mendelssohn was already quite familiar with the
structure of the play, and he was delighted to oblige his new patron.
 
The Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a deft musical description of Shakespeare’s play, and many of its themes are heard in later movements. The Intermezzo features two narratives: the first is the restless agitation of Hermia as she searches for her lover Lysander. The strings and winds again capture the distracted urgency of poor Hermia. The Nocturne, blankets the befuddled quartet of lovers Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius as they sleep in the forest. The lyrical horn solo evokes the warm serenity of a summer night. Another short melodrama precedes the Wedding March, which announces the wedding of Duke Theseus to Hippolyta, Hermia to Lysander and Helena to Demetrius. Its triumphal joy is a fitting celebration of their group ceremony.
 
Program Notes:-
Oregon Symphony – https://www.orsymphony.org/concerts-tickets/program-notes/2324/
mendelssohns-a-midsummer-nights-dream/