A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn) A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn) At two separate times, Felix Mendelssohn composed music for William Shakespeare's play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream". First in 1826, near the start of his career, he wrote a concert overture (Op. 21). Later, in 1842, only a few years before his death, he wrote incidental music (Op. 61) for a production of the play, into which he incorporated the existing Overture. The incidental music includes the world-famous "Wedding March". The German title reads Ein Sommernachtstraum. The Overture in E major, Op. 21, was written by Mendelssohn at 17 years and 6 months old (it was
A Midsummer Night's Dream opening lines exclaiming "And then the moon, like to a silver bow New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night of our solemnities."; the thin crescent-shaped moon being the hallmark of the new moon's return to the skies each month. The play also intertwines the Midsummer Eve of the title with May Day, furthering the idea of a confusion of time and the seasons. This is evidenced by Theseus commenting on some slumbering youths, that they "observe The rite of May". Maurice Hunt, Chair of the English Department at Baylor University, writes of the blurring of the identities of fantasy and