A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn) form and shaped by regular phrasings and harmonic transitions. The piece is also noted for its striking instrumental effects, such as the emulation of scampering 'fairy feet' at the beginning and the braying of Bottom as an ass (effects which were influenced by the aesthetic ideas and suggestions of Mendelssohn's friend at the time, Adolf Bernhard Marx). Heinrich Eduard Jacob, in his biography of the composer, said that Mendelssohn had scribbled the chords after hearing an evening breeze rustle the leaves in the garden of the family's home. The overture begins with four chords in the winds. Following the first
RSC production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970) Weatherall, percussion Tony Mcvey, percussion Edward Flower, guitar Musicians 1973 Robin Weatherall, percussion and trumpet Tony Mcvey, percussion and trombone John Zaradin, guitar Royal Shakespeare Company programs 1970, 1971, 1973 RSC production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970) The 1970 Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream was directed by Peter Brook, and is often known simply as Peter Brook's Dream." It opened in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon and then moved to the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End in 1971. It was taken on a world tour in 1972–1973. Brook's production of "A Midsummer