A Midsummer Night's Dream the pieces from the incidental music is the famous "Wedding March", frequently used as a recessional in weddings. The choreographer Marius Petipa, more famous for his collaborations with Tchaikovsky (on the ballets "Swan Lake" and "The Sleeping Beauty") made another ballet adaptation for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg with additional music and adaptations to Mendelssohn's score by Léon Minkus. The revival premiered 14 July 1876. English choreographer Frederick Ashton also created a 40-minute ballet version of the play, retitled to "The Dream". George Balanchine was another to create a "Midsummer Night's Dream" ballet based on the play, using Mendelssohn's
A Midsummer Night's Dream was John Dryden, writing in 1677. He was preoccupied with the question of whether fairies should be depicted in theatrical plays, since they did not exist. He concluded that poets should be allowed to depict things which do not exist but derive from popular belief. And fairies are of this sort, as are pigmies and the extraordinary effects of magick. Based on this reasoning, Dryden defended the merits of three fantasy plays: "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Tempest", and Ben Jonson's "Masque of Witches". Charles Gildon in the early 18th century recommended this play for its beautiful reflections, descriptions, similes,