A Midsummer Night's Dream (ballet) A Midsummer Night's Dream (ballet) A Midsummer Night's Dream is a two-act ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Felix Mendelssohn's music to Shakespeare's play of the same name. In addition to the incidental music, Balanchine incorporated other Mendelssohn works into the ballet, including the Overtures to "Athalie", "Son and Stranger", and "The Fair Melusine", the "String Symphony No. 9 in C minor" and "The First Walpurgis Night". "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Balanchine's first completely original full-length ballet, premiered at New York City Ballet on 17 January 1962, with Edward Villella in the role of Oberon, Melissa Hayden in the role
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn) several roles from the play, performed live. The Overture is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, ophicleide, timpani and strings. The ophicleide part was originally written for English bass horn ("corno inglese di basso"), which was also used at the first performance; the composer subsequently replaced this instrument with the ophicleide in the first published edition. The incidental music adds a third trumpet, three trombones, triangle and cymbals to this scoring. Parts of the score are used, re-orchestrated by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, in Max Reinhardt's 1935 movie "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Sections