Felix Mendelssohn of Schlesinger. In 1824 the 15-year-old wrote his first symphony for full orchestra (in C minor, Op. 11). At age 16 Mendelssohn wrote his String Octet in E-flat major, a work which has been regarded as "mark[ing] the beginning of his maturity as a composer." This Octet and his Overture to Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", which he wrote a year later in 1826, are the best-known of his early works. (Later, in 1843, he also wrote incidental music for the play, including the famous "Wedding March".) The Overture is perhaps the earliest example of a concert overture—that is, a
A Midsummer Night's Dream Lysander, Demetrius and Helenus (a male Helena), the play was carried to a more gender fluid era. The last performance was broadcast live all around the world through internet. W. Stanley Moss adopted the quotation, "Ill met by moonlight, (proud Titania)", from A Midsummer Night's Dream as the title of his best-selling book "Ill Met by Moonlight" published in 1950 describing the Kidnap of General Kreipe. The book was adapted into a film of the same name, directed and produced by Michael Powell and released in 1957. It featured Dirk Bogarde as Patrick Leigh Fermor and David Oxley as Moss.