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 (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