The Mendelssohn family loved their Shakespeare. “From our youth on we were entwined in A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” said Fanny Mendelssohn, “and Felix particularly made it his own. He identified with all of the characters.”

In July, 1826, at the age of seventeen, Felix wrote to his sister: “I have grown accustomed to composing in our garden…. Today or tomorrow I am going to start dreaming there A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” By August 6, he had finished the Overture to Shakespeare’s play. Its original piano duet version was introduced by brother and sister at a private party in Berlin in November. The orchestral version was first performed on April 29, 1827 in Stettin, with Karl Loewe conducting.

The Overture is an amazing achievement, especially for a teenager. Seventeen years later, Frederick Wilhelm IV, recently crowned regent of Prussia, commissioned incidental music for a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Potsdam. To his youthful Overture, Mendelssohn added thirteen more numbers, including the famous Wedding March, and in that form, the music was introduced on October 14, 1843.

~ Program Notes by Charley Samson, copyright 2022.