Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Hebrides & The Fair Melusine

Featuring

Thomas Dausgaard
Camilla Tilling
Magdalena Risberg
Svenska Kammarorkestern
Radiokören
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

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Composition History

Mendelssohn composed the overture to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at just 17 years old, and it quickly became one of his signature pieces.

Performer Biography

The Swedish Chamber Orchestra, founded in 1995, has been led by Thomas Dausgaard since 1997, achieving rapid international success and touring extensively.

Composition History

Mendelssohn's overture to The Fair Melusine was written to express his displeasure with Conradin Kreutzer's opera of the same name, which he heard in 1833.

Critical Reception

Even Richard Wagner, a known detractor of Mendelssohn, praised the Hebrides Overture, despite his 'racist stance' which contributed to Mendelssohn's defamation.

Composition History

The main theme of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture was conceived during a trip to Scotland with his friend Karl Klingemann, inspired by the 'extraordinary Hebrides' and Fingal's Cave.

Composition History

The incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream was composed 17 years after the overture, commissioned by Prussian King Frederick William IV, and premiered in Potsdam in 1843.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Mendelssohn valued Shakespeare's inspiration for A Midsummer Night's Dream, stating that while his compositional ability was constant, the material spurred his imagination.