Felix Mendelssohn Essay

The music that I chose from the Classical Era is Felix Mendelssohn a Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture. Born in Germany in 1809 Felix Mendelssohn grew up with music with his family being musicians and hosting Sunday evening shows. Mendelssohn was a child prodigy he began composing music when he was only ten years old and he was an extraordinary pianist. When he was a teenager Mendelssohn was already composing music for operas, Piano Concerto’s, and symphonies. Mendelssohn work was influenced by multiple great composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach which he composed 12 string symphonies that were influenced by him. Mendelssohn initially composed the Overture when he was 17 years old and was inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's

Mendelssohn composed A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture in 1826. It was initially composed to be played as a piano but after it was published for a year it was adjusted into an orchestra and it is structured in a unique way. There are four critical chords which give the listeners the feeling of a dream and makes it all fantasy by taking you to the enchanted forest. Each subject and theme represent a specific section of the play, for example, the first play represents fairies. The structure of this piece is Sonata form. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture is an orchestra that consists of 2 clarinets, 2 flutes, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, and 2 horns, ophicleide, timpani, and strings. This overture is in key E major and starts with four dramatic chords. After the chord, the first theme is introduced, and it is in E minor and tonality begins to change with the presentation of pizzicato violas. About three minutes into the piece in the exposition is played in the second subject and development segment begins. Then the tonality changes to B minor. Lastly, the overture closes similarly as it started with four brass and woodwind and the ending appears like a dream. When I first heard this