Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" F. Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture

The works of William Shakespeare have repeatedly inspired composers of the 19th century. Whoever turned to the work of the great Englishman - Hector Berlioz, Charles Gounod, and Mily Alekseevich Balakirev... But in most cases it was about tragedies with their dark plots and bloody endings (only at the very end of his life and career did he turn to Shakespeare's comedy). Against this background, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s appeal to the play “Dream in summer night“looks like an exception, and at the same time a natural event.

This comedy is not quite usual for Shakespeare's work. Otherworldly creatures don’t appear very often in his plays, and when they do, it looks very dark (“Hamlet”, “Macbeth”), but this play, whose characters include elves and other forest spirits, is full of light. Fantastic themes have always attracted the creators of the era of romanticism, but again - mainly in a gloomy way... Perhaps this exceptionally light extravaganza attracted the attention of the composer because he was very young then - he was only seventeen years old. In the shady garden of his father's house, far from the bustle of the city, the young man read Shakespeare's masterpieces, which had recently been translated into German.

Despite his youth, by 1826 Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was already the author of several works for organ, sonatas, concertos, chamber works, and opera. In the overture "A Midsummer Night's Dream", created then, a youthfully bright attitude is combined with melodic richness and harmony, proportionality of form, which can be expected from an experienced composer.

The beginning of the overture reminds us that the source of the work is a theatrical play: the opening woodwind chords seem to “open the curtain”, inviting the listener to enter a wonderful world. The light, schertious first theme of the main part represents the dance of elves in a magical forest. The second theme - in the rhythm of the march - is associated with the image of the wedding celebration. The side part - wide, cantilevered, with a languid descending chromatic move - differs from both themes in its lyricism, but does not come into conflict with them, without disturbing the general joyful and carefree emotional mood.

In development, the first theme (“dance of the elves”) undergoes the greatest development. Thanks to the minor scale and diminished harmonies, it takes on a mysterious character. In the reprise, images familiar from the exhibition return, but have not undergone major changes. At the end of the overture, in slow motion against the backdrop of woodwind chords, the strings gently sing the intonations of the side part. The overture ends with the same chords that sounded in the introduction.

For the first time, the overture “A Midsummer Night's Dream” was performed at home, in the clavier version - the author and his sister Fanny played it four hands. In February 1827, the work was performed in Stettin under the direction of K. Löwe.

Although the A Midsummer Night's Dream overture was associated with the play, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy did not conceive it as a musical introduction to the play, but as an independent work performed in concert programs. He did not intend to write any other musical numbers for Shakespeare's comedy. However, after seventeen years, the composer returned to the play that captivated him in his youth: in 1843, the Shakespearean comedy was presented on the occasion of the birthday of Frederick William IV, in this performance the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy overture was performed, in addition, the composer wrote several more numbers for it . After the performance, His Majesty expressed regret that “wonderful music was wasted on such a stupid play.” Alas, intellect was not the strong suit of the Prussian king - but the music of Mendelssohn-Bartholdy really contributed to the popularity of Shakespeare's comedy.

The overture and several other numbers from the music for the comedy - “Scherzo”, “Intermezzo”, “Nocturne” and “Wedding March” - are often performed as a suite. The last number gained particular popularity not only among music lovers, becoming a kind of symbol of the wedding celebration.

Musical Seasons

Concert Overture

Orchestra composition: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, ophicleides, timpani, strings.

History of creation

Mendelssohn wrote 10 overtures. He turned to this genre throughout his entire career, writing the first at the age of 15, and the last three years before his death. The first two (1824-1825) are the youthfully immature “Overture for Brass Band of the Doberan Resort” and “Overture with Trumpets” (or “Festive”). Two equally insignificant ones were written for theatrical works of the comic genre that had no stage history: for the youth opera “Camacho’s Wedding,” which lasted only one performance, and for the vaudeville “Return from a Foreign Land,” performed in a family circle on the occasion of the silver wedding of the composer’s parents. Four belong to the new genre of programmatic concert overture created by Mendelssohn and cover the period of his early creative maturity: these are “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “The Calm Sea and Happy Voyage”, “The Hebrides, or Fingal’s Cave”, “The Tale of the Fair Melusine”. The last two overtures were written again for theatrical performances, but not comic, but dramatic: for “Ruy Blaz” by Hugo and “Athalia” by Racine (in addition to the overture, the music for them also includes other numbers).

In the summer of 1826, 17-year-old Mendelssohn lived on the outskirts of Berlin, far from the noise of the city, almost in the countryside. My father's house was surrounded by a huge shady garden, and the young man spent whole days there, reading the works of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) just translated into German. He was especially attracted to comedies; A Midsummer Night's Dream made an irresistible impression.

Related to early period the work of the great English playwright (presumably 1594-1595), the comedy is permeated with a fairy-tale flavor, rare for Shakespeare, and the poetry of bright youthful feelings. It is distinguished by the originality of the plot, combining several independent lines. Summer night is the night of Ivan Kupala (June 24), when, according to folk beliefs, a fantastic world opens up to man: an enchanted forest inhabited by air elves and fairies with King Oberon, Queen Titania and the prankster Puck. (Coming from English folklore not only into English, but also into German literature, these characters appeared in the same 1826 in the opera “Oberon” by Mendelssohn’s older contemporary, the creator of the German romantic musical theater Weber.) Elves interfere in people’s lives, turning the heads of lovers . But both dramatic and comic twists and turns come to a happy end, and in the finale, at the magnificent wedding of the ruler of the country, two more young couples are married. Simple-minded and rude artisans amuse guests with an ancient love tragedy, turning it into a farce. One of them, the weaver Basis, is given a donkey's head by the prankster Puck, and he discovers the queen of the elves in his arms.

If other composers of the 19th century - Rossini, Gounod and Verdi, Liszt and Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Balakirev - were inspired mainly by Shakespeare's grandiose passions, and they wrote music based on his tragedies, then Mendelssohn was not particularly fascinated even by the story of two loving couples, their misadventures, jealousy and happy connection. The main attraction for the young musician was the magical side of Shakespeare’s comedy; his creative imagination was awakened by the poetic world of nature that surrounded him, so vividly reminiscent of the fairy-tale world created by Shakespeare. Work on the overture proceeded quickly: in a letter dated June 7, 1826, Mendelssohn wrote about his intention to compose an overture, and a month later the manuscript was ready. According to Schumann, “the blossoming of youth is felt here as, perhaps, in no other work by the composer - the accomplished master made his first takeoff at a happy moment.” A Midsummer Night's Dream marks the beginning of the composer's maturity.

The first performance of the overture took place at home: Mendelssohn played it on November 19, 1826 on the piano four hands with his sister Fanny. The premiere took place on February 20 next year in Stettin under the baton of the famous composer Karl Löwe (together with the premiere of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in this city). And the author himself conducted it for the first time in London on Midsummer's Day - June 24, 1829.

17 years after writing the overture, Mendelssohn - the famous composer, pianist and conductor, director of symphony concerts of the Royal Chapel and the Dom Choir in Berlin - again turned to the play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Shakespeare's comedy was staged for the birthday of the Prussian king Frederick William IV: the premiere of the performance took place on October 14, 1843 in the theater hall of the New Palace in Potsdam, and 4 days later in the Schauspielhaus in Berlin. The success was enormous - precisely thanks to Mendelssohn. Never before has music contributed to such a degree to the popularity of a Shakespeare play, about which the high-born, but by no means highly intelligent customer, the king, during a dinner after the premiere, to which the composer was invited, said this: “It’s a pity that your lovely music was wasted on such stupid music.” play."

Music for a comedy, op. 61, consists of an overture and 12 numbers - instrumental and choral, as well as dramatic dialogues with orchestral accompaniment. Often the overture and 4 contrasting symphonic numbers (No. 1, 4, 5, 6) are performed as a suite.

“Scherzo” depicts a captivating aerial world of elves frolicking in a mysterious night forest. “Intermezzo” belongs to the human world and forms one of the rare disturbing, impetuous and passionate episodes in this work (the heroine is looking everywhere for her unfaithful lover). “Nocturne” is characterized by a peaceful mood - under the cover of night, passions subside in the magical forest, and everything falls into sleep. The brilliant, lush “Wedding March” is Mendelssohn’s most popular creation, which has long become a phenomenon not only musical.

The most significant is the overture - the first example of a new genre created by Mendelssohn. Having a long history, the overture in the 17th - early 19th centuries was not an independent work, but preceded an opera or drama, oratorio or suite, as evidenced by its name (from the French verb to open). And although the overture could sound in a concert as a separate piece, it was created as part of a larger plan. Mendelssohn immediately conceived A Midsummer Night's Dream as a concert overture and, moreover, a program one, opening the way for the birth of the symphonic poem - a genre created by Liszt almost three decades later.

Music

At the first sustained mysterious chords of the wind instruments, it’s as if a magic curtain rises, and a mysterious fairy-tale world appears before the listeners. In the ghostly light of the moon, in the virgin forest, among the rustles and rustles, vague shadows flicker, elves lead their aerial round dances. One after another, musical themes emerge, captivating with their unfading freshness and colorfulness for more than a century and a half. Unpretentious lyrical melodies give way to clumsy gallops reminiscent of donkey cries and hunting fanfares. But the main place is occupied by poeticized pictures of nature and the night forest. Masterfully varying the theme of the elves, the composer gives it a threatening tone: mysterious voices call to each other, frightening, teasing and luring into an impenetrable thicket; Bizarre visions flash. The repetition of already known musical images leads to a transparent, fading epilogue. Like a farewell to a fairy tale, an awakening from a magical dream, the previously perky and confident theme sounds slowly and quietly from the violins. An echo answers her. The overture ends, as it opened, with mysterious chords of wind instruments.

A. Koenigsberg

Mendelssohn's overture A Midsummer Night's Dream, inspired by Shakespeare's comedy of the same name, was written by the composer in his youth (1826).

Many years later (in 1841), when the author began composing music for the play A Midsummer Night's Dream, he not only used the entire existing overture, but also made it the musical basis and source of all the characteristics and composition as a whole.

It is significant that Shakespeare attracted Mendelssohn not by the tragedy and philosophical depth of his greatest creations, not by the power of drama and character, but by the poetry of nature, the charm of fairy-tale folk fiction, brilliant witty invention - everything that Shakespearean comedy is rich in in abundance.

Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream most bizarrely combines fiction and reality, fantasy and everyday life, the experiences of lovers, everyday comic folk scenes, and pictures of the fairy-tale kingdom of the wizard Oberon. A bright festivity reigns over everything, the playful laughter of the cheerful prankster elf Robin Peck - the culprit of funny troubles and ingenious confusion. The irresistible charm of the bright world of comedy twice inspired Mendelssohn to his best works. At the dawn of his creative life, he wrote a concert overture; in the prime of creative maturity - all the music for the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream". (The score of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” consists of five large symphonic numbers: an overture and four intermissions (Scherzo, Intermezzo, Nocturne, Wedding March), two choirs, music for melodramas.)

The time of creation of the overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream refers to the most cloudless time in Mendelssohn's life. The overture breathes such youthful spontaneity and freshness, there is so much poetry and grace in it, its orchestration is so transparent and brilliant that it has completely deservedly won its place of honor among the best examples of symphonic music.

P. I. Tchaikovsky wrote about the fate of the overture “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”: “The strange fate of this wonderful work of art! It was written by an eighteen-year-old schoolboy, who later became a worldwide celebrity, but never again created anything that could match his best first work. I believe that when it first appeared, the music of A Midsummer Night's Dream must have made a stunning impression - it was so original, inspired and poetic."

According to Mendelssohn himself, he outlined in the overture all the images that especially attracted him to Shakespeare's play.

At the same time, Mendelssohn did not set himself the task of reflecting in music the entire course of events, the combination of various storylines, make it a musical illustration for the stage action. Starting from specific poetic images, Mendelssohn endows them with musical characteristics that are amazing in their accuracy and correspondence. Regardless of the literary source, musical ideas themselves are quite bright and colorful, and this allows Mendelssohn, in the process of organizing the material, to compare, combine, and develop musical images based on their specific features. Thanks to this, Mendelssohn managed to avoid variegation and mosaicism, and give the multi-themed overture a holistic, plastically harmonious and complete form.

In the overture, as if caused by a magical dream, the fabulous life of an enchanted forest in the summer is revealed. moonlit night. The poetry of the night landscape with its atmosphere of miracles forms the musical and poetic background of the overture, enveloping it in a special flavor of fantasy and extravaganza.

The musical material of the overture is rich and varied. But the general character and mood depend on the image - the “enchanted dream”, initially described in the introduction. Woodwind chords, sustained for long durations on pianissimo, dissolving into long fermata, with their seemingly weightless, ethereal sound, create a feeling of something fabulous, ghostly, as if a curtain is slowly being pulled back, revealing a view of a fantastic magical kingdom:

The main theme of the overture begins directly from the introduction. Light and airy (violins divisi on solid staccato), woven from whimsically intertwined passages, it whirls rapidly, then suddenly pauses with the unexpected appearance of the introduction chords:

Born from fairy-tale images, the main theme of the overture paints with the finest colors a picture of elves - fantastic spirits of nature - blithely frolicking in cheerful round dances. (The main theme of the overture opens a string of Mendelssohn’s musical themes, inspired by fairy-tale images, possessing the same “elfin” agility and mobility. For example, the themes of the finale of the Violin Concerto, the Scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the second movement of Rondo capriccioso E-dur and other works .)

The introduction and the main theme form a general fantastic plan. Other themes of the exhibition are of a very real nature; they are brightly characteristic and colorful, for example, the festively jubilant theme in E major (on an orchestral tutti with elements of marching):

several themes of secondary rot pairs, in which lyrical expressiveness gradually intensifies:

finally, the deliberately angular theme of the final game:

The bright and joyful coloring of the exposition is supported by secondary thematic material - fanfare, which accompanies the festive second theme, or, otherwise instrumental, sounds like bells in the secondary part.

Despite the apparent contrast of themes - the contrast between the fantastic and the real - there is no internal opposition between the two plans in the overture. All themes organically “grow” into one another, creating an unbreakable chain of musical images, welded together by a single dynamics and a common emotional tone. Ultimately, the entire theme of the overture “takes its tone” from the main theme; from it “radiates” that carefree fun, dizzying rushing movement that spreads throughout the entire work.

Thanks to the influence of the main images of the overture in the introduction and the main part, a unity of plan is created in which the fantastic is difficult to separate from the real, where the real sounds fantastic and the fantastic is real. Nevertheless, the dominant position remains with the images of the introduction and the main theme, embodying the fairy-tale-fantastic beginning. It is no coincidence that the main theme occupies the central sections of the overture, surrounding all the other thematic material. In the exposition, after the solemn E-dur theme, the main theme returns and sounds for a long time; the development begins with it and is almost exclusively based on it; the coda again uses the material of the introduction and the main theme, and the reprise is surrounded by the same main theme.

The wonderful orchestration of the overture greatly contributes to the creation of an enchanting airy coloring in it.

Mendelssohn subtly differentiates the instrumental timbres of individual groups of the orchestra, taking into account the individual properties of each instrument. He freely makes transitions from one orchestral group to another, now opposing them, now uniting them; he uses a variety of techniques for extracting sound and distributing material and achieves amazingly colorful orchestral writing. At the same time, all the effects of the orchestral score naturally follow from the artistic and poetic concept and are aimed at highlighting character traits musical image.

The “A Midsummer Night's Dream” overture, written in his youth, to which Mendelssohn returned again at the zenith of his mastery, anticipated and at the same time summarized the best aspects of his work.

Felix Mendelssohn - German composer, pianist, conductor, teacher - one of the largest representatives of romanticism in music, head of the Leipzig School artistic direction.

Generously gifted by nature with various talents, Mendelssohn was surrounded by an atmosphere of high intellectuality from childhood. The conditions for personality formation were ideal. His grandfather was an outstanding philosopher.

In his home, Felix could communicate with outstanding representatives of the scientific and artistic elite - Hegel, Goethe, Heine, Weber, Paganini. InterestMendelssohnThe education I received contributed to classical music. teacherhiswasZelter -director of the Berlin Singing Chapel.

At 16 years oldFelixMendelssohn received an invitationstudyfrom the director of the Paris ConservatoryCherubini. He refusedoh, so wow, the modern musical culture of France seemed to Mendelssohn to be far from the ideals of Russian classics.

Mendelssohn's personality is the embodiment of the ancient ideal of a harmoniously developed, perfect person. He was fluent in several languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek, was an excellent painter, and was into horse riding and swimming. Mendelssohn was interested in literature, theater, everyday life and the history of the countries he visited. His favorite authors are Goethe, Shakespeare and the romantic Jean Paul.

All multifaceted activitiesMendelssohnwas imbued with educational ideas. He became the first German musician-educator on a national scale: in 1843, on his initiative, the Leipzig Conservatory was created, promoting the growth of musical professionalism in Germany. Conservatory-based in German musical artaroseLeipzig School led byFelixMendelssohn.

IdolMendelssohn -Psuccessor of Schubert and Weber in romanticism,There was always Beethoven. However, contemporaries perceivedhisas a "student of Bach"

Mendelssohn's favorite sphere was elegant scherzo, usually associated with fantastic images. There is nothing dark or “demonic” about his whimsical fiction. These are fabulous images of folk legends - elves, fairies, gnomes (Elfen-musik had a great influence on Liszt and Grieg).

The creative heritage of Felix Mendelssohn covers absolutely all musical genres of his time. The most extensive and significant part is instrumental music. It is represented by symphonies, overtures, concerts, chamber ensembles, sonatas for various instruments, and piano works.

Mendelssohn's main discovery in the symphonic field was his concert program overtures, an area in which he was a bold innovator.

The overture genre has a long history. Its emergence is associated with opera, with the 17th century. Concert overtures are the brainchild of romanticism. It was among the romantics that they became independent works with a certain programmatic content. Intended for concert performance, they were not associated with any dramatic performance, nor with opera or ballet (overture “to nothing”). This genre was extremely popular at the time; concert programs usually began with it.

The first romantic concert overture is A Midsummer Night's Dream.

« A Midsummer Night's Dream" - the only workShakespearein the works of Mendelssohn. Unlike his contemporaries: Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Berlioz, Liszt, he was carried away not by the tragedies of the great playwright, but by one of his most cheerful comedies. Her folk tale images were very popularin Germany(Weber's Oberon). It is significant that the plotShakespeare, whoattracted the attention of Mendelssohn and was translated by the German romantics Schlegel and Tieck.

In the overture, Felix Mendelssohn outlined what was attractive to himpoetic images: light fantasy, soft lyrics, playful humor. The music conveys the fabulous life of a magical forest on a summer night. The classically harmonious sonata form is distinguished by an abundance of themes. Particularly original is the rapidly whirling, airy “elven theme” - the first theme of the main part. It appears after long, drawn-out woodwind chords in the introduction in the image of an “enchanted dream”

The character of all the other themes of the exposition is quite real: this is the festively upbeat, march-like second theme of the main part, accompanied by jubilant fanfare, and the trilyrical themes of the side part, and the lively, perky final part with unexpected leaps and sharp accents.

The contrast between fantasy and reality in the overture is not presented in opposition. All images are welded together by a single emotional mood of carefree cheerfulness.

Mendelssohn wrote nine more overtures, some of them striking, innovative, and some of little significance. The overtures “The Silence of the Sea and Happy Voyage”, “The Hebrides, or Fingal’s Cave”, “Beautiful Melusine”, “Ruy Blas” are considered the best.

The programming in Mendelssohn's overtures is of a generalized nature. He did not strive for a consistent plot, for fixing individual details of the content. Unlike Berlioz and Liszt, Mendelssohn avoided extensive literary prefaces and limited himself to titles alone, which, moreover, often changed even after the premiere.

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On October 9, 1847, Mendelssohn was visiting the singer Livia Frege, they were rehearsing songs.

Should I burn with love again?
Or should I wait for death? -

These words ended one of the songs based on the words of Heinrich Heine.

Mendelssohn and Frege rehearsed for a long time, suddenly the composer felt his hands go numb and began to shiver. He apologized and went home. I lay in bed for several days. On the evening of November 4, Felix Mendelssohn died.

His job killed him. A huge amount of work.

Mendelssohn is one of the outstanding musicians in Germany in the first half of the 19th century. He occupies a special place among contemporary romantics. His music, developing in line with romanticism, is closely connected with classical traditions. Classic And romantic principles make up a surprisingly harmonious fusion in it, which manifests itself in each specific case in its own way. And it was this unity that determined the figurative structure of his works - balanced, life-affirming and harmonious. Mendelssohn, unlike other romantics, is not characterized by tragic conflict; in his work there is no feeling of irreconcilable discord with the surrounding reality. His art is illuminated by faith in man and the human mind.

Mendelssohn's music contains many typically romantic images:

“musical moments” reflecting a person’s mental states;
paintings of everyday life and nature (the composer was especially attracted by the romance of the sea);
whimsical fantasy, in which there is nothing dark, “demonic”. This fabulous images of folk legends - elves, fairies, gnomes (something that had a great influence on Liszt and Grieg);

At the same time, being the successor of Schubert and Weber in romanticism, Mendelssohn took a lot from the Viennese classical school. About the closeness to the Age of Enlightenment, to the classical tradition they say:

the clear, balanced tone of Mendelssohn's lyrics;
the desire to embody objective, sustainable ideals;
slender proportions of forms;
intelligibility, democratic thematism, which is based on generalized, established intonations.

The son of a wealthy, enlightened banker, generously gifted by nature with various talents, Mendelssohn was surrounded from childhood in an atmosphere of high intellectuality. The conditions for personality formation were ideal. His grandfather was an outstanding philosopher. In his home, the future composer could communicate with the most brilliant representatives of the scientific and artistic elite - Hegel, Goethe, Heine, Weber, Paganini. The persistent interest in classical music, which did not fade throughout Mendelssohn’s life, was facilitated by the very nature of the education he received. His teacher was Zelter- director of the Berlin Singing Chapel, where the music of J.S. was often performed. Bach.

At the age of 16, Mendelssohn received a personal invitation from Cherubini, director of the Paris Conservatory, to study there. He refused, since the modern musical culture of France seemed to him far from the ideals of Russian classics.

Personality Mendelssohn can be considered the embodiment of the ancient ideal of a harmoniously developed, perfect person. He was fluent in several languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek. He drew beautifully, went in for horse riding and swimming. He was interested in literature, theater, everyday life and the history of the countries he visited. It is interesting that the composer’s literary preferences also showed a peculiar combination of the classical and the romantic: his favorite authors were both Goethe, Shakespeare and the romantic Jean Paul.

All of Mendelssohn's multifaceted activities as a composer, conductor, pianist, and teacher were imbued with educational ideas. He became the first German musician-educator on a national scale: in 1843, on his initiative, the Leipzig Conservatory was created, which contributed to the growth of musical professionalism in Germany. On the basis of the conservatory, a new direction in German musical art arose - Leipzig school led by Mendelssohn.

The composer wrote his music for a wide range of lovers, whose taste he wanted to educate and turn away from the vulgarity that sounded around them. The composer treated fashionable virtuoso performers with outright contempt (“They give me as little pleasure as acrobats and rope dancers”).

Beethoven always remained Mendelssohn's idol, like all German romantics. However, he was also fascinated by composers of the Baroque era (which distinguishes Mendelssohn from most of his contemporaries). He searched everywhere for long-forgotten works by Schutz, Bach, Handel, and old Italian masters, and their music was resurrected thanks to his efforts. At the age of 20 he was lucky enough to find and fulfill Bach's St. Matthew Passion and since then, the name of Mendelssohn is always mentioned with gratitude when it comes to the “second birth” of Bach. Later he performed Bach's Mass in B minor and staged a grandiose production of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt.

At his concerts, many modern listeners discovered classical masterpieces for the first time. It is characteristic that Mendelssohn himself was perceived by his contemporaries as a “student of Bach.”

Attitude to creativity Mendelssohn changed over time. During his lifetime, he very early became one of the best composers in Germany. Created at the age of 17 (!), the brilliant overture “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” attracted everyone’s attention to him. Being an excellent conductor and pianist, Mendelssohn traveled all over Europe and won great fame. Unlike many other romantic artists, he did not know misrecognition and loneliness. Prominent people considered him a like-minded person. Thus, Schumann called Mendelssohn “the second Mozart,” dreaming to compose symphonies as clear and balanced, and Heine spoke of him as a “musical miracle.”

However, after some time, the name of Mendelssohn ceased to evoke the former enthusiasm. The fact that he was a staunch supporter of the classical traditions gave rise to classifying him as a principled conservative, causing accusations of academicism. Clarity and balance in the turbulent era of late romanticism seemed indifference and rationality. The wide popularity of “Songs Without Words” was explained by the expectation of undemanding tastes. Mendelssohn's music began to be criticized for the lack of philosophical depth, Beethovenian heroism, and bright novelty, contrasting it with the innovation of Berlioz and Liszt.

Really, Mendelssohn's art far from the impetuous passion of Schumann, the national patriotism of Chopin, the radical courage of Berlioz and Wagner. Heroism, tragedy and acute conflict are not his sphere. He was a lyricist par excellence. Mendelssohn's lyrics are marked by a desire for clarity, balance, subtle poetry, and are often characterized by an elegiac tone. She captivates with her sincerity, subtle poetry, impeccable taste, and lack of purely external showiness. Reliance on everyday forms of music-making and closeness to German folk songs are also characteristic.

Along with lyricism, the composer’s favorite sphere was elegant scherzo, associated, as a rule, with fantastic images. There is nothing dark or “demonic” about Mendelssohn’s whimsical fiction. These are fabulous images of folk legends - elves, fairies, gnomes (Elfen-musik - something that had a great influence on Liszt and Grieg).

Many typically romantic motifs were alien to Mendelssohn - internal duality, disappointment, world sorrow, foggy mysticism.

Mendelssohn's creative heritage covers absolutely all musical genres of his time. The most extensive and significant part is instrumental music. It is represented by symphonies, overtures, concerts, chamber ensembles, sonatas for various instruments (including organ), and piano works.

Mendelssohn's main discovery in the symphonic field is his concert program overtures - an area in which he was a bold innovator.

Overture "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

The first romantic concert overture - "A dream in a summer night".

This is the only Shakespearean work in Mendelssohn's oeuvre. Unlike many of his contemporaries (Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Berlioz, Liszt), the composer was carried away not by the tragedies of the great playwright, but by one of his most cheerful comedies. Her folk-fairy tale images were very popular in Germany (“Oberon” by Weber). It is significant that the Shakespearean plot attracted the attention of Mendelssohn in the translation of the German romantics Schlegel and Tieck.

The composer did not set himself the task of consistently conveying all the events of Shakespeare's comedy in the overture. He outlined those poetic images that were especially attractive to him: light fantasy, soft lyrics and playful humor. The music depicts the fabulous life of a magical forest on a summer night. The musical material is very diverse: the classically harmonious sonata form is distinguished by an abundance of themes. Especially original is the rapidly whirling, airy "elf theme"- the first theme of the main part (e-moll, divizi violins). It appears after the long, drawn-out woodwind chords in the introduction (the image of an “enchanted dream”).

The character of all other themes of the exhibition is quite real: it is festively upbeat, march-like second theme of the main part(E-dur), accompanied by jubilant fanfares, and three lyrical themes V side party(H-dur), and lively, perky final game with unexpected leaps and sharp accents.

The contrast between fantasy and reality in the overture is not presented in opposition. On the contrary, all the images are welded together by a single emotional mood of carefree cheerfulness.

Already a mature master, Mendelssohn again turned to the images of Shakespeare's comedy, writing several large symphonic numbers for it (including the famous Wedding March), two choruses and music for melodramas.

In addition to this overture, Mendelssohn wrote nine more, among which there are some bright, innovative, and insignificant ones. Overtures are considered the best “Silence of the Sea and Happy Voyage”, “The Hebrides, or Fingal’s Cave”, “Beautiful Melusine”, “Ruy Blas”.

The programming in Mendelssohn's overtures is of a generalized nature. He did not strive for a consistent plot, for fixing individual details of the content. In addition, unlike Berlioz and Liszt, Mendelssohn avoided extensive literary prefaces and limited himself to titles alone, which, moreover, often changed even after the premiere.