The Composers of the romantic era were particularly inspired by this world of fantasy.

“How now, spirit! Wither wander you?” asks Puck. The fairy replies: “Over hill, over dale, thorough bush, thorough briar, over park, over pale, thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere, swifter than the moon’s sphere. For I serve the Fairy Queen.” It is with these words that the curtain rises to Mendelssohn’s incidental music to Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Composers have always been fascinated by the realms between dream and reality, night and day, and mythical creatures have often fueled their imaginations. It is a world ruled by Pan, goblins, fairies and elves, who appear in haunted sites, deep in the forest, in the middle of the night. Composers of the romantic era were particularly inspired by this world of fantasy. The upcoming 200th anniversary of the birth of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in 2009 has prompted us to present a selection of works on the theme “Midsummer – Night – Dream” from our opera and concert repertoire:

Bantock, Sappho

Berlioz, Les Nuits d’Été - Summer nights

Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique

Busoni, Nocturne symphonique

Hölszky, An die Nacht

Lachenmann, Notturno

Matthus, „Ich sah dein Licht …“

Mendelssohn, A midsummer Night's Dream

Mussorgsky, A Night on the Bare Mountain

Schubert „Nacht und Träume“

Wagner, „The Fairies“ - Ouverture

Weber, „Oberon“ Ouverture

Zender/Debussy, Five Préludes