Sleep in summer night(English: A Midsummer Night's Dream) is a comedy by William Shakespeare, written between 1594 and 1596. Presumably, the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was written by Shakespeare for the wedding of the English aristocrat and patron of the arts Elizabeth Carey, who married on 19 February 1595, on this day "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was first performed in the theater. According to another version, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was dedicated to the celebration of St. John's Day (a holiday similar to the day of Ivan Kupala in the Russian tradition).
In 1826, 17-year-old German composer Felix Mendelssohn wrote music for a theatrical production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Mendelssohn's score for A Midsummer Night's Dream was very popular in 19th-century productions, and it also left its mark on cinema, being the main theme song in the 1935 film A Midsummer Night's Dream. Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" gained particular popularity, turning from a hymn to the fickleness of love for many into a hymn to marital fidelity.

Theseus is going to marry Hippolyta, and the wedding of Demetrius and Hermia is also being prepared, on which Hermia’s father insists. Hermia loves Lysander, together they decide to run away and tell Elena, who is in love with Demetrius, about this in the hope that Elena will be pleased by the escape of her rival for Demetrius’s heart. Elena, counting on Demetrius’ gratitude, tells him about the escape of his bride. As a result, all four - Hermia, Lysander, Helen and Demetrius - find themselves in the forest at a time when the king of fairies and elves Oberon decides to punish his wife Titania, who does not give him her Indian page. Oberon orders his servant Puck to smear the eyes of the sleeping Titania with magic juice, after she wakes up, she will fall in love with the first living creature who sees and forgets her Indian pet. There is magic juice in a flower that grew in the place where Cupid's arrow hit, bouncing off a chaste virgin.

Fairy

Or maybe you just look like him,
Or are you really Rogue Robin,
Evil spirit. Not you in the villages
Are you scaring girls? Do you grind the grains yourself?
Skim off the cream and spend hours on end
Don't you let the worker churn the butter?
Are you spoiling the yeast in your beer? You're fooling
Do you want to follow the night traveler?
And who calls you "dear Puck"
That's why you're happy to help in this way and that.
Tell me, is it you?

Fairy and Puck

Arthur Rackham - Fairy and Puck

Arthur Rackham - Fairy and Puck

Oberon

Is this meeting under the moon good?
Arrogant Titania?

Titania

What is this?

Jealous Oberon? Let's fly away, fairies!
I hate the sight of him and his bed.

Oberon and Titania

Joseph Noel Paton. The dispute between Oberon and Titania

Alfred Fredericks. Titania and Oberon

Arthur Rackham - Titania and Oberon

Arthur Rackham. Titania

Arthur Rackham - Titania

Amateur actors also come to the forest, deciding to perform the play “Pyramus and Thisbe” at the wedding of Theseus. One of them, the weaver Motok (in another translation - the Basis), turns out to be turned by Pak into a creature with a donkey's head. The weaver with the donkey's head is the first one Titania sees after waking up and falls in love with him.

Titania

Don’t try to leave this thicket.
You wouldn't find a way anyway.
I am a creature of the rarest of breeds.
In my domain it is summer all year round.
And I love you. Come, my friend.
Elves will come running to you for services,
So that you can look for pearls in the seas
And sing when you're dozing on the flowers.
This is how I will cleanse your mortal frame,
That you, like a spirit, will soar above the earth.

Titania and Base

Alfred Fredericks - Foundation

Alfred Fredericks - Titania and the Skein (Base)

Alfred Fredericks - Titania and the Base

Edwin Landseer. Titania and Base

John Anster Fitzgerald. Titania and Base

Joseph Noel Paton. Titania and Skein (Base)

Arthur Rackham - Titania and the Foundation

Oberon witnessed a conversation between Helen and Demetrius, who rejects the girl in love. Oberon orders Puck to pour magic juice into the eyes of the sleeping Demetrius so that Demetrius will fall in love with Helen. But Puck mistakenly pours juice into Lysander’s eyes and he falls in love with Helen, forgetting his love for Hermia. Correcting himself, Puck waters Demetri's eyes and he also falls in love with Elena. Helen, who did not have a single admirer, now finds two and decides that Demetrius, Lysander and Hermia want to play a cruel joke on her. Hermia is at a loss as to why Lysander has lost interest in her. Demetrius and Lysander leave to fight for Helen's heart.

Arthur Rackham. Elena

Jones Simmons. Hermia and Lysander

Alfred Fredericks - Lysander and Hermia

Alfred Fredericks - Hermia

Alfred Fredericks. Demetri and Elena

Oberon orders Puck to remove the effect of the magic juice from Lysander, and he himself heals Titania, who has already given him the Indian boy. The weaver returns to his normal appearance and he and his comrades play at a triple wedding: Theseus marries Hippolyta, Lysander marries Hermia, and Demetrius marries his new love- Elena.

Oberon
(speaking)

Oh, Robin, hello! Do you see? Admire it.
I'm starting to feel sorry for the poor thing.
Now she was collecting at the edge of the forest
Flowers for this vile creature;

Oberon, Titania and Hank (Base)

Titania

My Oberon! Oh, what a fable!
I had a dream that I loved a donkey.

Oberon

Here he is, your gentle friend.

Oberon, Titania and Base

Alfred Fredericks - Titania, Oberon and Foundation

John Anster Fitzgerald - Oberon and Titania

William Blake. Oberon, Titania and Puck with dancing fairies

Alfred Fredericks - Theseus and Hippolyta

Now I’ll tell you about two film adaptations of Shakespeare’s comedy that I watched - 1935 and 1999.

The 1935 film A Midsummer Night's Dream was directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterli. This film has a wonderful fairytale atmosphere, especially Titania, played by Anita Louise. The music used is Mendelssohn's music.

Stills from the film "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1935):

Oberon and Titania

Titania and Base

Hermia (played by Olivia de Havilland)

Elena (played by Jean Muir)

Of the modern adaptations of A Midsummer Night's Dream, I would like to note the 1999 film directed by Michael Hoffman, I like it even more than the 1935 film, despite some deviations from Shakespeare's original text - the action is transferred to the Italian town of Athens at the end of the 19th century, and Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena ride bicycles through the forest. If in the 1935 film the emphasis is shifted towards the fairy tale, then in the 1999 film the main thing is not the fabulousness, but the comic nature of what is happening, due to this the film is watched in one go. Plays Titania. It is impossible to choose a better actress for this role; Michelle Pfeiffer as the queen of fairies and elves is simply magnificent.

Stills from the film "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1999):

Oberon and Titania

Titania and Base

Of the theatrical performances of the role of Titania, one cannot fail to mention Vivien Leigh; she first appeared on stage in the role of Titania in the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on December 27, 1937.

Vivien Leigh as Titania

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

Sophie Anderson - Thus Your Fairy's made of most beautiful things

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.

Overture

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 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 choir of the Dom Cathedral in Berlin - again turned to the play "The Dream" on a midsummer night." 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 so much to the popularity of a Shakespearean play.

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 leaps 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.

Music for a comedy, op. 61, consists of an overture and separate numbers - instrumental and choral, as well as dramatic dialogues with orchestral accompaniment.

Scherzo. Allegro vivace

“Scherzo” depicts a captivating aerial world of elves frolicking in a mysterious night forest.

Procession of the Elves

Intermezzo

“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).

Song with choir

Nocturne

“Nocturne” is characterized by a peaceful mood - under the cover of night, passions subside in the magical forest, and everything falls into sleep.

Wedding March

The brilliant, lush “Wedding March” is Mendelssohn’s most popular creation, which has long become a phenomenon not only musical.

The final

"A Midsummer-Night's Dream" - "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a play that stands out among Shakespeare's works in the fact that no direct and immediate source of its plot has been found. The concept of the plot and the composition of the action belong entirely to Shakespeare himself.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is the most romantic of all Shakespeare's comedies. This is a magical extravaganza, a fantastic world. In this comedy, the great realist surrendered to the will of his imagination. He filled the play with imaginary, fantastic creatures, presented events in such an unusual way that the viewer gets an impression similar to what happens during dreams.

Yes, this is a dream - a dream on a summer night, when the moon illuminates with a soft light the foliage of the trees gently rustling under a light breeze and some strange and mysterious life seems to be in the rustling of the night forest. The images of the heroes float before us, like “shadows in the transparent twilight of the night from behind the pink curtain of dawn, on multi-colored clouds woven from the aromas of flowers...”.

The marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta frames the entire plot. The comedy begins with the court of Theseus, and during the first scene we learn about the upcoming wedding of the Athenian king with the queen of the Amazons. The end of the comedy is the celebration of the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. This plot frame does not contain any dramatic motives. There is no hint of conflict here. Theseus is a wise king who loves his bride and enjoys mutual love on her part. These images are given by Shakespeare statically. The second and central plot motif is the stories of Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helen. The action unfolding here already contains significant dramatic motives and conflicts.

Hermia's father chose Demetrius as her husband, but she prefers Lysander. Theseus, being a sovereign, stands guard over his father's right and orders Hermia to obey her parental will. But youth does not want to put up with violence against feelings. Hermia decides to flee into the forest with her lover. Elena and Demetrius go there too. But here, in the forest, there is a world of our own, in which the laws of the state, morals and customs developed by society no longer apply. This is the kingdom of nature, and the senses are relaxed here; they manifest themselves with maximum freedom. The natural world is poetically inspired by Shakespeare. In the thicket of the forest, among the trees and shrubs, grass and flowers, small, light, airy spirits hover.

They are the soul of the forest, and what is the soul in general, the soul of a person in particular - isn’t it a forest where a person can get lost among his own feelings? So, in any case, one might think, looking at what happens to young lovers who find themselves in this enchanted world. This world has its own king - the forest spirit Oberon, who controls all the elves of the forest. If the Athenian king Theseus demands obedience to customs and laws, while providing the opportunity to think and realize his mistake, the forest king will use the spell of witchcraft in order to subordinate to his will. This is how he punishes Titania, who argued with him.

Athenian artisans come here to rehearse the play they are going to perform on the wedding day of their sovereign. Simple-minded artisans take their craft extremely seriously. They have no time for jokes, but they, having found themselves in the world of forest wonders, find themselves involved in the cycle of strange events and extraordinary transformations taking place in this world of wonders. The weaver suddenly found himself with a donkey's head and, despite this deformity, the airy queen of the elves, the beautiful Titania, fell in love with him.

Arthur Rackham - The meeting of Oberon and Titania

Finally, the last plot motif appears before us already when, it would seem, all the action is completed: the artisans are acting out the love story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Passing through all the vicissitudes that occurred during the young people’s stay in the forest, and coming to how it all ended, we see that the love of Hermia and Lysander, having gone through all the trials, triumphed. As for Demetrius, he became convinced that his feelings for Hermia were fragile. In the forest, he fell in love with Elena, who had long been burning with passion for him. Thus, the feelings of the two girls overcame all obstacles: Hermia confirmed her intention to unite her life with Lysander, and Helen won the love of Demetrius, who had been indifferent to her for a long time.

Edward Robert Hughes - Midsummer Eve

Even Aegeus, who jealously guarded his right to decide the fate of his daughter and forced an unloved man on her as a husband, is forced to resign himself to this victory of love. Before her, before the victory of feelings, Theseus also bows, giving young people the opportunity to marry according to their heartfelt desires. Thus, nature turned out to be stronger than the law.

Joseph Noel Paton - Oberon and Titania

Shakespeare also reveals the contradictions that arise where feelings act as the determining force of life. A madman, a poet and a lover, notes Theseus, are equally susceptible to the will of their imagination and, being under its influence, are capable of doing thousands of stupid things. When a person is guided only by feeling, he often makes mistakes. Feelings are deceptive, and a person, succumbing to imagination, may be mistaken in his attachments. So, at first it seems to Demetrius that he loves Hermia, and then his feeling is transferred to Helen, and he is convinced that the first attraction was mistaken. In the comedy, the metamorphosis of the feelings of young men and women who fled into the Athenian forest is caused by the spell of the magical flower juice that Good Little Robin squeezed into their eyes.

Fitzgerald, John Anster -Midsummer Eve Fairies

The changeability of feelings and the blindness caused by them reach their culmination when Titania, under the influence of enchantment, falls in love with the Base with a donkey's head, as if he were amazingly handsome. A Midsummer Night's Dream features a bizarre game human feelings, forcing heroes to do strange things and change their sympathies in the most inexplicable way. The comedy is imbued with the subtlest irony with which Shakespeare looks at the strange quirks of the human heart, at these heroes who show inconstancy of feelings.

Youth tends to exaggerate the suffering caused by failures in love and young heroes and may seem to be on the verge of tragically losing all possibility of happiness. But true love will conquer all obstacles. Moreover, it must win in the fairy-tale world that appears before us in the comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” because in a fairy tale, goodness and all the best principles of life always win. And “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a fairy tale full of enchanting charm, depicting a fictional world in which the difficulties and contradictions of life are overcome easily, by magic. This is a fairy tale about human happiness, about fresh youthful feelings, about the charm of a summer forest in which wonderful and extraordinary stories take place.

The audience can only succumb to Shakespeare's charm and follow him into this poetic kingdom, where the muses of poetry, fun and wisdom reign.

A. Anikst

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 vav modern musical culture France seemed to Mendelssohn far from the ideals of Russian classics.

Mendelssohn's personality is the embodiment ancient ideal 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 rendered big influence on Liszt, 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 “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 - one of the outstanding musicians of Germany's first half of the 19th century 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 states of mind person;
• 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 perform Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and since then, the name of Mendelssohn is always mentioned with gratitude when it comes to Bach’s “second birth.” 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 and led to 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.

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.

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 given 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.