Composer: Felix Mendelssohn 孟德爾頌 (1809-1847)

才十七歲的孟德爾頌閱讀了莎士比亞的「仲夏夜之夢」後受了感動，創作了一首序曲，原本是單獨在音樂會中演奏的曲目。在孟德爾頌三十多歲時，他獲普魯斯國王委任為柏林藝術學院的音樂總監，作曲家加入了其他段落，薈集成一套完整的組曲，作為莎劇「仲夏夜之夢」的配樂。今天很多音樂會都會抽取其中選段演出。

• Overture 序曲

  樂曲一開始奏出四個神妙的和弦，將氣氛帶入仲夏夜的月光下。接著由小提琴以跳弓方式拉奏出描繪精靈嬉戲的第一主題，隨而由樂團強奏，代表國王與仙后的威嚴形象。第二主題為溫柔的「愛情主題」，由單簧管奏出，小提琴接唱，代表平民世界中戀人的真摯感情。不久，粗獷的舞曲小丑之舞出現，模仿驢子的嘶叫聲。發展部再以精靈主題作開展，暗示著劇情的曲折變化，進入再現部後重覆主題，至結尾開頭的四個和弦再度出現，氣氛再歸於平靜。

• Nocturne 夜曲

  安寧平靜的夜曲，描繪兩對小情人在追逐後怠倦不堪在森林中熟睡，一段美麗的圓號獨奏，把聽眾帶到神秘的荒野，作曲家巧妙地利用巴松管跟圓號齊奏，沈厚的木管為圓號加添溫暖，如夢的旋律在末段漸現光芒，似是黎明將至，為下一場作序幕。

• Wedding March 婚禮進行曲

  相信大部分的觀眾都不會對婚禮進行曲中的小號調子感到陌生，但不會有太多人知道它跟莎劇「仲夏夜之夢」的關係，更鮮為人知的是當時孟德爾頌在普魯斯國王贊助的柏林藝術學院當音樂總監，國王的兒子跟維多利亞女皇的女兒成婚，在婚禮用上了孟德爾頌這段音樂，自此在西方社會成為習俗。
  

Felix Mendelssohn's score for William Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream” is probably the most famous incidental music ever written. Shakespeare’s play inspired the 17-year old Mendelssohn to compose the “overture”, which was first performed in 1827 as an isolated concert piece. In 1842, when the matured Mendelssohn served as Music Director of the newly established Berlin Academy of Arts, the composer added vocal sections and other instrumental movements, and included the overture as one of the 14 sections of a complete set of incidental music to “A Midsummer Night's Dream”. The instrumental movements are often excerpted for orchestral concert performance.

The Overture opens with four of the most evocative chords in music which beguilingly invite the listener into the magical forest outside. Scurrying bouncing strings depict the fairies darting through the woods, and the full orchestra proclaims the noble lovers' music. A series of accented, forceful chords in the low strings and brass pound out an earthy rhythm before the orchestra gives us a musical mischievous magic that has transformed one character into an ass. The development section starts again with fairies, after which Mendelssohn recapitulates the theme for the lovers. With the ass’ hee-hawing, a passage of gentle modulation in the winds opens the end theme of the piece. The strings play a serenely beautiful transformation of the lovers' theme before the overture ends as it began, with those four magical chords.

The tranquil Nocturn depicts the deep mystery of the German forest as the lovers are falling asleep in complete exhaustion after a merry chase. The beautiful horn solo is doubled with the bassoon to absorb some of the brassy tone, magically added warmth to the music. The melodrama closes with a dreamy brightening up at the end to suggest the softness of dawn, preparing for the rise of the curtain in the next scene.

Although everybody is familiar with its trumpet solo tune in Wedding March, few know how popularity of this piece is connected to Mendelssohn’s patron, the Prussian king who sponsored the Berlin Academy of Arts where the composer was Music Director. The king chose this piece as part of the ceremonial music at his son’s wedding to the daughter of Queen Victoria in 1858, thereby popularizing its use at weddings in English-speaking countries.