[Footnote 205: Several of these were constantly played by both Paderewski and De Pachman, two of the greatest virtuosi of our day: surely a convincing tribute!]
[Footnote 206: See the _Oxford History of Music_, Vol. VI, pp. 80-84. Anyone who cares to see what Wagner owed to Mendelssohn may compare the opening theme, and its treatment, of the _Fair Melusine_ Overture with the music of the Rhine Maidens in the _Rheingold_.]
[Footnote 207: See his treatise on Orchestration, p. 194.]
Let us now analyze the _Midsummer Night's Dream_ Overture,[208] "his first and highest flight" to quote Schumann. In this work we do not find a characterization by musical means of the emotions of the dramatis personae, as in the _Coriolanus_ Overture; and there is little specific correspondence between the type of theme and definite incidents, except possibly at the beginning of the Recapitulation, where the low tones of the Bass Tuba[209] may be thought to represent the snores of Bottom, as the fairies hover about him. Anyone familiar with Shakespeare's play--and such a knowledge is indispensible for a complete enjoyment of the music--will see that Mendelssohn's object was to give a broad, general picture of the fairy world and to intensify, by his music, the fancy and humor found in the play. The introductory sustained chords, pianissimo, are a happy illustration of his deftness in tone-painting; for, assigned to the ethereal flutes and clarinets, they constitute, as Niecks ingeniously expresses it, a "magic formula" which ushers us into the moonlit realm of fairyland. The first theme in E minor (Allegro di molto: throughout _pp_ and staccato), announced by the strings, is a graphic representation of the playful antics of the nimble elves and fairies. Its course is twice interrupted by a peculiar, prolonged chord which seems to say, "Hush! you are listening to the activities of beings not of this every-day, humdrum world." The first theme has a second part in E major (beginning at measure 62) of a pompous, march-like nature, which may be thought to represent the dignity of Duke Theseus and his train. The Overture being in complete Sonata-form, there occurs at this point a short transition based on the rhythm of the first theme; followed by a lovely cantabile melody--the second theme proper--that typifies the romantic love pervading the play. This theme also is expanded into several sections; the first of which may portray the clownish Athenian tradespeople, and the second, the brays of Bottom after he has been transformed into an ass, _e.g._