Urtext full score of A Midsummer Night’s Dream No. 1 Scherzo based on the Leipzig Mendelssohn Complete Edition.

After composing his Concert Overture op. 23 in the summer of 1826, Mendelssohn returned to Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream between 1842 and 1843 to compose his incidental music op. 61, based on August Wilhelm Schlegel’s translation. This music played a significant role in helping the work achieve success in German-speaking countries. Until the beginning of the 20th century, it was considered an integral part of any performance of the comedy, and alternative compositions, such as by Carl Orff, were unsuccessful in competing with Mendelssohn’s popular music.

The opening piece of the incidental music, the Scherzo, is available here as performance material based on the edition by Christian Martin Schmidt in the Leipzig Mendelssohn Edition.