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Chapter 28
Felix Mendelssohn
Chapter at a Glance
Listen to This First
Word-Music Relationships: Creating Characters Through Sound
The Drama of Sonata Form
Connect Your Playlist: Dynamics
Chapter Objectives
After reading this chapter and listening to the work, students should be able to:
28.1 Define program music.
.
Key Concepts
program music, relationship of drama and purely instrumental music, sonata form
without exposition repeat
Chapter Highlight: Programmatic Orchestral Music
drama, or at the very least, of its principal characters.
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Chapter Summary
This overture captures the spirit of an enchanted forest: from the opening chords in the
winds that seem to focus the imagination to the scurrying motif in the strings, the
character themes, and the donkey sounds, this piece of program music embodies
Romanticism. Mendelssohn (1809 1847) was the son of a prominent German banker,
and was a child prodigy who toured Europe as a child. He was a successful composer at
the age of 17 (the year he wrote his ), but he is
Listening Guide
The Form column in the Listening Guide follows sonata form, as discussed just before
the guide, and the Melody column labels the themes with numbers (as in other chapters
in Listen to This!) and by characteristics associated with the play. Even though there are
no words, Bonds points out how the drama inherent in the form alludes to that of the
play. Even though it is one of the longer works thus far in the text, the Listening Guide is
instrumental music.
MyMusicLab Resources
Automated Listening Guide: Felix Mendelssohn: Overture to a Midsummer
Chapter Audio: Chapter 28
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Discussion Topics and Critical Thinking Questions
1. Discuss the form for the overture. What themes does Mendelssohn introduce in the
exposition? How does he use the material in the development section? In the
recapitulation? In the coda?
Activities and Exercises
1. If possible, watch the 1999 film (mentioned on p. 254).
2. Have the students bring in other overtures. What about the new ones places them in
Journaling Prompt
A
? What specific elements does he use to identify each
character?