Ghost of Sunday Classics: Nocturne!

MENDELSSOHN: Notturno from A Midsummer Night's Dream (incidental music), Op. 61


Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), George Szell, cond. Decca, recorded Dec. 2-4, 1957

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. Broadcast performance, May 23, 1969

by Ken

A much-loved little piece latched onto my brain this weeko. It was the "Nocturne" from Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream incidental music, and it really still hasn't let go. That's the sort of thing that might once have triggered a post, especially since we don't seem to have spent as much time as I remembered with the incidental music. The only traces I can find are from a November 2008 Mendelssohn post, where we heard the Szell-Concertgebouw recording of the commonly played four-movment grouping of the Overture, Scherzo, Notturno, and Wedding March. and a more expanded suite that I drew from a Klemperer-Bavarian Radio Symphony broadcast performance of a generous selection from the incidental music.

I've re-extracted just the "Notturno" from those performances, as heard above.


AS LONG AS WE'RE REHEARING THE SZELL AND
KLEMPERER "NOTTURNO" PERFORMANCES --

I thought we might as well listen again to the full selections from the MSND music we heard back in 2008.

MENDELSSOHN: A Midsummer Night's Dream (incidental music), Opp. 21/61:
i. Overture
ii. Scherzo
iii. Notturno
iv. Wedding March

Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), George Szell, cond. Decca, recorded Dec. 2-4, 1957

MENDELSSOHN: A Midsummer Night's Dream (incidental music), Opp. 21/61:
i. Overture

ii. Scherzo
iii. "Ye spotted snakes"
iv. Intermezzo
v. Notturno
vi. Wedding March

Ye spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,
Come not near our fairy queen.
Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm,
Nor spell nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So, good night, with lullaby.
Weaving spiders, come not here;
Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence!
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm nor snail, do no offence.
Philomel, with melody, etc.
Hence, away! now all is well:
One aloof stand sentinel.

Edith Mathis (s), Brigitte Fassbaender (ms) [in "Ye spotted snakes"]; Bavarian Radio Chorus [in "Ye spotted snakes"] Symphony Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. Broadcast performance, May 23, 1969


AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT, HERE ARE
SOME OTHER NOCTURNES WE'VE HEARD

Naturally if we were going to do such a post, we would probably want to reference at least some of the other nocturnes we've heard, as for example the third-movement "Notturno" from Borodin's Second String Quartet (February 2010); the ineffably beautiful "Nocturne" for soprano and alto that ends Act I of Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict (June 2010), the second-movement Tennyson-based "Nocturne" of Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings (September 2009); and of course the Three Nocturnes for orchestra of Debussy (April 2010).

No Chopin? Not as far as I can find, which kind of surprised me too. I imagine we would have gotten there eventually.

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