A Midsummer Night's Dream: Incidental Music, Op. 61; No. 7: Notturno: Full Orchestra, Ensemble Works Conductor Score & Parts

The Notturno sits perfectly between the famous overture and the equally famous Wedding March, giving your orchestra access to a complete arc of Mendelssohn's theatrical imagination. Conductors return to this movement because it demands genuine musicianship from the ensemble; the writing is transparent enough that imprecision shows immediately, which makes it an excellent rehearsal tool for training ears and bow control. The piece also programs beautifully in mixed concerts, bridging classical and contemporary repertoire with its lyrical sophistication.

Intimate yet grand, the Notturno unfolds like a night scene observed from within a dream. The writing creates an almost chamber-like transparency despite the full orchestral texture, with string sections singing in layers and winds offering commentary rather than accompaniment. The movement's quieter moments feel suspended in time, while subtle harmonic shifts and carefully timed climaxes keep the listener emotionally engaged.

Conductors of intermediate to advanced orchestras seeking to deepen their musicians' understanding of Romantic-era orchestration and lyrical expression. The Notturno works for school orchestras with solid fundamentals in intonation and balance, as well as community and college ensembles looking to program Mendelssohn's theatrical voice without the complexity of the complete incidental music suite.

• Shape the main melody with long, singing lines rather than treating phrases as isolated units; Mendelssohn's harmonic progressions create a continuous emotional arc across sections, and conductors who acknowledge this architecture draw more nuanced playing from the strings.
• Balance the woodwind inner voices carefully, particularly in passages where flutes or oboes carry the subordinate melodic material; these lines often disappear in student orchestras but are essential to Mendelssohn's harmonic texture.
• Control the dynamic gradient between sections rather than making abrupt changes; the movement's nocturne character depends on the ensemble's willingness to shade rather than reset.
• Rehearse the transition back to the main theme after any contrasting section with particular attention to rhythmic clarity in the ensemble; Mendelssohn's sectional architecture is direct, and any wavering in the ensemble's confidence will register as a loss of dramatic momentum.

Program this as a standalone Mendelssohn selection on concerts celebrating Romantic orchestration or Shakespeare in music, or use it to frame other nineteenth-century repertoire that shares its lyrical sensibility. It also serves as an excellent showcase piece for orchestras emphasizing musical maturity and refined ensemble playing, particularly when audiences have already heard the overture elsewhere in the season.

• Sustaining long melodic lines across phrase boundaries without losing direction
• Balancing transparent orchestral texture when multiple voice parts carry independent material
• Responding to subtle dynamic and harmonic shifts that create emotional meaning
• Playing with consistent intonation in lyrical, slower tempi across the full ensemble
• Coordinating sectional entries and transitions with precision in a movement driven by harmonic progression rather than rhythmic momentum