WINSTON–SALEM — “The Graduate” had the lilting melodies of Simon and Garfunkel. “Jaws” had the dramatic two-note crescendo just before the shark attack. “Star Wars” has its iconic overture by John Williams.
Using music to enhance storytelling is an age-old practice. In the mid-1800s, Felix Mendelssohn’s incidental music for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was as integral to the play as some of cinema’s most popular scores.
Mendelssohn’s music and William Shakespeare’s classic comedy are rarely performed together now, but on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday the Winston-Salem Symphony and the UNC School of the Arts will perform the play together at the Stevens Center.
“The story will certainly enhance the Mendelssohn because it’s the reason it was written,” said Dean of the UNCSA School of Drama Gerald Freedman, who will direct his senior acting students in the play. “It’s not a concert with a few choice numbers, but the story.”
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” follows the misadventures of four young lovers and a bumbling band of actors who are enchanted by the mischievous fairies that inhabit the forest where the action is set. In 1843, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia asked Mendelssohn to compose incidental music for the play.
Winston-Salem Symphony Music Director Robert Moody first performed Mendelssohn’s music in 1995 when he was an assistant conductor with the Philharmonic Orchestra in Evansville, Ind. About three years ago, he began discussing the possibility of a Symphony-UNCSA collaboration.
“There are the classic dramas that exist in the world, and there are many of those that have some kind of musical connection,” Moody said. “We also kicked around the idea of doing 'Faust,’ but we kept coming back to 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’”
Moody said he views Mendelssohn as one of the greatest composers of all time, and he was eager to bring the music for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to a modern audience.
Mendelssohn’s music is performed in four major orchestral sections and includes the widely used “Wedding March.”
“This was popular in the 19th century,” Moody said. “This was an era when there were no movies. Technology hadn’t allowed people to see things in IMAX 3-D. But everyone knew Shakespeare.”
In the Symphony-UNCSA production, the costumed actors will perform the play at the front of the stage while the orchestra performs behind them, rather than in the orchestra pit.
Freedman and Moody began by figuring out the best way to reconcile Mendelssohn’s one-hour composition with Shakespeare’s three-hour play. They ultimately edited the play down to a two-hour concert version.
“It was a big job because the Mendelssohn score doesn’t give you too many indications of how it fits with the play, so there was a lot of creative juggling,” Freedman said.
The actors spent most of the rehearsal process working only with a pianist to help them get a sense of the musical timing. The actors have been working with the full symphony during the week leading up to the first performance.
Freedman said the collaboration has been a demanding but rewarding process, and he hopes seeing Shakespeare’s words fuse with Mendelssohn’s music will be as exciting for the audience as it has been for the creative team.
“Bob always wants to engage his audience in a personal way, and it’s a rare experience to have the play dramatized along with the music,” Freedman said.
“It’s an exhilarating conception. It’s very different than just hearing the music or just seeing the play.”
Contact Alexa Milan at amilan87@gmail.com
