Felix Mendelssohn is perhaps best known for composing the music for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 20 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JULY 10-16, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com the score in his hands). An official, full presentation of the piece took place a year after Mozart’s death, leaving speculations on what else this 35-year-old would have achieved. While Bach’s and Mozart’s masses invoke the terror of mortality, Mendelssohn’s 13-minute-long Overture— what later would become A Midsummer Night’s Dream opera—is as bright, frivolous and unreal as they come, maybe because the composer was only 17 years old and reacting to his first read of the magic of Shakespeare’s play. Like Mozart, Mendelssohn was a child prodigy, proclaimed by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom as “the greatest music genius since Mozart.” Another connection to the Viennese composer was the fact that like him, Mendelssohn died early on, at the age of 38. That said, the music of Bach also influenced Mendelssohn deeply, and his own fugues reflect his admiration for Bach’s work. Mendelssohn played a key role in reviving Bach’s music, notably with his performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Born in Hamburg to a wealthy family, Mendelssohn worked in Berlin, Dusseldorf and Leipzig. His best-known works include the Overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which includes his Wedding March. Light, ethereal, but also bombastic, it is considered one of the first concert overtures, evoking the atmosphere of Shakespeare’s comedy through purely musical means—we can almost see dancing fairies in light and rapid string passages. Mendelssohn first performed the overture in a version for two pianos, with his sister Fanny, and then orchestrated it for a public performance the following year in Stettin (then Prussia) in 1827. Among other pieces by Mozart, the 2025 Carmel Bach Festival features works by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, some of whose compositions were published under her brother's name. Bach, Mozart and Mendelssohn are not the only German-speaking composers the audience will hear during the Bach Festival. The festival is featuring works by Bach’s friend, Georg Philipp Telemann, as well as Sylvius Leopold Weiss, who met Bach through the composer’s eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Another German composer in the lineup is Bernhard Joachim Hagen, perhaps the most important lutenist of 18th-century Germany. Hagen was influenced by another son of Bach, composer Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach. The end of independent German statelets came with the Napoleonic wars. Following that, the German Confederation was established, and in 1871, Germany was unified into a single empire. Prussia's victory over Austria in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 excluded Austria from the new Germany. The German-speaking world continued to produce composers and musicians, but went on to share this glory with Slavic countries, France, Italy and, eventually, the United States. Striking a Chord There's plenty to experience in the Carmel Bach Festival 's lineup. Here are some highlights. By Paul Fried Not every concert in the 2025 carmel bach festival lends itself to formal attire. Some, like the popular family concert "The Epic Adventures of Leonard & Rasmus," demand a different vibe. The program, led by Suzanne Mudge (see story, p. 22), takes the stage Saturday, July 19 at 11am at the Sunset Center. It’s free; the one-hour program is suitable for ages 3 and up. Andrew Arthur has served as director and as principal organist for the festival since 1999 and this year, he will offer a rare opportunity to hear a piece written for the antique harpsichord actually played on harpsichord. Haydn’s Harpsichord Concerto in D major is usually performed on the piano. “It’s a great opportunity for concertgoers to hear this work on the instrument it was originally written for,” Festival Executive Director Nathan Lutz says. “And the energetic piece showcases fast technical passages and speed that will make this less familiar instrument much more accessible.” The performance is at Sunset Center at 7:30pm July 14 and 21. And even before the main festival events, pre-programming pushed the genre limits. Grammy-winning classical guitarist Jason Vieaux offered a one-time concert of three Bach masterpieces and a composition called “Four Paths Of Light” written for him by jazz master Pat Metheny on July 9. Carmel Bach Festival runs Saturday July 12-26 (with some pre-festival concerts). Various venues on the Monterey Peninsula. $15-$170; some concerts are free to attend. 624-1521, bachfestival.org. For two weeks, the Carmel Bach Festival performs compositions from Johann Sebastian Bach to the present day. It takes hundreds of people to bring the classical tradition to life. RANDY TUNNELL HYDEBRINK/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
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