Scherzo from Midsummer Nights Dream (10Trp)

Scherzo from Midsummer Nights Dream (10Trp) (Programme notes: The perennially popular set of incidental pieces for Shakespeares Midsummer Nights Dream were written in 1843 to a commission from Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, the Overture having been written 17 years earlier under the inspiration of a performance that Felix and his sister had seen in Berlin. He was 17 at the time and the maturity of this early work is astounding. The incidental music consisted of 13 numbers: entractes, dances and songs. The Sherzo was written to precede Act II, set in A Wood near Athens and anticipates the entrance of the fairies. Performance notes: Trumpet 1 is piccolo in B flat. Trumpets 2 and 3 are E flat. Parts 8-10 are best played on flugels to give some contrast and interest in colour and texture but they can be played by trumpets if flugels are not available. This movement is a real test of leggiero playing. At all times, even in the louder dynamics, aim for a lightness of style, with the most precise articulation. The tempo should be fast enough to give a scherzo feel but not so fast as to make the playing become anxious. Trumpet 7 and Flugel 3 have a considerable amount of very low tessitura passages and if this causes technical or balance problems, these parts may be judiciously doubled where necessary.)