Die einsame Insel

Overture for symphony orchestra, 2 2 2 2 / 2 2 0 0 /timp/str. Parts available on inquiry. During a grand tour of Europe, Mendelssohn spent some time visiting the Hebrides, a collection of islands off the northwest coast of Scotland. He was particularly captivated by the Isle of Staffa and Fingal's Cave. What he saw affected him so much that music came to his head, and he decided to write an overture. Though the work does not tell a specific narrative, it is meant to depict what he saw and felt at Fingal's Cave. He began composing while on tour, and supposedly finished the first version on December 11, 1830. Although no manuscript with this date has survived, a manuscript dated December 16, 1830 is now preserved in The Pierpont Morgan Library. Mendelssohn performed, on piano, the overture for Hector Berlioz in early 1831, and it is most likely that this December 16, 1830 manuscript is the one he played from. Mendelssohn, however, did not consider it finished at this time and as a result it was not published. The work did not come into print until 1833. Between the first and published versions, significant revisions were made. This 1833 version, published by Breitkopf and Hartel, has become the official version of the work and earlier versions were ignored. This is the first typeset score of Mendelssohn's December 16, 1830 manuscript. Substantial amounts of material were edited out in the 1833 version, making this earlier edition an interesting and noteworthy work. "It is in pictures, ruins, and natural surroundings that I find the most music." - Felix Mendelssohn