Hebrides Overture
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223984879
2008-07-06T20:43:25Z
Clorox
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/* Miscellaneous */ Mixing together two titles?
[[Image:The Hebrides score.JPG|thumb|400px|Mendelssohn's original sketch of the overture, contained in the letter to [[Fanny Mendelssohn|Fanny]], 1829.]]
The '''Hebrides Overture''' (German: ''Die Hebriden''), [[Opus number|opus]] 26, also known as '''Fingal's Cave''', is a [[concert overture]] composed by [[Felix Mendelssohn]]. Written in 1830, the piece was inspired by a cavern known as [[Fingal's Cave]] on [[Staffa]], an island in the [[Hebrides]] [[archipelago]] located off the coast of [[Scotland]]. Despite its name, the piece serves as a stand-alone musical selection, and has now become part of standard orchestral repertoire. The piece was dedicated to King [[Frederick William IV of Prussia]] (then Crown Prince of Prussia).
Mendelssohn first travelled to [[England]] at the invitation of a German lord to mark the composer's twentieth birthday.<ref name="Galveston">{{cite web|url=http://www.galvestonsymphony.org/composers/Mendelssohn_FingalsCave.html|title=Galveston Symphony Program Notes|accessdate=2006-11-03|author=Rita Junker Pickar|year=2002}}</ref> Following his tour of England, Mendelssohn proceeded to [[Scotland]], where he composed his [[Symphony No. 3 (Mendelssohn)|symphony number 3]], the ''Scottish Symphony''. During his travels in the country, though, he visited the [[Hebrides]] islands during one stormy night and came to the island of [[Staffa]], where he was inspired by [[Fingal's Cave]], a popular tourist attraction. The cave at that time was approximately 35 feet high and over 200 feet deep, and contained colorful pillars of [[basalt]].<ref name="OPO">{{cite web|url=http://www.orlandophil.org/downloads/program-notes/2006-07/opo-prog-notes-pac1.pdf|title=Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra Program Notes|accessdate=2006-11-08|author=David R. Glerum|date=[[2006]]-[[09-30]]|format=PDF|pages=4-5}}</ref> He immediately wrote down what would become the opening theme of the overture, and wrote to his sister, [[Fanny Mendelssohn]]: "In order to make you understand how extraordinary ''The Hebrides'' affected me, I send you the following, which came into my head there."<ref name="OPO"/>
The work was completed on [[December 16]], [[1830]]<ref name="lasr">{{cite web|url=http://www.lasr.cs.ucla.edu/geoff/prognotes/mendelssohn/hebridesOv.html|title=Program Notes: Mendelssohn: "Hebrides" Overture|accessdate=2006-11-03|author=Geoff Kuenning}}</ref> and was originally entitled ''Die einsame Insel'', or ''The Lonely Island''.<ref name="Galveston"/> However, Mendelssohn later revised the score, completing it by [[June 20]], [[1832]],<ref name="lasr"/> and retitled the music ''Die Hebriden'', or ''The Hebrides''.<ref name="Galveston"/> Despite this, the title of ''Fingal's Cave'' was also used: on the orchestral parts he labelled the music ''The Hebrides'', but on the score Mendelssohn labelled the music ''Fingal's Cave''.<ref name="OPO"/> The overture was premiered on [[May 14]], [[1832]] in [[London]],<ref name="lasr"/> in a concert that also featured Mendelssohn's ''[[Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''.
The music, though labelled as an [[overture]], is intended to stand as a complete work. It does not tell a story and is therefore not [[program music|programmatic]]; instead, the piece depicts a mood and "sets a scene", one of the first such musical pieces to do so.<ref name="Hartford">{{cite web|url=http://www.hartfordsymphony.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=291&Itemid=300|title=Program Notes: Overture, "The Hebrides" ("Fingal's Cave"), Op. 26|accessdate=2006-11-03|author=Dr. Richard E. Rodda|work=[[Hartford]] Symphony Orchestra}}</ref> The overture consists of two primary themes; the opening notes of the overture state the theme Mendelssohn wrote while visiting the cave, and is played initially by the [[viola]]s, [[cello]]s, and [[bassoon]]s.<ref name="musicwithease">{{cite web|url=http://www.musicwithease.com/mendelssohn-fingals-cave.html|title=Overture to "Fingal's Cave"|accessdate=2006-11-03|work=Music With Ease}}</ref> This lyrical theme, suggestive of the power and stunning beauty of the cave, is intended to develop feelings of loneliness and solitude. The second theme, meanwhile, depicts movement at sea and "rolling waves".<ref name="OPO"/> The overture uses a standard form, and has a coda at the end, where the piece recapitulates to the original theme.<ref name="musicwithease"/>
The piece is scored for 2 [[flute]]s, 2 [[oboe]]s, 2 [[clarinet]]s, 2 [[bassoon]]s, 2 [[french horn|horn]]s, 2 [[trumpet]]s, [[timpani]] and [[string section|string]]s.
It lasts approximately eleven minutes. The autograph manuscript of the work is held in the [[Bodleian Library]], Oxford.
==Miscellaneous==
The Hebrides Overture is the theme song for the inscrutable and seemingly indestructible hopping mynah (spelled "minah") bird in the brief 1940's cartoon series [[Inki|"Inki and the Minah Bird"]]. The overture accompanies the [[Sibelius (computer program)|Sibelius composition program]] as a demo piece.
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Compositions by Felix Mendelssohn]]
[[Category:Overtures]]
[[Category:1830 works]]
[[de:Die Hebriden (Mendelssohn)]]
[[es:Las Hébridas (Mendelssohn)]]
[[fr:Les Hébrides (Mendelssohn)]]
[[it:Ouverture Le Ebridi]]
[[ja:フィンガルの洞窟]]
[[pl:Hebrydy (Mendelssohn)]]