A Profile of A Midsummer's Night Dream Ballet

Mendelssohn composed the overture and other incidental music for A Midsummer’s Night Dream in 1843. The music however was not long enough for choreographer, George Balanchine to work with. He studied Mendelssohn’s work intensively for 20 years before selecting the remaining music for the ballet he was to create. Balanchine finally finished and premiered the ballet in 1962. It was his first wholly choreographed ballet in the United States. Balanchine’s ballet is based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream, a comedy about the quarrels and reunitings between a set of human lovers and the Queen and King of the Fairies.