tsdam
Gate. As those who know the modern city realize, this house, now no
longer a private residence, stands in the very heart of traffic and
business. The rooms of the new home were large and elegant, with
a spacious salon suitable for musicals and large functions. A fine
garden or park belonged to the house, where were lawns shaded by
forest trees, winding paths, flowering shrubs and arbors in shady
nooks, offering quiet retreats. Best of all there was a garden house,
with a central hall, which would hold several hundred people, having
long windows and glass doors looking out upon the trees and flowers.
Sunday concerts were soon resumed and given in the garden house,
where, on week days the young people met, with friends and elders, to
play, and act and enjoy the social life of the home. The mansion and
its hospitality became famous, and every great musician, at one time
or another, came to pay his respects and become acquainted with this
art-loving family.

At a family party in honor of Felix's fifteenth birthday, his teacher
Zelter saluted him as no longer an apprentice, but as an "assistant"
and member of the Brotherhood of Art. Very soon after this the young
composer completed two important works. The first was an Octet for
strings. He was not yet seventeen when the Octet was finished,
which was pronounced the most fresh and original work he had yet
accomplished. It marked a distinct stage in the gifted youth's
development. The composition which followed was the beautiful
"Midsummer Night's Dream" music. He and his sister Fanny had lately
made the acquaintance of Shakespeare through a German translation, and
had been fascinated by this fairy play. The young people spent much of
their time in the lovely garden that summer, and amid these delightful
surroundings the music was conceived.

The Overture was first to spring into being. When it was written
out, Felix and Fanny often played it as a duet. In this form the
composer-pianist Moscheles heard it and was impressed by its beauty.
The fascinating Scherzo and dreamy Nocturne followed. When all were
elaborated and perfected, the complete work was performed by the
garden house orchestra for a crowded audience, who abundantly
expressed their delight. Sir G. Macfarren has said of it: "No one
musical work contains so many points of harmony and orchestration that
are novel yet none of them have the air of experiment, but all seem to
have been written with a certainty