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Hebrides Overture
The Hebrides Overture (German: Die Hebriden), Op. 26, also known as Fingal's Cave (die Fingalshöhle), 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 west coast of Scotland. As is common with Romantic era pieces, this is not an overture in the sense that it precedes a play or opera; the piece is a concert overture, 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 after the composer's twentieth birthday. Following his tour of England, Mendelssohn proceeded to Scotland, where he began work on his symphony number 3, the Scottish Symphony. He was engaged on a tour of Scotland with his travelling companion Karl Klingemann when he sent a postcard to his family with the opening phrase of the overture written on it. In a note to his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn he said: "In order to make you understand how extraordinarily The Hebrides affected me, I send you the following, which came into my head there." He actually wrote it the day before he visited Fingal's Cave. The cave at that time was approximately 35 feet (11 m) high and over 200 feet (61 m) deep, and contained colorful pillars of basalt.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Hebrides Overture.
