Ouvertüre op.27 Meeresstille

Mendelssohns overture drew its inspiration from two poems by Goethe which had already inspired Ludwig van Beethoven to write a choral work on them with orchestral accompaniment. The larger part of the work on this piece must have been carried out in the summer of 1828. The first public performance took place in Berlin on 1 December 1832. The revised version of the work was first performed in Leipzig on 20 April 1834. Its ranking as No. 3 of the concert overtures was laid down when the score was first printed in 1835 (Breitkopf & Härtel). (Ralf Wehner in the Study Edition of the Mendelssohn Work Catalogue)