Music archive entry

Flexible - four melody lines

'...you have but slumber'd here while these visions did appear' is a line taken from Puck's closing speech in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act V, scene 2). The music reflects the sentiment of this speech and the general mood of the play. It is a series of miniatures, opening with a calm piece, as the lovers fall asleep in the woods. There are two faster movements portraying the impishness of the fairies and a central movement which is more mysterious in tone. The final movement returns to the material of the first, as the lovers awake, refreshed from their sleep.