The score was published in June, 1848; the orchestral parts in August of that year. The first edition for pianoforte was published in September, 1844.
Mendelssohn's music to the play consists of thirteen numbers:
I. Overture; II. _Scherzo_ (Entr'acte after Act I); III. Fairy March (in Act II); IV. "You spotted snakes," for two sopranos and chorus (in Act II); V. Melodrama (in Act II); VI. Intermezzo (Entr'acte after Act II); VII. Melodrama (in Act III); VIII. Notturno (Entr'acte after Act III); IX. _Andante_ (in Act IV); X. Wedding March (after the close of Act IV); XI. _Allegro commodo_ and _Marcia funebre_ (in Act V); XII. Bergomask Dance (in Act V); XIII. _Finale_ to Act V.
Many of the themes in these numbers were taken from the overture.
The _scherzo_ (entr'acte between Acts I and II) is an _allegro vivace_ in G minor, 3-8. "Presumably Mendelssohn intended it as a purely musical reflection of the scene in Quince's house--the first meeting to discuss the play to be given by the workmen at the wedding--with which the first act ends. Indeed, there is a passing allusion to Nick Bottom's bray in it. But the general character of the music is bright and fairy-like, with nothing of the grotesque about it." The _scherzo_ presents an elaborate development of two themes that are not sharply contrasted; the first theme has a subsidiary. The score is dedicated to Heinrich Conrad Schleinitz.
CONCERT OVERTURE, "THE HEBRIDES," OR "FINGAL'S CAVE," OP. 26
In the _Hebrides_ overture, Mendelssohn shook off his priggish formalism. He had been deeply affected by the sight of Staffa and Fingal's Cave; he was not ashamed to translate his emotions into music without obsequious obedience to the old pedagogic traditions. Here he is poetic, picturing the wildness of the far-off scene without too deliberate attempt at realism. Here is the suggestion--and with the small orchestra of the period!--as Mr. Apthorp put it, of screaming sea birds, whistling winds, the salty smell of the seaweed on the rocks. For once Mendelssohn showed himself more than a careful manufacturer of music when he revised his score, saying that the middle section smelt more of counterpoint than of train oil, sea gulls, and salt fish.