Mendelssohn’s Orchestra Plays Melusine
Felix Mendelssohn’s overture, The Beautiful Melusine, was inspired by a legend which Max Derrickson describes: The legend of the half-mermaid, Melusine, appears to date back over nearly twelve centuries. The arrestingly beautiful Melusine, born of a mortal father and water sprite mother, is cursed to take the form of a serpent from her waist down (a mermaid) one day each week. This was done by her mother, furious with Melusine for entombing her father …