Goethe’s dramatic ballad The First Walpurgis Night inspired Mendelssohn to write a magnificent and vivid portrayal of the conflict between an old heathen community and the new aspirations of Christianization, between belief and superstition on both sides. In 1833 Mendelssohn had his ballad premiered, but he decided to make far-reaching revisions before he finally had the work published in 1844. The Carus edition by the leading Mendelssohn scholar R. Larry Todd is based on the first printed editi...