 Mendelssohn wrote the concert Hebrides Overture ( Fingal 's Cave ) in 1830 , inspired by visits to Scotland around the end of the 1820s . He visited Fingal 's Cave , on the Hebridean isle of Staffa , as part of his Grand Tour of Europe , and was so impressed that he scribbled the opening theme of the overture on the spot , including it in a letter he wrote home the same evening . 
