Wedding Music – wow have things changed.
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Last night I asked the Brides if anyone was walking up the aisle to the traditional Wedding March. The answer was a resounding NO. One woman said that the song comes from an opera and is part of a rape scene. I had to know if this were true, so did some research. Here is the history of the wedding march:
Before the 1850’s, in most church ceremonies, music was not usually permitted. organ music before or after the marriage vows was being permitted about 1852, and soon became customary. At first, the organist was left to select as he pleased from Bach and the other classicists. Gradually, however, two favorites appeared, The Bridal Chorus from Wagner’s Lohengrin and the Wedding March which Mendelssohn wrote for Midsummers Night’s Dream. Everyone knows the opening strains of Wagner’s “Here Comes the Bride”, also the gay Mendelssohn music which accompanies the wedding party as they march away from the altar. Thus was set the wedding’s traditional musical entrance and exit, which has existed now for over 100 years.
From Wikipedia – here is the story of the Opera Lohengrin:
Synopsis
Place: Antwerp, on the Scheldt.
Time: 10th century
Act 1
King Henry the Fowler has arrived in Brabant where he has assembled the German tribes in order to expel the Hungarians from his dominions. Count Telramund acts as regent for Duke Gottfried of Brabant, a minor and brother to Elsa. Gottfried has mysteriously disappeared and Telramund, incited by his wife, Ortrud, accuses Elsa of murdering her brother and demands that she give him the dukedom.
Elsa appears surrounded by her attendants and, knowing herself innocent, declares that she is willing to submit to the judgment of God through the ordeal of combat. Elsa chooses a knight she has beheld in her dreams as her champion(Narrative: “Alone in dark days.”) and sinks to her knees and prays that God send her relief. Telramund, at the behest of the king, agrees to fight.
At first, the Herald calls upon the unknown knight in vain. When he calls the second time, however, a miracle takes place. A boat drawn by a swan appears on the river and in it stands a knight in shining armour. He lands and dismisses the swan before respectfully greeting the king and asks Elsa if she will have him as her champion. Elsa kneels in front of him and places her honour in his keeping. He asks but one thing in return for his service: she is never to ask him who he is or where he has come from. Elsa agrees to this and the combat area is prepared. After everyone apart from Ortrud has prayed, the combat commences. Telramund is defeated, but the victor grants him his life. Taking Elsa by the hand, the unknown knight declares her as innocent and asks for her hand in marriage.
Act 2
Night in the courtyard outside the cathedral. Telramund and Ortrud, both banished, appear in tattered garments. Ortrud, a heathen witch, daughter of Radbod, the Duke of Frisia, tries to revive Telramund’s courage. She plots to induce Elsa to violate the mysterious knight’s only condition.
When Elsa appears on the balcony in the light of the morning, she sees Ortrud and takes pity upon her. Telramund, unobserved, retires into the shadow of a house. The populace assembles and the Herald announces that the king has offered to make the unnamed knight the Duke of Brabant. He refuses the title, however, and requests to be known only as “Guardian of Brabant.”
As the king, the Knight, Elsa and her attendants are about to enter the church, Ortrud, clad in magnificent attire, appears and accuses the Guardian of Brabant of being a magician. Telramund also appears. He claims to have been vanquished by fraud, as he does not know the name of his opponent, and neither does the wife-to-be herself. Lohengrin refuses to reveal his identity and claims that only one has the right to know his origin — Elsa and Elsa alone. Elsa, though visibly shaken and uncertain, assures him of her confidence and they enter the church together. Telramund, however, has managed to recruit four knights to his cause.
Act 3
The bridal chamber. Elsa and her new husband are ushered in with the well-known bridal chorus, and the couple express their love for each other. Ortrud’s words, however, are impressed upon Elsa, and, despite his warning, she asks her husband the fatal question. Telramund and his four recruits rush into the room in order to attack the strange knight. Instead it is Telramund who is slain. The Knight sorrowfully turns to Elsa and asks her to follow him to the king, to whom he will now reveal the mystery.
Change of scene: On the banks of the Scheldt, as in Act I. The troops arrive equipped for war. Telramund’s corpse is brought in and the stranger defends his slaying of Telramund. One thing remains — he must now disclose his identity to the king and Elsa. He tells the story of the Holy Grail, and reveals himself as Lohengrin, Knight of the Holy Grail and son of King Parsifal. The time for his return has arrived and he has only tarried to prove Elsa innocent.
As he sadly bids farewell to his beloved bride, the swan reappears. Lohengrin prays that Elsa may recover her lost brother, and lo! the swan dives into the river and appears again in the form of young Gottfried, Elsa’s brother, who had been turned into the swan by Ortrud’s magic arts.
A dove descends from heaven, and, taking the place of the swan at the head of the boat, leads Lohengrin to the castle of the Holy Grail. Elsa is stricken with grief, however, and falls to the ground dead, longing for her beloved.
