Felix Mendelssohn's Wedding March (German: Hochzeitsmarsch) in C major, written in 1842, is one of the best known of the pieces from his suite of incidental music (Op. 61) to Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, being its ninth movement. It is one of the most frequently used wedding marches, generally being played on a church pipe organ.
It is the music that was used in Sleeping Bassoon and Melody and Me.
Summary[]
In Season 2[]
In Sleeping Bassoon, Wedding March was used for helping Quincy to get to the princess bassoon's castle to wake up the sleeping princess bassoon.
In Melody and Me, Wedding March was used to call Melody who is stranded on the hot air balloon.
Structure[]
The suite for A Midsummer Nights Dream contains two movements, the Overture and Finale. The Overture part contains 12 movements. In published scores the overture and finale are usually not numbered.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61[]
- Overture
- Scherzo (After the first act)
- L'istesso tempo
- Lied mit Chor (song with choir)
- Andante
- Intermezzo (After the end of the second act)
- Allegro
- Con moto tranquillo (Notturno)
- Andante
- Hochzeitsmarsch (Wedding March after the end of the fourth act)
- Marcia funebre
- Ein Tanz von Rüpeln (A dance of clowns)
- Allegro vivace come I
- Finale (with choir)
Episode Appearances[]
Season 2[]
Songs adapted from Wedding March[]
Sleeping Bassoon[]
Melody and Me[]
Trivia[]
- In Sleeping Bassoon the sheet music frame is played by a trumpet. But in Melody and Me, the music is played by an oboe.
- The suite that contains the Wedding March was dedicated to a gifted amateur musician friend of Mendelssohn's, Dr Heinrich Conrad Schleinitz.
- The first known instance of Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" being used at a wedding was when Dorothy Carew wed Tom Daniel at St Peter's Church, Tiverton, England, on 2 June 1847 when it was performed by organist Samuel Reay. However, it did not become popular at weddings until it was selected by Victoria, The Princess Royal for her marriage to Prince Frederick William of Prussia on 25 January 1858. The bride was the daughter of Queen Victoria, who loved Mendelssohn's music and for whom Mendelssohn often played while on his visits to Britain.
- An organ on which Mendelssohn gave recitals of the "Wedding March", among other works, is housed in St Ann's Church in Tottenham.
- Franz Liszt wrote a virtuoso transcription of the "Wedding March and Dance of the Elves" (S. 410) in 1849–50. Based on Liszt's transcription, Vladimir Horowitz then transcribed the "Wedding March" into a virtuoso showpiece for piano and played it as an encore at his concerts.
- The Wedding March, along with Mouret's Rondeau are the only music used in the show that are commonly used at wedding ceremonies.
In popular culture[]
- At weddings in many Western countries, this piece is commonly used as a recessional, though frequently stripped of its episodes in this context. It is frequently teamed with the "Bridal Chorus" from Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin, or with Jeremiah Clarke's "Prince of Denmark's March", both of which are often played for the entry of the bride.
- It has been used as music that plays during wedding scenes in popular culture.
