The wedding march

[jujubean]

I could use some information on this...

A friend of mine is to be married May 2006. She was told by her Pastor that she would not be able to use the traditional wedding march in any Catholic Church as of January 2006. She was told that it had something to do with the person who wrote the song.... Can anyone shed any light on this?

As always, I appreciate your responses!

 

[King of the Nations]

I could use some information on this...

A friend of mine is to be married May 2006. She was told by her Pastor that she would not be able to use the traditional wedding march in any Catholic Church as of January 2006. She was told that it had something to do with the person who wrote the song.... Can anyone shed any light on this?

As always, I appreciate your responses!

Internet urban legend...???

Greg

 

[marciadietrich]

The Wedding March is from Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin. Wagner was anti-semitic and his music was often used for Nazi parading and propaganda films. Hitler was influenced by Wagner's thoughts on the Jews. And it was very common in pre WWII Germany even as far back as the days of Martin Luther.

The State of Israel has banned his music from ever being played there. (Though I have heard a few bars of this wedding march snuck in via another play that was not Wagner's work.)

So it might be a show of solidarity with the Jewish people, but seems odd it would be done. Wagner's music has merit despite Wagner's shortcomings, and Wagner was not technically a nazi since he died quite a while before WWII.

Marcia

 

[Maggie893]

No this is pretty much true although there probably are some priests that will allow it. I don't know that the Church has officially said it can't be played but typically the Church doesn't allow secular music at a Mass. The Wedding March is from Wagner's opera Lohengrin and isn't at all Christian so I don't doubt that it won't be allowed in some Churches.

 

[BillH]

I could use some information on this...

A friend of mine is to be married May 2006. She was told by her Pastor that she would not be able to use the traditional wedding march in any Catholic Church as of January 2006. She was told that it had something to do with the person who wrote the song.... Can anyone shed any light on this?

As always, I appreciate your responses!

The "traditional" wedding march ("Here comes the bride.. duh-duh-duh-duhhhh") is from Richard Wagner's opera, Lohegrin. Some people object to Wagner because he was a rather nasty man with a strong anti-Semetic streak.

A bigger reason why many Catholic Churches don't want to use it, is that it's a processional song that envisions the procession of the bride down the aisle. Actually, it's not in the liturgical rubrics for a Catholic wedding for there to be a bridal procession at all. The priest, bride and groom should process down the aisle together, like at the beginning of a normal mass.

Of course, our culture generally does weddings a little differently, so some churches are more strict about enforcing this rubric than others.

 

[ProCommunioneFacior]

I never have liked the Wedding March. Anyways, my fiance and I will probably have Ave Maria for the processional.

 

[filosofer]

As a Lutheran pastor, I would not allow the Wedding March. There are so many other, and much, much better hymns/songs that truly enhance the wedding service.

In Christ's love,
filo

 

[romaneagle13]

When I was married in the Catholic Church some years ago, I was also told that I couldn't have this piece played at my wedding. Of course the reason I was given was that it came from an opera in which the heroine was pregnant out of wedlock! Completely false! I had been a student of opera/classical music for years and had my heart set on marching down the aisle to "Treulich gefuhrt" (the German title of the Lohengrin piece). It's a chorus in the opera and the lyrics are perfect for a wedding--they are about how the bride is brought forth in truth and purity to her wedding day and the glory of love. I am still angry that I was robbed of this concession.

 

[Borealis]

I played it at my sister's wedding a few years ago. The problem was that there wasn't that much aisle for her to walk down, and she ended standing there for a few minutes waiting for her older brother to quit showing off and let her get married.

 

[Adammi]

Are we talking about the normal wedding march

DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA

I know that know one else understands the above da's but I get them in my own little way.

 

[Borealis]

Are we talking about the normal wedding march

DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA

I know that know one else understands the above da's but I get them in my own little way.

No, it's the other one, with the emphasis on the 'DA,' not the 'DA.'

 

[Adammi]

No, it's the other one, with the emphasis on the 'DA,' not the 'DA.'

Now, I get it entirely. Thanks for your help.



ROFL

 

[AMDG]

My son and his beautiful bride were married in the Church just this past June. She processed down the aisle to something more appropriate to the Liturgy and not to the crass and secular Wedding March that is so common place in wedding ceremonies on TV and all. I can assure you that Wagner's March wasn't missed one bit.

 

[Globalnomad]

Come on, guys, it's just a beautiful piece of music, and it means a lot to many people! Why be so judgemental? Isn't this a case of making a mountain out of a molehill?

Actually forbidding it to be played in Church seems really exaggerated to me. (For the record: our parish has no problem with it.) What are we going to do next, exclude all music written by people with doubtful moral records? By non-Catholics? Ban Christmas trees? Stop celebrating Christmas altogeher?

 

[Redstiletto]

When I get married I am going to have the Aerosmith's version of Walk this way... played... as I process down the isle.. because that is just my style and my fiance's parents would freak out! I am also thinking of wearing black.








((By the way this is a joke... but the walk this way part is kind of funny, come one now, I see you all laughing))

 

[ShannonMcCatholic]

I think the main reason has nothing to do with who Wagner was-- but rather the fact that the piece is NOT a piece of Liturgical music...

 

[TexasCatholic]

I'd heard the rumor that it wasn't allowed, but we asked our priest. We're getting married in July, and they said we can have it... they looked at us odd when we suggested that it might not be allowed (as if they had no idea what we were talking about).

-Michael

 

[TexasCatholic]

Here's a snippet from an interesting article:

http://www.adoremus.org/1105WeddingsSongs.html

[font=Times New Roman, Times, Arial]The wedding marches are an interesting topic, sure to spark debate. It has become really traditional to use the Bridal Chorus from Wagner’s opera Lohengrin for the Procession, and the Wedding March from Mendelssohn’s ballet Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Recession. Observe the words “opera” and “ballet”. Both of these marches were written for the theater stage. Both are fine pieces of music, but are tied into stories of fantasy, murder, sex, and other delights. Are they suitable for Catholic weddings? It should be an easy answer, but it is not. Back in the 1930s or so when the Society of Saint Gregory published its Black List and White List of Catholic Music, those marches were absolutely forbidden, sent to the Black List, and no more discussion, thank you. Today it is left to the local Ordinary (the head of your diocese). Some places have no restrictions, since that music has become so traditional, but some still forbid them. Some have made no statements one way or the other.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman, Times, Arial][/font]
[font=Times New Roman, Times, Arial]Are those pieces truly traditional? I remember attending a marvelous performance of the Mendelssohn ballet. When all the odd creatures came dancing out of the forest, a woman behind me gasped, “They’re playing There Goes the Bride! Why are they playing There Goes the Bride?” In the popular culture, those two pieces are universally known, incorrectly, as Here Comes the Bride, and There Goes the Bride. Most Americans, alas, are unfamiliar with classic opera and ballet and do not know the dramatic references in the music. Even trained musicians I know will call the Bridal Chorus by its Here Comes the Bride alias.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, Arial]There are lots of good choices for marches, including the Purcell Trumpet Tune, the Trumpet Voluntary in D, the Pachelbel Canon, The Grand March by Alexandre Guilmant, and a host of others that any trained organist can play for you.

[/font]

 

[sempervirens]

Our church choir was awesome - they sang the Taize Magnificat as my bride walked down the aisle. She liked it so much she joined the choir!


Magnificat, magnificat, magnificat anima mea dominum.
Magnificat, magnificat, magnificat anima mea!

 

[ufonium2]

What about this? It's a Georgian wedding hymn. It's traditional in the Orthodox service that all prelude music be hymns to the Mother of God, and this is the last one sung (at least in the Slavic tradition) as the bride enters the nave of the church.


http://www.theologian.org/mp3/GeorgianWeddingHymn.mp3