Music for weddings

[маразм1]

ha ha.  I played at lots of weddings.  there is a thing called "the wedding album".  lots of baroque stuff.  trumpet vuluntary, bach menuet, bach's air, vivaldi's winter, pachelbel's canon, the queen of sheeba, ummmm

[MishaK]

I still don't understand why people use the Lohengrin wedding march for their weddings. In the opera, the marriage between Elsa and Lohengrin is in shambles just a few scenes later. Not a good omen, methinks.

We had an orthodox wedding with traditional old church slavonic a capella music. One wedding I once attended used a Liszt Liebestraum (played live by one of the couple's friends) as their music. i always thought that was a particularly appropriate and tasteful choice.

[Catison]

Well well,  I didn't know this thread existed, but it seems aptly timed.

I got engaged on Labor Day.  My now fiancee and I love music.  She is a soon-to-be music teacher and clarinetist.  I am just am amateur musician and dilettante music historian.  We are constantly immersed in music.  One thing we have pledged to do is to promote music at all levels throughout our lives.  We plan to build a little studio and concert space in our home and have amateur music concerts there.  I want to commission music from local composers for these events and have them premiered by the performers.  In short, I want to bring a living, breathing music into my home with my wife.

So we are commissioning our wedding music.  We will have three ensembles.  There is a clarinet quintet representing my fiancee, a brass quintet representing me (I play tuba) and the organ, representing the church.  My fiancee was brought up Catholic, so we will have a Catholic wedding.  My idea is to have something like an opera, where each movement is written for a different section of the wedding, and it is semi-staged (as all weddings are).  Other than these things, we are leaving the composing up the composer.  I really want this to be the composer's music.

For someone who loves music so much, what better way to remember the wedding than with a new piece of music?

I am amazingly excited about this.  I have asked a local composer (as in, local to GMG) to compose the music, and he has accepted.  There are still many things to be done.  We have narrowed the church down to three, and all that remains is getting the date set and booked.  When the wedding finally happens, I'll have a recording, and I will post it here (with the composer's permission).

I can't wait to be married to my fiancee, who is absolutely perfect for me.  This is going to be an awesome day.

[Anne]

Congratulations to both of you, Catison.

[Mark]

So we are commissioning our wedding music.  We will have three ensembles.  There is a clarinet quintet representing my fiancee, a brass quintet representing me (I play tuba) and the organ, representing the church.  My fiancee was brought up Catholic, so we will have a Catholic wedding.  My idea is to have something like an opera, where each movement is written for a different section of the wedding, and it is semi-staged (as all weddings are).  Other than these things, we are leaving the composing up the composer.  I really want this to be the composer's music.

For someone who loves music so much, what better way to remember the wedding than with a new piece of music?

What a wonderful idea. I also extend my warm congratulations to you both.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Anybody use any Webern at their wedding...?

[lukeottevanger]

It was Ravel at our wedding - first and last movements of Ma Mere l'Oye, played in the piano duet version. Very appropriate in many ways. The spellbindingly simple, quiet Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant for my wife's walking down the aisle; the transfigured vision of Le jardin feerique for our exit. I still think they were perfect choices.

[ChamberNut]

My wedding is coming up soon.  Some of the music I'm considering:

Borodin's Notturno mvt. - String Quartet No. 2
Beethoven - Cavatina from SQ# 13
Beethoven - Middle mvt. from SQ# 15
Bach - Cello Suite #1 Prelude
Franck - Final mvt., Violin Sonata
Schubert - Piano Trio, Op. 100 - 2nd. mvt.
Beethoven - Violin Sonata No. 5 "Spring", 2nd. mvt.
Mussorgsky - Pictures at An Exhibition "The Great Gate of Kiev"
Tchaikovsky - Serenade from Strings, 1st mvt.

Most of this (or at least as much as my fiancee allows  ) will be played during dinner, but I'm still trying to decide what to have played for my entrance. 

[karlhenning]

. . . but I'm still trying to decide what to have played for my entrance. 

Mussorgsky - Pictures at An Exhibition "The Gnome" 

Jesting aside, all the best!

[ChamberNut]

Mussorgsky - Pictures at An Exhibition "The Gnome" 

Jesting aside, all the best!

  Thanks, Karl! 

[Opus106]

I'm still trying to decide what to have played for my entrance. 

Also Sparch Zarathustra
Prelude of Act 3 from Die Walküre,  or your personal favourite
Entrance of the Gods in to Val Halla   

[ChamberNut]

  or your personal favourite
Entrance of the Gods in to Val Halla   

  I probably would enjoy that! 

[ChamberNut]

My wedding is coming up soon.  Some of the music I'm considering:

Borodin's Notturno mvt. - String Quartet No. 2
Beethoven - Cavatina from SQ# 13
Beethoven - Middle mvt. from SQ# 15
Bach - Cello Suite #1 Prelude
Franck - Final mvt., Violin Sonata
Schubert - Piano Trio, Op. 100 - 2nd. mvt.
Beethoven - Violin Sonata No. 5 "Spring", 2nd. mvt.
Mussorgsky - Pictures at An Exhibition "The Great Gate of Kiev"
Tchaikovsky - Serenade from Strings, 1st mvt.

Most of this (or at least as much as my fiancee allows  ) will be played during dinner, but I'm still trying to decide what to have played for my entrance. 

Other considerations:

Beethoven - Violin Sonata # 5 "Spring, 2nd mvt.
Schubert - SQ# 14 'Death and the Maiden', 2nd mvt.
Schubert - String Quintet, 2nd mvt
Rodrigo - Concerto de Aranjuez, 2nd mvt.
Shostakovich - Jazz Suite # 2, waltz
DeBussy - Clair de lune
Satie - Gymnopodie # 1
Grieg - Piano Concerto, 2nd mvt
Brahms - Hungarian Dance # 4 or # 5

[Conservationist]

That said, I always thought the finale of Nielsen's Third Symphony would work beautifully on organ.

I agree, and would like to hear that, someday.

[Opus106]

Other considerations:
Grieg - Piano Concerto, 2nd mvt

Seeing that you're including a movement from a piano concerto, might I suggest the 18th variation on the theme of Paganini, by Rachmaninoff?

[ChamberNut]

Hadn't posted in awhile since I was away for my wedding (which was a wonderful weekend!), and was on holidays for the past week.

I chose Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings (1st mvt.), for my entrance.

My wife Korey chose Loreena McKennitt's Come by the Hills for her entrance.

The weather was perfect for the ceremony.  I will some pictures later in the week.

Good to be back!   

[mn dave]

Good to be back!   

I noticed you were missing but I guess that's a good enough reason. 

Congratulations!

[karlhenning]

Congratulations, ChN!

[bhodges]

Hadn't posted in awhile since I was away for my wedding (which was a wonderful weekend!), and was on holidays for the past week.

I chose Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings (1st mvt.), for my entrance.

My wife Korey chose Loreena McKennitt's Come by the Hills for her entrance.

The weather was perfect for the ceremony.  I will some pictures later in the week.

Good to be back!   

Wow, congratulations!  (Nice music choices, too, although too bad that Xenakis lost out again.      )

--Bruce

[PSmith08]

Hadn't posted in awhile since I was away for my wedding (which was a wonderful weekend!), and was on holidays for the past week.

I chose Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings (1st mvt.), for my entrance.

My wife Korey chose Loreena McKennitt's Come by the Hills for her entrance.

The weather was perfect for the ceremony.  I will some pictures later in the week.

Good to be back!   

Congratulations.

I've always secretly wanted to use the chorus' part from Lohengrin as the eponymous character appears on the river. It might be a bit much, though.