Klarinet Archive - Posting 000093.txt from 1996/03

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fredj@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Mendelssohn's Wedding March
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 1996 14:27:08 -0500

Neil,
With my Klezmer Wedding band I play lots of weddings and wedding
marches. Over the years I have come across old publications of
collections of various tunes to be used for weddings. Some of the older
ones have the Mendelssohn in them. I also remember reading somewhere that
until Mendelssohn wrote that marvelous piece of music, most wedding
marches were simple droning folk melodies. It immediately became very
popular until Wagner's wedding march superceded it. In fact, just as a
curious bit of trivia, Jewish weddings used the Wagner march up until
WWII, after which Wagner's music had too many associations with the
Nazis. Hope this helps.

Fred Jacobowitz

On Sat, 2 Mar 1996, Neil Chungfat wrote:

> Sorry - this message doesn't have a lot of relevance to clarinets
> specifically, but it had a musical standpoint. I'm doing an oral
> presentation on this piece (don't ask why please) and would like any
> information anyone can provide. I would specifically like to know how
> this piece became a standard piece of music for use in most modern
> weddings and other relevant material than you have to offer. Thanks in
> advance.
>
> Neil Chungfat
> chungfat@-----.edu
>