Klarinet Archive - Posting 000141.txt from 1996/03

From: "Anne M. Schnack" <sam@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Mendelssohn's Wedding March (fwd)
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1996 21:22:52 -0500

While on the topic of these wedding marches, could anyone please tell me
which was originally written as a wedding march for donkeys? I've heard
about it in the past a few times, but I can't remember. I'd really
appreciate it if anyone could tell me!

Anne S.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 1996 23:55:45 -0500
From: Fred Jacobowitz <fredj@-----.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list KLARINET <KLARINET@-----.BITNET>
Subject: Re: Mendelssohn's Wedding March

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popular until Wagner's wedding march superceded it.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
>