"Bridal Chorus" from Lohengrin

Again, oddly enough, I could not find a specific scene in which today's piece is featured.  However, I did find a pretty ridiculous Queen cover, so that will just have to do.  Going with what is apparently this week's wedding theme, today's piece is the Bridal Chorus from Richard Wagner's Lohengrin.

Indirectly responsible for Disneyland's most iconic image.

A short disclaimer:  Richard Wagner is one of the most divisive personalities to have ever made a living in the world of classical music.  You will not find discussion of these controversies in this blog (though if you're interested to see how Wagner is still a touchy subject even today, check this article out:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jul/26/israel-chamber-orchestra-wagner-bayreuth ).  I do not pretend to know nearly enough about the man's dubious political leanings, though the fact that his writings and music provided much fodder for Hitler and the Nazi regime is indisputable.  That said, however, at least where my opinion is concerned, his music is no less worthy of listening or even enjoying.  Alrighty, disclaimer over - let's get to the man himself.

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born in 1813 in Leipzig.  He did not have an extraordinarily musical childhood, though he definitely had artistic talent from a very young age - it was just more focused toward the theatre.  When he was in his teens, he wanted to be a playwright, and began writing plays inspired by works by Goethe and Shakespeare (if there was one thing Wagner never did, it was start small).  His musical training - formally, at least - was minimal during his youth, but he did hear Beethoven's Seventh and Ninth symphonies performed during his formative years.  In his late teens, he began to compose (still with very little formal training), and works such as his Symphony in C and early piano sonatas were published and performed before he hit twenty.  While in university, Wagner finally received some formal theory and performance training, though never to the extent of composers like Mendelssohn (to name but one).

At left, Neuschwanstein - or for our Anglophiles, Newswanstone.

Wagner's first 'mature' opera (he had early operas, including The Fairies and The Ban on Love, based on Shakespeare's Measure for Measure) was Rienzi, premiered in 1840.  This marked the start of his 'middle period,' which included premieres of operas such as The Flying Dutchman and Tannhäuser - operas still squarely in modern repertory.  Lohengrin, his final 'middle period' opera, was premiered in 1850 and conducted by Franz Liszt (don't think you know him?  Just wait for a soon-to-be-published blog post...).  And this concludes our biographical section, though there is much more to say (and we haven't even hit the Ring cycle yet!) - I've gone on too long as it is, and besides, I can devote an entire post to "Ride of the Valkyries."

Lohengrin is a special opera in two very different ways.  First, it was an opera so beloved by King Ludwig II of Bavaria that he built Neuschwanstein Castle based on the opera (and from there, became the inspiration for Cinderella's Castle of Disney Fame).  Ludwig's fanboy status gave Wagner the funds and clout to put on and produce the massive four-opera Ring cycle, as well as build a theatre space to his own exacting specifications.  That theatre is still in use today, and the Bayreuth summer festival is still owned and operated by Wagner's descendents.  Second, it contains the Bridal Chorus.

First page of 'Here Comes the Bride' image results.

A short (but pertinent!) aside: Neuschwanstein is named as it is because in the medieval romance from which Lohengrin's libretto is taken, there is a knight with no name who is simply known as the Swan Knight.  The word 'neuschwanstein' is, as many German words are, simply three words strung together without the convenience of spaces between them - in this case, 'new swan stone'.  The Castle Neuschwanstein is, then, Ludwig's attempt to live in a castle such as the Swan Knight would have lived in.  And people think Star Wars-themed man caves are weird - this man cave-dweller ran a sovereign state.

The story of Lohengrin is, as medieval romances tend to be, a tale full of intrigues, forbidden loves, knights, and deaths by broken heart.  Also as medieval romances tend to be, the plot of Lohengrin is quite convoluted, so I won't go into it in detail.  In fact, I won't really go into it at all.  It's worth seeing on your own, and the music is absolutely stunning.  The Bridal Chorus, however, begins the third act, in which our leading lady Elsa and the Swan Knight have just gotten married.

That's right.  The Bridal Chorus happens after the wedding ceremony is over.  In the scene, Elsa and the Swan Knight are walking back from the ceremony to the bridal chamber, accompanied by a gaggle of people who won't go away for a solid five minutes and just happen to be singing some of the most instantly recognizable music in the world.  Opera is funny like that sometimes.


Further listening:

Like Wagner, medieval romances, and also chord progressions musicologists are still puzzling over?  Try the prelude of Tristan and Isolde:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fktwPGCR7Yw

Interested in hearing Wagner as an adolescent?  Try the first movement of his Symphony in C:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAvhVNfMf60

Like the idea of opera, but can't bring yourself to sit through 10-minute long arias?  Try The Beggar's Opera, by Pepusch and Gay*:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAS6uMtQY18

*Every aria, or air, is based off an English folk/drinking song and is less than two minutes long.