"Wedding March" from A Midsummer Night's Dream

Surprisingly enough, there weren't any actual scenes that feature this piece on Youtube, but no matter; all anyone needs to recognize Felix Mendelssohn's Wedding March are the first two notes. So ubiquitous that it has fallen squarely into the realm of cliche, the Wedding March from A Midsummer Night's Dream is (like Carmina Burana) an example of a work that has overshadowed the composer itself - an incredible act, of course, but one that does not do justice to Mendelssohn, the man. And Mendelssohn, the man, is pretty incredible himself.

Mendelssohn as a child. No lies.

Much like our man Bizet, Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was blessed with a surplus of names. For our purposes, however, Felix Mendelssohn will suffice. Born in 1809 to a Jewish family that later converted to Lutheranism (Mendelssohn's grandfather, Moses, was a famous philosopher), Felix showed prodigy-like levels of musical talent at a very young age. However, decidedly unlike our men Mozart and Beethoven, Felix's parents did not attempt to cash in on his success, and did not actively encourage (though they did not actively discourage him either) his career. Despite the lack of stage parenting, Mendelssohn's first work, a piano quartet, was published in 1822, when the composer was just thirteen years old. At seventeen, he completed his "Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream" (and concurrently invented the concert overture - that is to say, a concert piece for orchestra not tied to a theatrical work), and before he hit his twenties, was a respected young musician and composer.

Apart from being shockingly bright at such a young age, Mendelssohn was also largely responsible for the revival in interest in Johann Sebastian Bach (and, in a broader sense, Baroque music in general). After Bach's death in 1750, his works were largely abandoned - even before his death, Bach was considered rather old-fashioned and passé. However, in 1829, Mendelssohn conducted the first performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion since 1750, and it was met with great acclaim. In 1833, Mendelssohn helped start a German revival of George Frideric Handel with a performance of his oratorio Israel in Egypt in Düsseldorf. He edited the first scholarly editions of several Handel oratorios, as well as Bach's organ work. Much like Orff after him, Mendelssohn was active (and indispensable) in more areas than 'simply' composition. Unfortunately, his potential was cut short by a series of strokes, and at the age of 38, he passed away in 1847. Almost ironically - and much like Bach - Mendelssohn experienced a posthumous dip in popularity (brought about by composers such as Wagner, who disliked Mendelssohn's conservative style), and it took until the early twentieth century for his music to find a place in the canon.

Except for, of course, his Wedding March.

This is the first image that came up. Google is so weird.

Though Mendelssohn wrote his Midsummer Night's Dream Overture when he was seventeen, it was over sixteen years later that he was commissioned to write incidental music for the rest of the play. Incidental music has been around for a long time - at least since Ancient Greek drama. The difference between incidental music and, say, a musical or opera lies in the name; plays with incidental music function just as successfully without it, while if a musical or opera was stripped of its music, there would be very little left. Produced in 1843, the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was structured so that from the entirely music-less Act I, the play became more and more filled with music until the final and fifth act. The Wedding March itself is 'merely' music between Acts IV and V - or at least was until Queen Victoria's daughter (also named Victoria) used it as the processional in her 1858 wedding, and thus started a trend that shows no signs of stopping, 150 years later.

This would be the point in the post in which I would make a short list of the movies and television shows in which this piece can be heard - but I don't need to. It's everywhere. Way to go, Felix - way to go.

Further listening:

Like Mendelssohn, and also Scotland? Try the Overture from Fingal's Cave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3MiETaBSnc

Like Mendelssohn, and also old Looney Tunes cartoons? Try "Spring Song" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mz5Rtx-Eu0

Like Mendelssohn, and also beautiful vocal melodies? Try "Auf Flügeln des Gesanges," sung by Barbara Bonney: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfj4thZrFj4&feature=related

(Yeah. I do like Mendelssohn. What of it?)