Background: About a year ago, a friend and fellow colleague asked "What's really the big deal about Wagner's Bridal March? Why do many congregations ban it from wedding services?"
I was recently reminded of this question again when reviewing my congregation's wedding policy, which discourages use of this song. I happen to like opera, and specifically Wagner's operas, so I decided to dig into this issue a little deeper, and sent the following around to the group of colleagues who had discussed this last year. One of them requested I post it on facebook so it can serve as a point of reference for others. I thought for good measure, I'd post it over here as well.
So, our wedding policy (which was written years before I came to this congregation) officially discourages use of this music, allegedly because the opera contains:
a) pagan themes
and
b) the bride dies after the wedding
As to criticism a - the opera is based on Germanic folklore, so it's "pagan" to the extent that folklore is. It also invokes God often - basically, think of a medieval mindset that believed in both God and magic - that's the blend you've got going on here.
As to criticism b - the last line in my libretto is a stage direction "Elsa slowly sinks lifeless to the ground in Godfrey's arms." She's sinking to the ground in despair because by her own tragic flaw (insisting on knowing her mysterious savior-figure husband's identity when she promised she wouldn't ask about it), she has made it that her husband (with whom she is very much in love) must go away forever (that's what makes for good opera - if you don't like it, take it up with those who make up the laws of magical German folklore!).
So - is she just passing out, overwrought with emotion at watching her husband sail away forever? Or is she dying of a self-induced broken heart? I suppose that's up to interpretation, but I guess I don't see this ending as a reason for banning the music - if anything, the "moral of the story" is a decent one - beware the consequences of breaking promises and insisting on your own way all the time in your marriage, as this will only alienate you from your beloved.
[Ironically, our wedding policy also discourages use of Mendelssohn's march from A Midsummer Night's Dream (for what I think are similarly ridiculous reasons), but it encourages use of some music titled "The Prince of Denmark's March" - now, maybe that was written for some later, actual prince of Denmark, but that title is pretty strongly associated in my mind with Hamlet, which is a WAY more messed up story (in which EVERYBODY dies) than either Lohengrin or A Midsummer Night's Dream. . .]
In any case, what we know as the "bridal march" is not actually the bridal march in the opera - there IS a bridal procession, and it's an absolutely gorgeous piece of music, but it's in Act 2. What we commonly refer to as the bridal march comes in the beginning of Act 3 - the overture to the third act is meant to depict the "brilliant bustle of the wedding feast" then the curtain opens to reveal the bridal chamber, and the chorus sings the following words to this all-too-familiar tune:
Guided by faith, enter within,
where may the blessing of love attend you!
Victorious valour and the prize of love
unite you in trust as a blessed pair.
Champion of virtue, advance!
Flower of youth, advance!
Let the sound of revelry be shut out
and your heart's bliss be attained!
Now, removed from sight, take possession
of this perfumed chamber, decked for love.
Guided in faith, now enter within,
where may the blessing of love attend you!
Victorious valour and pure love
unite you in trust as a blessed pair.
As God has given you His blessing
we too wish you happiness.
Long remember this hour
in the course of love's joy!
Guided in faith, stay within,
where may the blessing of love attend you!
Victorious valour, love, and happiness
unite you in trust as a blessed pair.
Champion of virtue, here remain!
Flower of youth, here remain!
Leet the sound of revelry be shut out
and your heart's bliss be attained!
Now, removed from sight, take posession
of this perfumed chamber, decked for love.
Guided in faith, stay within,
where may the blessing of love attend you!
Victorious valour, love, and happiness
unite you in trust as a blessed pair.
Again, up to everyone's individual taste and interpretation of "appropriateness," but I don't see what's so bad about those words. In fact, I find it kind of a nice sentiment, having the blessing of God and your community, being guided by faith and united in trust as a blessed pair. Of course, since the scene is the bridal chamber and the song also references the heart's bliss being attained, it's also about SEX - which is where, I would presume, the real (if unacknowledged) criticism of this music lies. But, seeing how sex and sexuality is part and parcel of a healthy marriage, I don't see that as a reason to keep it out of a marriage service either.
So, there's my mini-thesis on Wagner's "bridal march" - do with it what you will. :)
Comments and further insight are most welcome.
Peace,
Catrina
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