Wagner At Catholic Weddings: Is It Allowed?

Wagner's Bridal Chorus is a popular choice for wedding ceremonies, but its use in Catholic weddings is controversial. While some couples opt for traditional wedding music, including Wagner's Bridal Chorus, others are unaware of the piece's controversial history.

Wagner's Bridal Chorus is commonly used in wedding processionals to announce the bride's entrance. However, in Wagner's opera Lohengrin, from which the piece is derived, it accompanies a short-lived and doomed marriage. This unfortunate allusion and Wagner's anti-Semitic views have led many, especially in the Jewish community and Roman Catholic Church, to find the piece inappropriate for a wedding ceremony.

The use of Wagner's Bridal Chorus in Catholic weddings is not universally banned, and its inclusion may vary depending on the diocese and parish. While some may prohibit it outright, others may allow it upon request.

The history of Wagner's Bridal Chorus in weddings is intriguing, with its popularity influenced by its use in royal weddings and new English lyrics that further associated it with the bride's entrance. Despite the controversies, it remains a recognisable piece of wedding music, though its popularity has declined in recent years as couples opt for more modern or alternative choices.

Wagner's Bridal Chorus is controversial due to its literary origins

Wagner's Bridal Chorus, also known as "Here Comes the Bride", is a piece of music from his 1850 opera "Lohengrin". The piece is instantly recognisable and is strongly associated with the arrival of the bride at a wedding ceremony. However, its use in this context is controversial due to its literary origins.

In the opera, the Bridal Chorus is sung by a choir of women to Elsa as they guide her to her bridal chamber on her wedding night. The marriage in the opera is short-lived and doomed, and the couple parts on their wedding night, never to meet again. This tragic context has been deemed inappropriate for a wedding ceremony, especially in a religious setting.

The piece was first used as a bridal march in 1875 and grew in popularity, especially in the English-speaking world, following its inclusion in several British royal weddings. However, its use has been criticised not only for its literary origins but also because of Wagner's anti-Semitic views and essays. As a result, the piece has been banned by some religious groups, including certain Lutheran and Roman Catholic denominations, as well as by the Jewish community.

Despite the controversy, Wagner's Bridal Chorus remains a well-known piece of wedding music, although its popularity may have declined in recent years due to its association with overuse.

The piece is sung by women serenading Elsa to the bridal suite after her wedding in Act III of Lohengrin

Wagner's "Bridal Chorus" is a popular choice for wedding processionals, often used to announce the bride. However, the piece originates from a tragic opera, Lohengrin, where it is sung by women serenading Elsa to the bridal suite after her wedding in Act III.

In the opera, Elsa's marriage to Lohengrin is short-lived and doomed. Elsa is the Duchess of Brabant, and Lohengrin is a knight in shining armour who arrives in a boat drawn by a swan. He agrees to defend Elsa, who has been accused of murdering her brother, on the condition that she never asks his name. Elsa eventually gives in to her curiosity and asks the fatal question, leading to Lohengrin's departure and Elsa's tragic death.

The use of "Bridal Chorus" as wedding music is controversial due to its literary origins and the composer's personal beliefs. The opera includes pagan stories and themes, leading some Lutheran and Roman Catholic religions to refuse to play the song during wedding ceremonies. Wagner's anti-Semitic essays and his popularity with Adolf Hitler have also made the piece distasteful for many, particularly in the Jewish community.

Despite the controversy, Wagner's "Bridal Chorus" has become a popular choice for wedding processionals, often known as "Here Comes the Bride". It is worth noting that the original song does not include these words. The piece is recognised as a treasured icon in the wind band repertoire and has been performed separately as a concert piece.

Wagner's anti-Semitic writings and his association with Adolf Hitler

Richard Wagner's association with Adolf Hitler is well-known. Hitler was a fan of Wagner's music, and the composer is known to have been Hitler's favourite. Hitler held many of Wagner's original scores in his Berlin bunker, and they perished with him in the final days of the war. Wagner's music was often performed during the Third Reich, and the Nazi regime attempted to appropriate it as 'Nazi'. Hitler ordered that each Nuremberg Rally open with a performance of the overture from Rienzi.

Hitler's admiration for Wagner's music seems to have stemmed from the belief that Wagner was an early exponent of his racist ideology and worldview. Hitler's close friend, Winifred Wagner, was also a supporter of the composer. She was a friend and confidant of Hitler, and they maintained a regular correspondence. Wagner's son-in-law, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, wrote a book called The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, which was a racist work extolling the Aryan ideal that later influenced Hitler's ideas on race.

Wagner's anti-Semitic writings are also well-documented. He published several essays and pamphlets on a wide range of subjects throughout his life, including his views on the influence of Jews in German culture and society. His essay Das Judenthum in der Musik (Judaism in Music) is particularly notorious. In this essay, Wagner identifies Jewish musicians as the source of what he perceived as substanceless music and misplaced values in the arts. He wrote that the German people were repelled by Jews due to their 'alien' appearance and behaviour, and argued that Jewish musicians were only capable of producing shallow and artificial music because they had no connection to the genuine spirit of the German people. Wagner advised Jews to abandon Judaism and assimilate into mainstream German culture and society. While some have argued that his aim was to promote the integration of Jews, others have interpreted his words as calling for the destruction of the Jewish people.

Wagner's operas have also been the subject of controversy, with scholars debating whether they contain adverse caricatures of Jews or anti-Semitic messages. Characters such as Mime in the Ring, Klingsor in Parsifal, and Sixtus Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger have been interpreted as Jewish stereotypes, although none are identified as Jewish in the libretto. Wagner's operas are often thought to extol the virtues of German nationalism, and there is debate over how his writings and operas might have influenced the creation of Nazi Germany.

The doomed marriage in Lohengrin

Wagner's "Bridal Chorus" from his opera Lohengrin is a piece of music commonly played during wedding processionals. However, the opera it comes from tells a very different story.

In Wagner's Lohengrin, the "Bridal Chorus" is sung by women serenading Elsa to her bridal suite after her wedding to Lohengrin in Act III. The marriage is short-lived and doomed, as Elsa, on her wedding night, asks Lohengrin his name—something he had forbidden her from doing. As a result, he is forced to leave her, and Elsa dies of grief.

The use of "Bridal Chorus" in weddings has been controversial, especially in church weddings. Some dioceses and parishes ban the piece outright, and it is less commonly requested by couples. Several reasons have been given for this controversy: the secular source of the music, the ill-fated couple the music accompanies, and the anti-Semitic beliefs of its composer.

Wagner's use of pagan stories and themes

Richard Wagner's operas are known for their use of pagan stories and themes, which has led to controversy and debate about the appropriateness of his works being played at Christian weddings.

Wagner's operas, particularly those of his later period, are known for their complex textures, rich harmonies, orchestration, and elaborate use of leitmotifs—musical phrases associated with individual characters, places, ideas, or plot elements. His works are also notable for their advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, which had a significant influence on the development of classical music.

Another example is "Lohengrin", which features the famous "Bridal Chorus" often used in wedding processionals. However, in the opera, this piece is sung by women serenading Elsa to the bridal suite after her ill-fated and short-lived marriage to Lohengrin.

Wagner's operas also explore philosophical and religious themes, drawing influence from ancient Greek drama and the work of philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer and Ludwig Feuerbach. His works often blend mythology and folklore with complex theological concepts, creating a unique synthesis of music and drama that has had a lasting impact on classical music and opera.

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