Wedding music?

[mille-feuille]

Hi all, I wanted to ask a semi-ballet related question. Hopefully this is the best forum for it.

I'm engaged to be married in about a year, and I'm looking for good music to use for walking down the aisle, processing out, our first dance, etc. I'd like to use classical music for all of this, but nothing TOO stereotypical (e.g. Mendelssohn's Wedding March is a no). Since we both love going to see NYCB, we'd love to incorporate some music that Balanchine used for a ballet.

I love the second movement from Concerto Barocco, and my fiance loves the "Sicilienne" section of Emeralds.

Do you knowledgeable forum members have any good suggestions—not necessarily Balanchine/ ballet music, but just any classical music? I'd be very appreciative of any help.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Nothing like Wagner for the in, Mendelssohn for the out 

[Helene]

Congratulations, @mille-feuille .

I think you've chosen two of the best!

Other adagios are the one from Mendelssohn's 9th Symphony that Balanchine used for the Act II Divertissement PDD, and the Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orpheus and Eurydice he used for the first PDD in Chaconne.

[dirac]

What Helene said, including the congratulations.

Continuing with Mr. B:

Andante from Divertimento No. 15

Preghiera from Mozartiana

Prélude from Emeralds

Not from Balanchine:

Confession: 

I like the Pachelbel Canon for this occasion. Yes, there will be people in the congregation secretly or not-so-secretly sniffing at your lack of imagination and middlebrow taste, but if you like it, go for it, and remember that big names like Handel and Mozart liked the bass line enough to borrow it. I think the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra did the best-known recording although I remember liking Musica Antiqua Köln. It's also just right for the march down the aisle, building to a nice crescendo just as the bride arrives at home plate.

Purcell's Trumpet Voluntary

Bizet's Carmen Act III interlude

Recessional: Can't think of anything better than Mendelssohn offhand.

After party:  Mozart's divertimenti

Again, congrats!

I'm sure there are others out there who have more imaginative suggestions than I do.

 

 

 

 

[abatt]

Bizet Symphony in C second movement?

 

Congratulations!

[sidwich]

Not exactly classical, but I like "Make Our Garden Grow" by Bernstein for weddings.

 

[Kathleen O'Connell]

Congratulations!

I know you're looking for classical music, but Talking Heads' "Naive Melody" — the tenderest little "we're spending our lives together" pop love song ever (yes! from Talking Heads)— might be nice for the party:

Home is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me around
I feel numb, born with a weak heart
I guess I must be having fun

 

The less we say about it the better
Make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground, head in the sky
It's okay, I know nothing's wrong, nothing

 

Oh! I got plenty of time
Oh! You got light in your eyes
And you're standing here beside me
I love the passing of time
Never for money, always for love
Cover up and say goodnight, say goodnight

 

Home, is where I want to be
But I guess I'm already there
I come home, she lifted up her wings
I guess that this must be the place

 

I can't tell one from the other
I find you, or you find me?
There was a time before we were born
If someone asks, this is where I'll be, where I'll be oh!

 

We drift in and out
Oh! Sing into my mouth
Out of all those kinds of people
You got a face with a view

 

I'm just an animal looking for a home and
Share the same space for a minute or two
And you love me till my heart stops
Love me till I'm dead

 

Eyes that light up
Eyes look through you
Cover up the blank spots
Hit me on the head I got ooh!

 

[nanushka]

Mozart's "Haffner" Serenade K.250 (eight movements, about 50 min.) was written as entertainment for wedding festivities, and when hearing it I always think it'd be lovely in the context of a reception or the like. (I always imagine an outdoor summer evening.) It's not necessarily music one wants to sit and listen to straight through in a concert hall, but it's quite lovely, including a multi-movement violin concerto of sorts:

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by nanushka

[dirac]

Quote

the tenderest little "we're spending our lives together" pop love song ever (yes! from Talking Heads)

I might give the nod to the Carpenters' hardy wedding perennial "For All We Know," a very nice song If You Like That Sort of Thing which was also a hit for Shirley Bassey at the same time across the pond. Beautifully sung by Karen with a nice arrangement by Richard, and only lacking an intro from Jose Feliciano because Feliciano's manager was a jerk.

In the same vein, The Beatles, "The Two of Us."

Great idea, sidwich.

 

[dirac]

There are of course multiple lists of "classical music for weddings" available on the web, and the same pieces do tend to appear on them. I must say  the Thais "Meditation" doesn't shout  "happily ever after" to me, but who knows.

Please, mille-feuille, tell us what you eventually choose.

[sandik]

On 11/13/2019 at 7:03 AM, Kathleen O'Connell said:

Congratulations!

I know you're looking for classical music, but Talking Heads' "Naive Melody" — the tenderest little "we're spending our lives together" pop love song ever (yes! from Talking Heads)— might be nice for the party:

Home is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me around
I feel numb, born with a weak heart
I guess I must be having fun...

Friends of ours used this, and everyone was all misty

[mille-feuille]

Thank you so much, @cubanmiamiboy @Helene @dirac @abatt @sidwich @Kathleen O'Connell @nanushka @sandik!! I love the pieces you've suggested, and I will be carefully listening to them over the next little while. I will let you know what we eventually go with!   

[dirac]

You are very welcome, mille-feuille, and yes please do tell us what you eventually choose!