There is not a more famous song in America when it comes to weddings than the song most people know as “Here Comes the Bride“. Most people know it as a relatively simple tune that is easy for most musicians to play during a wedding, while the bride in her beautiful wedding gown.walks down the aisle escorted usually by her father. However, the song itself has kind of an interesting and controversial history that most people don’t know about.
The first thing is that it’s a song from an opera, Lohengrin by Richard Wagner. It is actually a part of an 8 1/2 minute sequence that follows the bride and groom in the opera from the wedding to the bridal chamber. In the olden days, brides and grooms were accompanied to the bridal chamber after the wedding where they would consummate the marriage. At the point of the music where the bridal chorus starts to sing the song in the opera, the wedding has already taken place, and all the ladies are accompanying the bride to the chamber. So, it seems that Americans have placed the song at the wrong part of the wedding.
Second, outside of the opera, there are no official lyrics to the song. If you you do a simple search online, you will find all sorts of lyrics from emotional to parody. If you looked at the lyrics that Wagner created, you will see that they’re not lyrics of love between the bride and groom, but instead are lyrics wishing good fortune for the bride and groom to successfully consummate the marriage by creating a child.
And third, although the music is beautiful, it is also controversial. Many Catholic churches will not allow it to be played during their wedding ceremonies because it is not sacred music. Many Jewish ceremonies will not allow it to be played because Wagner was known to be anti-semitic. Some Lutheran churches won’t allow it to be played because of the pagan aspects of the opera. So, even though it’s a very popular piece that seems like it’s everywhere, there are some factions that have disputes with the song.
Still, it’s a very popular piece that most people enjoy and want to have as a part of their wedding, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
