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Wedding music


John Robinson

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Not quite all! According to John Henderson's book, the full list is:

 

Uzbekistan Suite (Aria, Toccata, Fugue)

Preludes (unpublished)

Poem (for violin or cello + organ; unpublished)

Samarkand Suite

Six Pieces (as above)

 

(Sorry for continuing the off-topic diversion.)

 

 

======================

 

Thanks for correcting me. I wasn't aware of the other works.

 

MM

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I saw a wedding couple after this mornings service - they also want the Star Wars theme to go out to, with the Mendelssohn to come in to. All a bit bizarre if you ask me.

 

Is the start of a trend?

 

==============================

 

 

Well if it is the start of a trend, I can recommend a Yamaha D-Deck for all the special effects.

 

Now this would have them ducking and diving on the way out of church:-

 

 

 

 

Absolutely brilliant performance!

 

MM

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Hello,

the subtitle на народную узбекскую тему says something like "over a well-known uzbek theme" (über ein bekanntes usbekisches Thema).

Thank you very much for that. :lol:

I asked my russian colleague and he says that another possible translation is "over an uzbek folk theme" (über ein usbekisches Volksthema).

 

Cheers

tiratutti

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I saw a wedding couple after this mornings service - they also want the Star Wars theme to go out to, with the Mendelssohn to come in to. All a bit bizarre if you ask me.

 

Is the start of a trend?

Fairly par for the course. Over the years I have performed that fairly often for weddings (actually "The Throne Room" is a better movement, in my opinion) and quite a lot of John Williams stuff (Raiders, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park...). One memorable ceremony concluded with "Highway to Hell" interpolated with "Another one bites the dust". Another bridegroom insisted on the opening material of "Jaws" as the bride arrived at the South Door. In my youth I had the fun of playing for the wedding of a fairly well-known "name" in the 80s music scene. For all his stylised demeanour (white powdered face, sneakers...) the choice of music was fairly traditional, save for "Tara's theme" from "Gone with the wind". He who pays the piper.. etc..

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I saw a wedding couple after this mornings service - they also want the Star Wars theme to go out to, with the Mendelssohn to come in to. All a bit bizarre if you ask me.

 

Is the start of a trend?

When I turned the radio on this morning, Rob Cowan was playing the Star Wars theme tune on BBC Radio 3. For a brief moment I entertained the idea it might be Mars from Holst's Planets suite but no, it wasn't. Whatever next?!

 

Which theme did they want from Star Wars? I've threatened the Imperial March (Darth Vader's theme) for the entrance of the Bride if she's unfashionably late. I play it sometimes if I'm in the church during a wedding practice with the party if I can get away with it.

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Who else is old enough to remember the fad in the seventies for 'Whiter shade of pale' as the bride came in?

 

Then there was 'Annie's Song' and 'Chariots of Fire'.

 

I remember a Vicar telling me he had had a great deal of trouble persuading a bride (and her mother) that 'Crown Imperial' wasn't a good choice for a wedding where the groom came from India.

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At an R.C. church near here some years ago, I was asked to play 'Lady in Red' for the bride's entry. Dead on time, the bride and her flotilla of followers formed up into line of battle and set off down the aisle.......... the whole lot, including bride, dressed over-all in shimmering emerald GREEN.

The bride had not told of her music choice, so guess who got blamed for playing innapropriate music.

AND, she wanted Q.o.S during the registry. I got a few comments about this as well, but managed to sow a seed or two of confusion, by saying that I had actually played the second sinfonia from 'Solomon' , and that it was "remarkably similar, don't you think?"

 

Onward and ermm... one way or another

 

Chris Baker - Durham UK

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They want the main theme - although I might just slip in a quick pom pom pom pom ti pom at some point!

 

 

I played the main theme the other week, in the 'Darth Widor' episode mentioned elsewhere. I might have worked in the Baddie's March if the bride had been late, but that isn't a tradition here and they usually turn up on time. I noticed a copy of said march on the organ at St. Mary's, down the road, when doing a funeral there a while ago, but never found out why it was there.

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Thank you for that alert. McAfee didn't report anything suspicious and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware hasn't found anything either, so personally I would suspect this is a false positive - maybe nothing more than a potentially unwanted cookie?

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I wonder whether I might prevail upon members here to offer some suggestions for wedding music...

 

...with a big difference!

 

My neice is getting married soon and has sent us all a message asking for suggestions for music for her reception.

 

She asks for "favourite songs to:

 

- dance to

- chill out to (I believe that this means to relax to, rather than putting in a freezer)

- eat to"

 

Of course, I'm sure she expects us to suggest some 'pop music' (or whatever it's called these days) but I thought, just for a bit of fun, I'd list some suitable organ music! At least her grandfather, who is an organist, might appreciate them!

 

Any suggestions? Perhaps not too obscure, or she won't have a clue what I'm talking about.

 

I think anything ethereal and slow on the Celestes plus a 32' flue makes good chill out music in my book.

 

Seriously though, the group 'Art of Noise' did an album called 'The Seduction of Claude Debussy'. It's includes all sorts of pop and classical influences. Some of the tracks have quite a wide appeal. It includes the voice of John Hurt in places and any orchstral backing is played by a real orchestra for the album (and arranged by Anne Dudley).

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I think anything ethereal and slow on the Celestes plus a 32' flue makes good chill out music in my book.

 

Seriously though, the group 'Art of Noise' did an album called 'The Seduction of Claude Debussy'. It's includes all sorts of pop and classical influences. Some of the tracks have quite a wide appeal. It includes the voice of John Hurt in places and any orchstral backing is played by a real orchestra for the album (and arranged by Anne Dudley).

 

Thanks for those.

 

I have already sent her my list, not that I expect any of my suggestions will actually get played!

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  • 1 month later...

Wedding list from our place today says it all, really:

 

Opening: Traditional *

Hymn: All things bright and beautiful

Register: Organist's own choice ^

Exit: Traditional *

 

* sic

^ i.e. "we couldn't care less, just as long as he plays enough music to cover the short act itself plus 20 mins plus of photographer having his way with everyone at the registry desk..."

 

On the flip side, the Church to which I'm heading next month has a wedding at which the Full Choir has been requested (in order to provide "Zadok the Priest" during the Register) and for which TWO opening and TWO closing voluntaries are needed to cover several hundred yards of procession and recession courtesy of bridal party and families!

 

Make of both what you will...

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Late reply here! There are far fewer weddings at my church than there used to be some years ago (the all-inclusive civil ceremony/reception at various local venues) but when the couple show some interest in the music for the recessional they are offered one of the Sonatas or Tocatas para Clarins by Francesc Mariner (1720-89, alas no modern edition) or Antonio Mestres, or a Sonata for Trumpet by one of the Italians such as Gerolamo Pera, Giuseppe Gonelli or Giuseppe Aleotti who wrote at least three. All of these make lots of noise!! Quite popular still for an exit is Handel's Hornpipe in D from the Water Music.

 

During the signing of the register and interminable photos I tend to play through a sereis of toccatas or ciaconas by Pachelbel as well as some of the many 18th century Italian sonatas that are light and bright, which are usually well appreciated by those who listen!

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