Help - Wedding Music
  • New DOM
    Posts: 3
    I need help in guiding music selections for weddings, 2 of which are approaching. Is this like funerals, where there is a list of 5 songs that are always requested? Is there any music analogous to the "In Paradisum" for funerals that should be done at a wedding? Should (part of) the ordinary be in Latin if we have the ability? Is there any music to absolutely stay away from? We have a small choir, so no polyphony, but we can pull off the occasional proper with some advance notice.
  • incantuincantu
    Posts: 989
    In the US, at least, weddings are ten times less likely to follow any sort of "rules" than your average weekend Mass. Many couples, and pastors alike, treat them as a sort of "liturgy for hire." However, since many couple have no idea of what they want for music after the bride comes down the aisle, you may be able to suggest some beautiful and worthy music for the offertory and communion. You might want to consider some of the texts from Holy Thursday, such as Mandatum novum, Ubi caritas, and Maneant in vobis under the "option four" provision. Ps. 128 is often used as the default, but some brides don't like the idea of being "like a fruitful vine." Any of the general use communions found in Communio could be used, particularly any of seasonal Easter texts (assuming the weddings are coming up in the next month or two). As for what to stay away from, well... use your better judgement, but pretty much anything in a wedding planning book. And please, don't suggest an Ave Maria unless someone specifically requests it.
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Hmm.. I don't see any fault in asking the Blessed Virgin's prayers for the couple. It's traditional and not at all harmful.
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    http://stmarysvisalia.org--broken link--/Ministries/Music/Wedding%20Brochure.pdf

    Might help.

    C
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 968
    I think Jeff Ostrowski's site has a nice section on weddings, too. http://chabanelpsalms.org/responsorial_psalms.htm
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    test upload
    Wedding chants in Simple Gradual.pdf
    440K
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    test comment 2
    Music for the Sacrament of Marriage in the Psallite project.pdf
    55K
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    test comment 3
    Wedding chants in Simple Gradual2.pdf
    440K
    Music for the Sacrament of Marriage in the Psallite project2.pdf
    55K
  • admin-dev
    Posts: 21

    From Dr. Paul Ford comes these two PDFs:



    • Wedding Chants in the Simple Gradual
    • Music for the Sacrament of Marriage in the Psallite project.pdf
    Music for the Sacrament of Marriage in the Psallite project.pdf
    55K
    Wedding chants in Simple Gradual.pdf
    440K
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    I highly recommend dedicating your marriage to the BVM... it may be the only thing that keeps you married this day and age.
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    Several couples that I have advised have been interested in the idea of having some Gregorian chant sung at their wedding.

    In particular, the “In te speravi” offertory is one I have used. It’s from Psalm 31, the same psalm Jesus quotes on the cross in Luke. Besides the beauty of the text (“My welfare is in your hands” seems ideal for a wedding), a connection I myself draw here is to Paul’s admonition to husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church--i.e. even to death.

    You can also make metrical introit hymns from the various metrical psalters posted online. Don’t overlook the “Deus Israël” introit that is omitted from GR 1974 but is referenced in OCM 1986. You can find it in GR 1961, which CMAA makes available online.
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    Rory Cooney also has a site for wedding music preparation that has some useful stuff on it:

    http://www.stannebarrington.org/weddings/
  • Darcy
    Posts: 73
    I thought someone might find the attached program helpful. I have the honor of singing in the schola for this wedding, this Saturday. OF in Latin with chanted everything possible.
    Franz Nuptial Mass Booklet (2) (3).pdf
    676K
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    Darcy,

    Where did the couple get those readings? The resp. psalm and gospel are not options in the OF Lectionary for weddings...
  • Darcy
    Posts: 73
    That's a good question Felipe. I do not know, wasn't in on the planning. The groom studied in Rome as a seminarian before discerning his vocation was otherwise, and all the priests at the wedding are good, so I imagine they must have some reason for those selections. I'll ask if the opportunity arises.
  • Darcy
    Posts: 73
    To follow up - I asked about this, and he said these were listed as options in the Daily Roman Missal. He is now concerned since the booklets are printed already, 3 days before the wedding. Maybe I should not have said anything...
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    Frankly, if the priest does NOT have the canonical authority to allow 'other' Readings, then there is something wrong with this system. Both the Nuptial and Burial Rites today are not nearly as rich, even with all their supposed options, as the 1962 Missal! For that reason I intend to buried using the EF Mass, and also the EF Wedding Mass - IF I ever decide to get married again! I sincerely believe that the vast majority of 'options' we have been given in the OF Mass are born of a 'modernist' agenda, especially since authentic, official parts of these rites contained in previous editions of the Missal seem to now be forbidden. This is NOT continuity!
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    Are there documents concerning Wagners Bridal Chorus being utilized during the procession of a wedding rite? I was sent a request to play this today, and have managed to avoid it except for one time in 40 years. And its a double whammy... they want Bridal March (prob Mendelsohn) as the Recessional. Suggestions? Excuses? Condemnations? Excommunications?
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    I think it depends on your relationship with your pastor. If he's OK with it, you probably are stuck. Many organists have been given charge over wedding music, and they publish list of music for the bride (i.e. the bride's mother!!!) to pick from. Anything else is extra money. That usually stops them in their tracks. Both pieces in question are from secular operas, both have to do with consorting between mankind and gods - not in the same way we think about! OTOH both the processional and recessional are outside the actual Liturgy, so there probably isn't a hard and fast rubric disallowing it.

    I've only been stuck playing them a few times - most recently for my youngest nephew, who was raised Catholic, but doesn't really attend any more, and he married a Baptist, so Momma wanted them. I was visiting my old parish where I grew up, and it was mostly a favor. Generally I avoid playing for all weddings. Give me a funeral any time!
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Francis: put up with it, drink a beer afterwards, tell your friends how much you hated it, and brag about how you only did it twice in your career. And hey, have fun with it. Last time I played it, I went for the "bleeding eardrums" registration with the Zimbel and festival trumpet. It was highly amusing for me, and the couple enjoyed it.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    I may suggest something else and educate them for what reason the music was truly composed.
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Also, phrase it as "some people may be offended because...." That seems to me the strongest discouragement without an unreasonable ban.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    good idea, Gavin.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    I suggest summoning all your courage, wits, scholarship and piety to aid you in declining to play these pieces. It has often been helpful to point out to all concerned what a sad, sad, end was in store for both bride and groom in Lohengrin - not to mention that the wedding itself was a pagan affair. This is not only a matter of taste, but of conscience and respect for Christian liturgy. Wagner is truly marvelous... in an opera house!
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    Sorry to resurrect this old thread, and this is a bit late in the thread for this warning, but the stmarysvisalia.org link that Charles cited has been taken over by...uh, something that a Catholic doesn't want to see. We might want to excise that, for the sake of those who come after.

    [Admin note: Thanks. I've marked the link above as broken. The church's web site has a new domain name, and the old domain was bought by a squatter in Zagreb.]
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    In both cases, Francis, you may be able to say, "people much wiser than I noticed that those pieces of music are written for profane occasions, and this is a sacred event; therefore, they don't think that these pieces are appropriate."
  • dad29
    Posts: 2,232
    As to postludes, we've used JSBach's D Major Fugue (do-re-mi-re-do-re-mi-re-do etc.) to good effect and his "Jig" Fugue is a good possibility, too. They have none of the connotations of Wagner/Mendelssohn (etc.) but have the right tempo/"mood" for the occasion.
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