Wedding March facts for kids
The Wedding March is a very famous piece of music. It was written in 1842 by a German composer named Felix Mendelssohn. This song is often played at weddings, usually when the bride and groom are leaving the church after the ceremony. It is played by an orchestra or on a pipe organ.
Mendelssohn wrote this march as part of a larger set of music for Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The Famous Wedding March
This special piece of music became very popular for weddings because of a royal wedding. In 1858, Princess Victoria, who was the daughter of Queen Victoria, got married to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. Princess Victoria chose Mendelssohn's Wedding March for her big day.
Queen Victoria, her mother, really loved Mendelssohn's music. Because of this royal wedding, the Wedding March became a tradition for many weddings around the world.
Another Wedding Song
Sometimes, people get the Wedding March confused with another famous wedding song. This other song is called the "Bridal Chorus" and it comes from Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin. The Bridal Chorus is usually played when the bride walks into the church at the start of the wedding ceremony. Mendelssohn's Wedding March is played when the couple leaves.
Learn More
- You can find free sheet music for the Wedding March on Cantorion.org.
Images for kids
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Mendelssohn's own handwritten music for the Wedding March, arranged for piano. This is from the British Library.
See also
In Spanish: Marcha nupcial (Mendelssohn) para niños
