Line #45 Main/LohengrinAndMendelssohn


1	->''"It's never too late to Mendelssohn,\
2	Two hearts are at Journey's Endelssohn,\
3	Whate'er their future they must share it.\
4	I trust they Lohengrin and bear it."''
5	-->-- '''Charley Johnson''', ''Theatre/LadyInTheDark'' ([[DreamSequence Wedding Dream]])
6
7	The two essential StandardSnippet wedding marches derive their music from:
8	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J7Jhx93s9w The bridal chorus]] that opens Act III of Music/RichardWagner's 1850 opera ''Theatre/{{Lohengrin}}''. The German words begin "Treulich geführt ziehet dahin," but most English speakers know it as "Here Comes the Bride."
9	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tDYMayp6Dk The prelude]] to Act V of ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' from Music/FelixMendelssohn's incidental music to an 1842 production of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's play (Op. 61). Generally used as a recessional.
10
11	These two pieces, commonly referred to as "Lohengrin" and "Mendelssohn," are often played at RealLife and fictional weddings, even if those [[AnachronisticSoundtrack weddings are in films set before the pieces were actually composed.]] The combination may have been popularized by its use at the wedding of Princess Victoria and Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia (later Kaiser Friedrich III) in 1858.
12
13	Some churches discourage the use of this and other secular music at weddings held in their facilities. Some churches and musicians also discourage their use because of the context: Elsa's wedding in ''Lohengrin'' is anything but happy, the marriage wasn't consummated, and by the end her beloved departs and her brother has been turned into a swan; and ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is not the most... shall we say, "monogamous" of Shakespeare's plays. And some organists are just bloody sick of them. The former is also generally not used at Jewish weddings, due to Wagner's anti-Semitism (Mendelssohn was a Lutheran with Jewish ancestry, by the way, and was disliked by Wagner).
14
15	If it's not one of these pieces of ClassicalMusic being played at the wedding, odds are pretty good it's either ''Music/PachelbelsCanon'', the ''Prince of Denmark's March'' by Jeremiah Clarke (sometimes incorrectly called the ''Trumpet Voluntary'',[[note]]which is the composition's ''type'', like a symphony, concerto, or sonata[[/note]] and notable for being used at [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor Princess Diana's]] wedding), Handel's ''Water Music'' (specifically the second movement), "Sheep May Safely Graze" from Music/JohannSebastianBach's "[[Music/WasMirBehagtIstNurDieMuntreJagd Hunting Cantata]]", or "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", also by Bach.
16
17	----
18	!!Examples:
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20	[[foldercontrol]]
21
22	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
23	* Mendelssohn has been played a few times in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon'', either in relations to humans getting married (like Professors Kukui and Burnett) or a Pokémon [[ThePowerOfLove fighting at full force]] [[InterspeciesRomance for the human they've fallen for]] (like James' Mareanie for James or a wild Dewpider for Lana).
24	* ''Literature/{{Date A Live}}'' have a remix of Wedding March played near the end of third season, [[spoiler:played right when Shido and Origami kissed at the end of Episode 11]].
25	* The Lohengrin piece plays in ''[[Anime/{{Tamagotchi}} GO-GO Tamagotchi!]]'' episode 30 to accompany Himespetchi's FairytaleWeddingDress costume for the Tamaween costume contest.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
29	* ''Animation/BoonieCubs'': In Season 2 episode 17, the kids sing the tune of "Here Comes the Bride" during the renewal of Violet's parents' wedding vows for their anniversary.
30	* ''Animation/BreadBarbershop'': The Mendelssohn piece is played during weddings on two occasions, in "Cake Princess's Wedding" and in "Chocolate Wall".
31	* ''Animation/HappyHeroes'': In Season 7 episode 1, Smart S. sets up a ceremony for when the Global Leader establishes a diplomatic relationship with Dog Planet. The whole thing plays out like a wedding, complete with the Mendelssohn music playing.
32	* When the titular [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Seven]] of ''Animation/ScissorSeven'' is trapped at Dali, he is forced to either kill the [[PeoplePuppets Ugly Master]] or [[ArrangedMarriage get married and have kids.]] Right after he asks what would happen if he can't kill the Ugly Master... the Wedding March starts to build up to Seven's confusion and [[SmashCut abruptly cuts]] to Seven in a suit about to be married to a random girl. The [[SuddenSoundtrackStop music stops]] as he [[MoodWhiplash quickly rips off the suit and asserts he'll kill the Ugly Master.]]
33	--> '''Seven:''' ''Ok, fine. Give me a few days and I'll kill him.''
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder:Fan Works]]
37	* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': In "The Wedding Reception," first Mittens and later Bolt and Rhino [[SongParody add humorous lyrics when singing the melody]] to Music/RichardWagner's bridal chorus from ''Theatre/{{Lohengrin}}''.
38	[[/folder]]
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40	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
41	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', after seeing the Prince and Cinderella share their DanceOfRomance, the delighted King hums a little of Mendelssohn as he leaves the ballroom, confident that their wedding (and the birth of [[IWantGrandkids his grandchildren]]) is imminent.
42	* In an AnachronismStew example, Gaston hires a band to play the Lohengrin bridal march in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' when he's about to propose (unsuccessfully) to Belle. The film takes place in the late 18th or early 19th century, and the bridal march was composed in 1850.
43	* In ''WesternAnimation/MrBugGoesToTown'', the two ladybug children perform Lohengrin at Honey and Mr. Beetle's wedding, one blowing on a giant harmonica and the other singing a cappella. Later, when Smack and Swat crash the wedding to warn their boss of the approaching humans, Smack hijacks the harmonica to snap up the pace, while Swat whispers a warning to the tune...
44	-->''We've gotta scram! We've gotta scram! Trouble's a-comin' and we've gotta scram!''
45	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'', Mendelssohn is played at the [[spoiler:[[AndNowYouMustMarryMe forced wedding]] between Bowser and Peach]].
46	* In ''WesternAnimation/Thumbelina1994'', each verse of the song "Marry the Mole" starts with the same four notes as Lohengrin, and the first verse opens with the words "'Here Comes the Bride' is a lovely little ditty." Later, an organ rendition of Lohengrin plays as Thumbelina walks reluctantly down the aisle at her wedding to Mr. Mole (before she realizes her mistake and becomes a RunawayBride).
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
50	* In ''Film/DesertHearts'', the Mendelssohn piece is played at Silver's wedding.
51	* Lohengrin is played in a distorted, nightmarish fashion when Stanley is having his comedic CatapultNightmare in ''[[Film/FatherOfTheBride1950 Father of the Bride]]''.
52	* Both Mendelssohn and Lohengrin are used for the polyandrous wedding at the end of ''Film/HorseFeathers'' where all the Creator/MarxBrothers ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg except Zeppo]]) marry Thelma Todd.
53	* Creator/LaurelAndHardy movies often used a swing-tempo version of Mendelssohn's tune in the background to underscore the woe of married life.
54	* In ''Film/MyDearlyBelovedDetective'' (a Soviet movie about a DistaffCounterpart to Literature/SherlockHolmes), Holmes and Watson go to a bachelor club disguised as men. The club's anthem, sung throughout the scene, is set to Mendessohn's music, but the words are... [[HeManWomanHater not exactly wedding promoting]].
55	* The opening notes of Lohengrin are sampled in the Wedding Song in ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride''.
56	* A rock version of Lohengrin is played in ''Film/{{Flash Gordon\|1980}}'' at [[spoiler:Ming and Dale's wedding]], courtesy of Music/{{Queen}} and Music/BrianMay.
57	* It seems like ''Film/TheGraduate'' was an unintentional pioneer in making Mendelssohn work wonders for powerful dramatic wedding moments.
58	--> '''[[Film/TheGraduate Ben Braddock]]''': ELAINE!!!\
59	'''[[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII Marty McFly]]''': NOOOOOOOOO!!\
60	'''[[Film/WaynesWorld Wayne Campbell]]''': CASSANDRAAA!!!
61	* At the end of the ActionPrologue of the ''Film/JamesBond'' film ''Film/LicenceToKill'', the Bridal Chorus from ''Lohengrin'' is played on an organ at Felix Leiter's wedding when everyone enters the church.
62	* Unsurprisingly this is motif throughout ''Film/TheWeddingMarch''. It plays over the opening title card, during the wedding at the end, in a distorted minor [[{{Tonality}} key]] when Cecilia is told she's being married off to a man she's never met...
63	* Referenced, but ultimately not used, in ''Film/SevenBridesForSevenBrothers''. "June Bride", during which the women daydream about their ideal wedding, mentions hearing Mendelssohn's iconic tune as they ride away from the ceremony.
64	* A portion of Mendelssohn is played at the end of "I Can Make You A Man (Reprise)" during the scene in ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' when Dr. Frank N. Furter walks down the aisle to his "bridal chamber" with his creation/spouse Rocky as the Transylvanians shower the "newlywed" couple with rice.
65	* The 1999 film version of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (with an AllStarCast including Creator/KevinKline and Creator/MichellePfeiffer) uses the Mendelssohn piece akin to its original context. So does [[Film/AMidsummerNightsDream1935 the 1935 version]] (with an AllStarCast including Creator/OliviaDeHavilland and Creator/MickeyRooney), which uses not just the wedding recessional but quite a bit of Mendelssohn's score from the 1842 stage production.
66	* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' uses the Lohengrin piece in the wedding scene as King Roland leads Princess Vespa to the altar. The organist breaks off when Vespa stops to ask if she has to go through with marrying Prince Valium. [[RunawayBride And then she blows past the altar, down the ramp, and out of the church]].
67	* In ''Film/TheMuppetsTakeManhattan'', the song "Somebody's Getting Married" riffs on Mendelssohn at a couple of points.
68	* ''Film/{{Deception\|1946}}'': Christine is a professional pianist with a lot of musician friends, which is why they play "Here Comes the Bride" in uptempo jazz style at her wedding reception.
69	* In ''Film/LikeNormalPeople'', Virginia hums "Here Comes the Bride" while showing off her wedding dress. The song plays for real during her and Roger's wedding.
70	* ''Film/PoorPrettyEddie'': At Liz's [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe forced wedding]] to Eddie, a band plays "Here Comes the Bride."
71	* In ''Film/IThinkIDo1997'', both songs play at Matt and Carol's wedding.
72	* In ''Film/TheBigCube'', a rock cover of the Wedding March plays during Johnny and Lisa's wedding.
73	[[/folder]]
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75	[[folder:Literature]]
76	* An {{aver\|tedTrope}}sion from Creator/DorothyLSayers' ''Busman's Honeymoon'': "Literature/{{Lord Peter\|Wimsey}} set his foot down resolutely on ''Lohengrin'' and Mendelssohn, and we were played out with Bach."
77	* [[PlayingWithATrope Discussed]] in ''Literature/IWillFearNoEvil'' by Creator/RobertHeinlein, when Johann/Eunice is planning the wedding to Jake. The Eunice personality is adamant that the Mendelssohn ''not'' be used, because, she says, it always sounded to her like the triumphant clucking of a hen that's just laid an egg.
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
81	* Used in the ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' episode "Holy Matrimony, Murdoch!", for Murdoch and Julia Ogden's wedding. Including Mrs Brakenreid insisting that everyone ''hum'' Lohengrin during the rehearsal.
82	* In the classic ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Balance of Terror", the wedding that opens the episode uses Lohengrin as the processional prior to the ceremony, which is then interrupted by a distress signal. We never hear the Mendelssohn ''after'' the wedding.[[spoiler:..because the groom is killed before the wedding can resume.]]
83	* Used in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Course: Oblivion" during the wedding of Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres, which during the latter song when the rice gets tossed during the newlywed couple's departure we see the rice sink into the floor and fall down into the Jeffries tube below, cuing us in to what the crew will discover in the episode.
84	* In the ''Series/BroadCity'' episode "The Matrix," the invite to the dog wedding is soundtracked by the Wedding March as sung by barking dogs.
85	* ''Series/{{Friends}}'':
86	** In one episode Joey greets Ross at the coffee shop by humming a few bars of Lohengrin as Ross has just got engaged to Emily. [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Phoebe]] mistakes it for the [[UsefulNotes/OlympicGames Olympic anthem]].
87	** During a trip to Las Vegas, Chandler and Monica decide to get married at a chapel. As they're sitting in the waiting room Chandler hums what he ''thinks'' is the wedding march, only for Monica to tell him it's actually ''Pomp and Circumstance'' a.k.a. "The Graduation Song". He's immediately shown up when the ''actual'' wedding march starts playing from inside the chapel as Ross and Rachel exit after drunkenly getting married.
88	* In the ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' episode "The Wedding: Part 3", Rita sings the Wedding March during her wedding with Zedd with Snizzard playing the tune on the organ, she changes the lyrics from "Here Comes the Bride" to [[SongParody "Here Comes the Queen"]].
89	* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Averted at Barney and Robin's wedding which instead uses a piano version of "Sandcastles in the Sand", a song Robin recorded during her TeenIdol days. Barney learning of the song is what led to them sleeping together for the first time, so the song has particular significance to the couple.
90	[[/folder]]
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92	[[folder:Music]]
93	* "Here Comes the Broad", a track from the Brian Setzer Orchestra's ''Wolfgang's Big Night Out'' (an album of swing arrangements of classical compositions) combines elements of both Lohengrin and Mendelssohn.
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96	[[folder:Pinballs]]
97	* ''Pinball/MonsterBash'' uses a rock version of "Bridal Chorus" during the Film/BrideOfFrankenstein's mode, "Ball & Chain".
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99
100	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
101	* The classic ''Series/SesameStreet'' episode of Maria and Luis's wedding used Lohengrin at the beginning of the ceremony and Mendelssohn at the end.
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:Theatre]]
105	* In ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'', Lorelei's wedding song, "Button Up with Esmond," begins with the Mendelssohn snippet.
106	* ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'': Lohengrin plays at the end of ''Helpless'' to signify Alexander and Eliza's wedding. This is a case where the song is used for a time period far before it was actually composed (1780), but ''Hamilton'' in general is a very, very deliberate AnachronismStew (the rest of the song is R&B, after all) so it's not too jarring.
107	* The IrrelevantActOpener "Bride and Groom" from the musical ''Oh, Kay!'' begins with a longer version of the punny Ira Gershwin lyric quoted above; Music/GeorgeGershwin set the first line to a variation on Mendelssohn's tune.
108	* ''Theatre/OurTown'' plays this entirely straight for the wedding scene, though it's implied that these two pieces, along with Handel's ''Largo'' and a few hymns, are all the town organist may know, since "there isn't much culture" in Grover's Corners.
109	* ''Theatre/SixTheMusical'': In Anne Boleyn's song "Don't Lose Ur Head", Mendelssohn is played on electric guitar while Anne beatifically walks across the stage and the other queens act as the sobbing attendees, signifying her marriage to Henry VIII. As with ''Hamilton'', it's only out of place historically speaking, considering the AnachronismStew otherwise present in the play.
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder:Video Games]]
113	* In the infamous ''VideoGame/DrJekyllAndMrHydeNES'', Mendelsshon is the game's ending theme.
114	* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'', a minor-key variation of Lohengrin plays for the [[EvilChancellor evil vizier's]] wedding to the fake Cassima ("Oh no, it's wedding music!"). When Alexander weds the real Cassima, the normal version of Lohengrin and Mendelssohn is played as usual.
115	* In ''Matrimelee'', the last ''VideoGame/PowerInstinct'' game to be released in English, the reward for defeating [[SNKBoss Princess Sissy]] and winning the tournament is to marry her. Appropriately enough, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL8t8HnaqP4 a remix of Lohengrin plays when she appears]], and [[https://youtu.be/kL8t8HnaqP4?t=38 a remix of Mendelssohn]] plays for the fight.
116	* At the start of ''VideoGame/HauntedCastle'', Mendelssohn plays over [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Simon Belmont]] heading out with his newly-married wife — only to veer off key when {{Dracula}} flies in and [[DamselInDistress whisks her away]].
117	* One of the late-game quests in ''VideoGame/HamtaroHamHamHeartbreak'' involves convincing Jingle to play Lohengrin for a wedding.
118	* ''VideoGame/CastleCrashers'', a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjwVHrn_CoU dark, twisted rendition of "Here comes the bride"]] is used as the boss theme of the Conehead Groom.
119	* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' uses Mendelssohn in Ken's ending as he marries Eliza.
120	* In "VideoGame/DonaldInMauiMallard", The end of the game uses both Mendelssohn and Lohengrin, for the final sequence. Mendelssohn as Hernae appears, forcefully kisses WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and gets him abducted. After that a Calypso version of Lohengrin plays during the end credits.
121	* ''VideoGame/PumpItUp'': [=SHK=]'s "Wedding Crashers" is a remixed version of Mendelssohn's Wedding March. The background animation/music video is about [[WeddingSmashers the wedding is ambushed by a dragon]] and the bride gets kidnapped by it, before the wedding couple manage to place their wedding rings.
122	* The FinalBoss theme in ''VideoGame/TheBrainsAndTheBrawn'', “Wedding”, opens with the first part of the Lohengrin bridal chorus before the more tense portion, which fits the heroes [[WeddingSmashers crashing the wedding]] of the BigBad.
123	* ''VideoGame/{{Oddrietta}}'': “Henrietta’s Wedding”, one of the last themes in the game, is a dark and atmospheric arrangement of the “Bridal March” section to signify [[spoiler:the BigBad Henry's [[{{Yandere}} obsessive desire]] to [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe marry Henrietta]]]], and it also plays in the ending where they do indeed get married.
124	* The fourth round of the Spa Service mode in ''[[VideoGame/PanelDePon Pokémon Puzzle League]]'' features Team Rocket in wedding garb, and the music for their battle is a mix of both Lohengrin and Mendelssohn.
125	* One track in ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}'', titled "Twang", is a mashup of Lohengrin and "Ten Green Bottles".
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Western Animation]]
129	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'':
130	** Lohengrin is featured several times in the episode "[[Recap/ArthurS1E25DWThinksBigArthurCleansUp D.W. Thinks Big]]", it being a WeddingEpisode for Arthur's Aunt Lucy. Even outside the actual wedding, it is used as background music several times throughout the episode, Arthur's mom plays it on the piano, and D.W. humming it is a RunningGag.
131	** In "[[Recap/ArthurS14E2TheAgentOfChangeDWUntiesTheKnot D.W. Unties the Knot]]", Lohengrin is played at D.W. and her classmate James' wedding reception. ([[ItMakesSenseInContext Don't ask why two four-year-olds are getting married...]])
132	* A vintage Fleischer ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' cartoon had Bluto and Olive marching down the aisle behind Justice Wimpy to an appropriately broad and graceless version of the Lohengrin tune.
133	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode where Leela is getting married to another cyclops, Hermes does a rasta version of Lohengrin.
134	* In the Disney propaganda short "WesternAnimation/EducationForDeath" plays over a BookBurning.
135	* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' which parodies ''Film/TheGraduate'' ends with Grandpa Simpson and Mrs. Bouvier running out of her wedding to Mr. Burns while Mendelssohn plays in the background.
136	** And in another episode ("I Married Marge"), in the flashback story, Homer has a wedding with the pregnant Marge in a cheap chapel, and as they walk to the chapel, one man is seen playing Lohengrin on a Casio electronic keyboard.
137	** In "Thursdays with Abie", an aspiring author plans on murdering Grampa to [[DeathByNewberyMedal end his book about him with a sad death]], and he makes up his own sinister lyrics to Lohengrin as he advances toward a sleeping Grampa with a VorpalPillow.
138	--->''Here comes the prize''\
139	''UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize''\
140	''[[WellDoneSonGuy I'll finally be successful in my mother's eyes]]''
141	* In "WesternAnimation/RabbitOfSeville", after a mutual escalation where each side points bigger and bigger guns at the other, Bugs instead offers Elmer flowers and chocolates, which causes him to reappear wearing a wedding dress. After Bugs rushes through a ceremony with himself as Justice of the Peace, Bugs carries his new "bride" to the threshold to the tune of the Mendelssohn Recessional. (Whereupon he drops Elmer off a very high ledge into a prop wedding cake reading "Theatre/TheMarriageOfFigaro".)
142	* In a 1938 Merrie Melodies cartoon, [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x79dwt "The Mice Will Play"]] after a boy mouse rescues a girl mouse from an experimental lab, the two mice get married to a swing rendition of "Lohengrin".
143	* Being an episode about a royal wedding, "Lohengrin" appears all over the place in the season 2 finale of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''.
144	* The wedding in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' episode "Let Them Eat Cake" uses Lohengrin for [[RunawayBride what should have been]] the bride's walk down the aisle.
145	* Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' episode "Car Alarm". As Kim and Ron pursue the stolen Kepler rocket (converted to a road dragster by Motor Ed), Wade remotely opens a panel containing a couple of gold rings. Ron becomes flustered and Rufus starts humming "Lohengrin". Wade then explains that the rings are "magno-rings" to help Kim [[WallCrawl hang on]] after jumping onto the Kepler.
146	* In the Disney ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresInMusicDuology'' short ''Melody'', during the "Steps of Life Sequence", when it gets to marriage, the students sing "Here comes the bride...", to which Bertie Birdbrain replies "...and there goes the groom."
147	[[/folder]]

Context Main / LohengrinAndMendelssohn