German wedding music

Hey,

I'm getting married in Ireland next year. Himself's parents sing in a choir here in Germany so I'd like to include at least one "German" piece in the church music. We're having a string quartet and a singer, and are going for mostly classical stuff, as opposed to hymns (Pachabel's Canon, Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, Cavatina from The Deerhunter, Ag Criost an Siol, amongst others). A traditional Kirchenlied wouldn't really fit in. I've been trying to find a piece with German lyrics but a well-known melody so that the musicians dont have to learn something new, but am stumped Another possibility would be an instrumental piece that's associated particularly with Germany (maybe Grieg's Ich Liebe Dich, or Bach's Bist Du bei Mir) but they're not all that well-known in Ireland...well, I didnt recognise them anyway!

Any suggestions?

Well, I'll just assume you'll be having Richard Wagner's Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin at least...I know normally it's done as an instrumental in the English-speaking world...but...well...add the German lyrics and suddenly it seems a lot more German, which it is. Here's a sample of the song in case you're having a brain fart. (wikipedia's sample doesn't have the singing...but that does)

Actually, I'm not using that - cant stand it to be honest. Whenever I hear it all I can think is "Here comes the bride, 40 metres wide" or whatever it was we used to sing as kids...

But thanks for the suggestion

well, are you 40 meters wide? LOL jk ...in that case, I'll have to think about it...keeping the thread at the top might help others to notice this thread at least.

Maybe your inlaws can suggest something they like??

I am not !

well, let's say I and my in-laws have different tastes in music - they're more familiar with traditional, choral Kirchenlieder...which I'm trying to avoid

We went with a couple of tunes that had both English and German lyrics. Slightly confusing hearing two languages being sung, but what the hell, at least people sang a bit.

Praise to the Lord (Lobe den Herren)
Holy God, we praise thy name (Großer Gott wir loben dich)

We also had a singer to do the majority of songs as solos:

“Laudate Dominum� by Mozart
“Die Himmel rühmen� by Beethoven
“Er weidet seine Herde“ from Messias by Händel
Ave Maria

At the end of the day, you probably will hardly notice what goes on, so my main advice is don't get too stressed about it (we did).

Thanks Guy

Good advice, but hard to follow! I'll check those out at home later.

Bach's Brandenburg concertos, top stuff for a skip up the aisle.

What about the European anthem: "Freude, schöner Götterfunken" , Beethoven again.

Congratulations btw.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy - Hochzeitsmarsch aus Ein Sommernachtstraum

I don't think the Grieg piece is associated with Germany at all. It's just sung in German often because nobody is familiar with Norwegian (Grieg was from Norway.) I sing it in Norwegian (Jeg elsker dig.)

Who's the singer? If you've got a really good soprano, the "Hallelujah" from Mozart's Exsultate, Jubilate will knock their socks off. (This is a lively number, probably best suited for the recessional or just after the recessional.) You can purchase the score for download for soprano and string quartet here.

Bist du bei mir is very well-known, but a bit somber for a wedding, I think, though lots of people use it here in the US.

Maybe you can fit in a Kirchenlied somewhere else in the proceedings to please the in-laws, like at the reception or rehearsal dinner? Or find a 4-part one that you can stand the tune for and have it played by the string quartet, instead of sung, just one verse instead of many. Maybe as the parents of the groom are being seated?

...ein Prosit, ein Prosit... gets coat and leaves sharpish.