June Music Blogathon - Day 20

A song that I want played at my wedding.

Well, having had a wedding, we wanted Stay with Me Baby by Lorraine Ellison for our first dance. It's a great soul song and we both loved it although the content is about a couple splitting up. Maybe we should have considered that at the time as we did split up about 3 years later.

The incredibly camp musical performer in me is desperate to have the wedding procession from Sound of Music. Preferably including nuns.

In the end I have still gone for a piece for in the service, and I think perhaps during the signing of the register. It is from Gounod's opera, Romeo & Juliet. The Epithalamium is sung as Juliet comes down the aisle to be married to Paris. When we performed this opera we never cast for Paris and all his lines were split amongst other soloists. This went well until the Director suddenly realised Juliet was going to walk down the aisle with no intended groom at the altar. They asked me to stand in as Paris and the tenor who was playing Romeo and not on set at that point would sing the part. To cut a long story short, by way of some colluding with said tenor and using him to get permission, I was allowed also to sing the role of Paris in that one section. This is the nearest I have ever got to performing an opera solo as one of the eight soloists who sing outside of the chorus.

This isn't a great recording and I think the soprano is a bit off key at times and the balance isn't right, but this would be something special for the big day although you probably wouldn't know it from this recording.

I should mention at this point Juliet thinks Romeo is dead and comes down the aisle having taken poison and is dead within minutes. On the basis of my previous wedding song choice and outcome, maybe I should choose again!

The Epithalamium from Romeo & Juliet from 2:14:19 to 2:17:58. (See how kind I am to you, not making you listen to the whole opera just to hear that one bit!)