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Piano sheet music for kids · Classical · Level 6: Moving on
Wedding March (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 4/4, 8 bars. Press Play to hear it on a real piano, slow it down, or hear one hand at a time; click any note to start from there; print it for the music stand.
About this arrangement
Mendelssohn’s march from his music for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1842), played at weddings ever since. After the famous trumpet call, left out here, the tune bursts in on C in Mendelssohn’s key, C major. The right hand starts with the little finger on the C above middle C, falls to B, drops to F sharp, the black key, and walks down the scale; in bar 3 it reaches down to the G below middle C and in bar 4 it climbs C, E, G back up. Bars 5 to 8 begin the same way and end on middle C. The left hand plays chords in minims (half notes) and crotchets, with a few sharps of its own.
Practice tip: Practise the drop from B to F sharp in bar 1 slowly, keeping the hand open so the thumb lands on the F sharp. Play it boldly and steadily, at a walking pace, like a procession.
A short history
Felix Mendelssohn was seventeen when he wrote an overture to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1826. In 1842 King Frederick William IV of Prussia asked him for music for a production of the whole play, and Mendelssohn wrote a set of pieces for the stage, among them this march, which accompanies the weddings at the end of the play. The production opened at Potsdam in October 1843.
The march became wedding music in Britain after Victoria, the Princess Royal, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, chose it for her marriage to Prince Frederick William of Prussia on 25 January 1858. Queen Victoria loved Mendelssohn’s music, and he had often played for her on his visits to Britain.
It is still usually played on a church organ, as the couple walk out together at the end of the ceremony.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Felix Mendelssohn, 1842
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Length
- 8 bars
- Tempo
- Allegro vivace, crotchet = 96
- Difficulty
- Level 6: Moving on (piece 189 of 201)
- Type
- Classical
- Hands
- Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left
- Copyright
- Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use
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