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Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) · sheet music

  • Key C major
  • Time 4/4
  • Levels 8–10
  • Passages 5

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Felix Mendelssohn, German romantic (1809–1847). The reading release has 5 passages from this piece at levels 8–10; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 101–104 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 81–88 at level 10.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream).

  1. Hands together · bars 101–104 level 8
  2. The hardest bars · bars 81–88 level 10

How to play Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

  1. Tempo:Choose a strong, steady march pace that you can maintain through the chords; the music should sound confident rather than hurried.
  2. Right hand:The right hand carries the tune on top of chords, so voice the top note slightly louder than the others and let the inner notes sound softer.
  3. Left hand:The left hand plays bass notes and wide leaps, so look ahead to the target note and move your arm rather than stretching your fingers.
  4. Hands together:At the chord changes, practice landing both hands together without any gap, first at a slow tempo, then at march pace.
  5. Rhythm:Keep the dotted figures sharp and the pulse steady; a metronome helps you hold the march feeling through the whole passage.
  6. Dynamics:Start the fanfare strongly, shape the main tune a little softer, and plan a crescendo into the final chords.
  7. Pedal:Use the pedal sparingly and change it on each chord so the march stays clear and rhythmic.
  8. Practice:Practice the chord shapes silently by placing your hands on them, then play them in rhythm, and add the leaps one at a time.

Common mistakes

  • Playing the march too fast and losing the ceremonial feel. Fix: Set a metronome to a pace you could walk down an aisle at and keep it steady.
  • Playing every note of the chord at the same volume. Fix: Lean slightly on the top note of the right-hand chord so the tune is heard.
  • Missing the bass leaps in the left hand. Fix: Practice the leaps without looking, keeping your eyes on the music, and slow down until they are accurate.
  • Over-pedaling so the chords blur together. Fix: Lift and re-press the pedal on every chord change.

Structure: rondo with two episodes

The Wedding March is a festive rondo in C major that opens with a trumpet fanfare, then alternates its famous march tune with two contrasting episodes before a brilliant coda. At weddings the episodes are usually cut so only the main march is heard.

Intro · Fanfare (C major)
Bold opening calls first heard in the trumpets. Crisp rhythm and strong repeated notes are the reading focus.
A · Main march (C major)
The famous marching tune over a steady chordal accompaniment. Keep an even tempo and shape the melody.
B · First episode (G major)
A livelier section driven by a dotted rhythm. Keep the dotted figures sharp without rushing.
C · Second episode (F major)
A lyrical tune over a shimmering, restless accompaniment. Let the melody sing above the busy inner notes.
Coda · Return and coda (C major)
The march tune comes back decorated, and trills and triumphant chords bring the piece to a close.

About Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

Mendelssohn wrote the Wedding March in 1842 as part of his incidental music for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, a commission from King Frederick William IV of Prussia. Sixteen years earlier, at seventeen, he had composed the concert overture that opens the set, and in 1842 he built the rest of the music around it. The play was staged with the full score at Potsdam on 14 October 1843.

The march became a wedding standard after Victoria, Princess Royal, chose it for her marriage to Prince Frederick William of Prussia in 1858. The first known wedding to use it was held in Tiverton, England, in 1847. Today it is commonly used as a recessional, played on a church organ, often paired with Wagner's Bridal Chorus for the bride's entrance.

In the play, the march is the intermezzo between the fourth and fifth acts. Its trumpet fanfare and steady march tune have a ceremonial brightness, which is why they work so well outside the theater too.

  • The first known wedding to use the march was Dorothy Carew and Tom Daniel's in Tiverton, England, on 2 June 1847.
  • Franz Liszt made a piano transcription of the march in 1849 to 1850, and Vladimir Horowitz later arranged it as a virtuoso encore.
  • The march was formerly the regimental march of the Life-Guard Cossack Regiment of the Russian Imperial Guard.
  • Mendelssohn's overture to the same play was written when he was seventeen, sixteen years before the rest of the music.

Why the first passage is level 8

That passage is level 8 rather than 7 because a hand plays several notes at once, a hand plays full chords, it leaps a major third plus an octave, its chords go beyond simple triads.

These passages come from a piano arrangement of the orchestral march and sit at the upper reading levels, with chords in both hands and wide leaps. Expect full textures rather than single lines.

Questions about Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

How hard is Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream) to play?
Its passages grade from level 8 to level 10 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 81–88 at level 10.
Is there an easy part of Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream) for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 8, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 101–104 for both hands together, the level-8 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 8 because a hand plays several notes at once and a hand plays full chords.
What key and time signature is Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream) in?
Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream) is in C major, no sharps or flats. The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
Who composed Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream)?
Felix Mendelssohn, German romantic (1809–1847). Mendelssohn wrote the Wedding March in 1842 as part of his incidental music for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, a commission from King Frederick William IV of Prussia.
Can I practice Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream) online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 5 graded passages from Wedding March (A Midsummer Night's Dream) in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Is this the same as Here Comes the Bride?
No. Here Comes the Bride is the Bridal Chorus from Wagner's Lohengrin, often played for the bride's entrance. Mendelssohn's Wedding March is commonly played as the recessional, when the couple leaves.
Why is the Wedding March played at weddings?
It became popular after Victoria, Princess Royal, chose it for her wedding in 1858, and many couples have followed that example since.
What play is the Wedding March from?
It comes from Mendelssohn's incidental music for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, written in 1842.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 5 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 8
bars 101–104 both hands
Level 9
bars 81–84 both hands
Level 10
bars 81–88 both hands · bars 85–88 both hands · bars 105–108 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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