Tag: Carl Czerny

This week on “Sweetness and Light,” hie thee to the church on time. it’s an hour of June weddings!

We’ll have a comedy overture, “The Tinker’s Wedding,” by English composer Havergal Brian. Brian attained notoriety for his “Gothic Symphony,” a work so grand it entered the Guinness Book, when it was acknowledged as the world’s largest symphony. He composed 32 symphonies in all, 20 of them after the age of 80!

We’ll also hear a wedding march by Alexander Glazunov, composed to mark his parents’ silver anniversary and a processional by Philadelphia composer Robert Moran, written as a wedding gift for his friend, organist Robert Ridgell (then of Trinity Wall Street).

Camille Saint-Saëns wrote his confectionery, the “Wedding Cake,” a work for piano and orchestra, as a matrimonial offering to former Liszt pupil Caroline de Serres Wieczffinski (née Montigny-Rémaury). Imagine trying to fit that name on an invitation.

Speaking of the piano, anyone who took lessons surely bears the scars of Carl Czerny. But Czerny composed more than just exercises and etudes. We’ll hear his “Fantaisie brillante” on themes from Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.”

We’ll also hear a work by Wolfie’s father, Leopold Mozart, a raucous, descriptive symphony called “The Peasant Wedding.” And a rowdy wedding it is!

Once experienced, there’s no turning back, so we’ll wrap things up with violinist Lara St. John’s polka band, Polkastra, and the “Shotgun Wedding March,” from their album, “I Do.” And I think you’ll agree, Spike Jones would be proud.

Look for me in my squirting boutonniere. Say “I do” to “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX Classical Oregon!

Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/