ELSA'S PROCESSION TO THE CATHEDRAL
'ELSA'S PROCESSION TO THE CATHEDRAL' IS THE OPENING TO SCENE 4, ACT II, OF RICHARD WAGNER'S OPERA 'LOHENGRIN' (1850), AS ELSA PREFACES HER BETROTHAL TO LOHENGRIN. THIS IS THE BEAUTIFUL BAND ARRANGEMENT, FILLED WITH MEDIEVAL COLOR AND PAGEANTRY.
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Story behind the song
Elsaas Procession to the Cathedral is written to exploit every possible emotion related to love and passion in the band and the listener. The piece's tempo is completely up to the director, however, the arranger, Lucien Cailliet, notes that the tempo should never exceed 80 quarter note beats per minute. Tempo is specifically allowed to flux ever so slightly in order to add to the expressive feel, as long as it does not change too much too fast. The other key area to keep in mind is the fact that this is a processional, so the intensity will be slowly building until the end, when Elsa reaches the cathedral for her wedding.
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself inspired by the epic of Garin le Loherain. It is part of the Knight of the Swan tradition.
The opera has proved inspirational towards other works of art. Among those deeply moved by the fairy-tale opera was the young King Ludwig II of Bavaria. 'Der Marchenkonig' ('The Fairy-tale King') as he was dubbed later built his ideal fairy-tale castle and dubbed it "New Swan Stone," or "Neuschwanstein," after the Swan Knight. It was King Ludwig's patronage that later gave Wagner the means and opportunity to build a theatre for, compose and stage his epic cycle, the Ring of the Nibelung.