This collection of intermediate piano solos includes 20 arrangements of favorite classical pieces frequently used for weddings. All the songs in this collection are well-suited for processionals and recessionals of the ceremony participants (bride, groom, bridesmaids, groomsmen, parents/family, flower girl, Bible boy, ring bearer, etc.). Several of these songs can also be used as part of the prelude, as interludes during candle-lighting, or as background music for a reception.

These arrangements were created to make challenging classical music more accessible for the intermediate player or easier to sight-read by more advanced players (comes in handy when asked to perform on short notice). Another feature of these arrangements is they are consistent at the intermediate to advanced-intermediate skill level throughout each piece. Many have been simplified and only include excerpts from the longer original movements. Other simplified characteristics include easier key signatures, timings, and fingerings and some melodies were modified to create a more contemporary sound.

Each of the 20 arrangements is also available separately with accompanying preview pages and audio samples.

Titles in this collection include:
Air from ?The Water Music? (George Frideric Handel)
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from ?Solomon? (George Frideric Handel)
Bridal Chorus from ?Lohengrin? (Richard Wagner)
Clair de Lune from ?Suite Bergamasque? (Claude Debussy)
Fanfare (Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens)
Für Elise (Ludwig van Beethoven)
Grand Processional from ?Symphony No. 1? (Johannes Brahms)
Hornpipe with Bourrée from ?The Water Music? (George Frideric Handel)
Jesu, Joy of Man?s Desiring (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Largo from ?Xerxes? (George Frideric Handel)
Lascia Ch?io Pianga from ?Rinaldo? (George Frideric Handel)
Prelude No. 1 in C Major (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Rondeau from ?Theme from Masterpiece Theater? (Jean Joseph Mouret)
Serenade from ?Swan Song? (Franz Schubert)
Sleepers, Awake from ?Cantata No. 140? (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Spring from ?The Four Seasons? (Antonio Vivaldi)
St. Anthony Chorale from ?Variations on a Theme of Haydn? (Johannes Brahms)
Trumpet Tune (Jeremiah Clarke)
Trumpet Voluntary (Jeremiah Clarke)
Wedding March from ?A Midsummer Night?s Dream? (Felix Mendelssohn)

And what would a ?generic? Shakespeare comedy include? Certainly it would center around a pair of young lovers, probably kept apart either by social circumstances or obstructionist parents. There would probably be an important situation involving mistaken identity or some other intrigue, moments of both decorum and revelry, plus some comic relief along the way, something like Peter Quince and the ?rude mechanicals? in Midsummer Night?s Dream, or Dogberry and his bumbling constables in Much Ado About Nothing.) And the whole thing would likely be capped off by a wedding.

So here is a little suite which looks back beyond the great examples of incidental music by Grieg (Peer Gynt), Mendelssohn (Midsummer Night?s Dream) or Bizet (L?Arlésienne), all the way back to Henry Purcell?s Ayres for the Theatre, published in 1697. It features a blend of 17th century forms and contrapuntal textures with 21st century ?wrong note? harmonies and changing meters in a diverting and accessible audience pleaser. Performance time is about 14 minutes.

The accompanying audio file gives you the first halves (roughly) of the first (Sinfonye) and last (Wedding March) movements. Yes, I know the Wedding March is in 3/4 time. Please don?t write to complain.