Sunday, May 11, 2008

"Goin' to the chapel and I'm gonna get maaaarried*..."

Yes, I AM a BIG sucker for weddings. Please, God, let them live happily ever after...and follow in your steps.... Congratulations, Bush and Hager families.
*Dixie Cups, 1964

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

For Jenna Bush on her wedding day:

I'm wife––I ’ve finished that––
That other state––
I’m Czar, I ’m woman now––
It ’s safer so.

How odd the girl’s life looks
Behind this soft eclipse!
I think that earth seems so
To those in heaven now.

This being comfort, then
That other kind was pain––
But why compare?
I’m wife! stop there!


~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Submitted by FreeThinke

Papa Frank said...

Congrats to the families on keeping the media from making a circus of the event. Hopefully these two young people will have a prosperous and good marriage.

WomanHonorThyself said...

aw what a sweet post girl!

Z said...

FT: I wish every wife would feel "I'm wife! stop there!" It SO doesn't mean her life's over, it means how joyous she is in being a wife, a lifemate, cherished. She never married, did she?

Frank Family....they really pulled it off, but considering there were only 200 people there and 30 alone were wedding party, and thinking about how many relatives Jenna alone has, I'm thinking 70% was relatives, so maybe it was easier to pull the privacy thing off that way. I think the media FOR A CHANGE seemed to respect them, too. Of course, with the kind of security they must have to have any time the pres is in Crawford, I don't suppose helicopters could have flown over like they do on celeb weddings in Malibu, etc!!

Angel...how could I resist?!!

Anonymous said...

A RARE TREAT

Frauenliebe und Leben (A Woman's Love and Life), a cycle of poems by Adelbert von Chamisso, was written in 1830. They describe the course of a woman's love for her man, from her point of view, from first meeting through marriage to his death, and after.

Schumann wrote his setting of Chamisso's poetry) in 1840. . .

There are eight poems in his cycle, that tell a story from the first meeting of her love, through their marriage, to his death and beyond.

The songs are titled:

1. "Seit ich ihn gesehen" ("Since I Saw Him")

2. "Er, der Herrlichste von allen" ("He, the Noblest of All")

3. "Ich kann's nicht fassen, nicht glauben" ("I Cannot Grasp or Believe It")

4. "Du Ring an meinem Finger" ("Thou Ring Upon My Finger")

5. "Helft mir, ihr Schwestern" ("Help Me, Sisters")

6. "Süsser Freund, du blickest mich verwundert an" ("Sweet Friend, You Gaze")

7. "An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust" ("At My Heart, At My Breast")

8. "Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan" ("Now You Have Caused Me Pain for the First Time")


Schumann's choice of text was probably inspired in part by events in his personal life. He had persistently courted Clara Wieck, but had failed to get her father's permission to marry her. In 1840, after a legal battle to make such permission unnecessary, the wedding finally took place.

The songs in this cycle are notable in tthat the piano has a remarkable independence from the voice. Schumann has the piano contain the mood of the song in its enyirety.

Notable also is the cyclical structure of the work, in which the last movement repeats the theme of the first.

[Edited by FT from Wikipedia]

In today's more cynical, hard-edged, overly-sophisticated, free and easy climate it is easy to poke fun at the tender, heartfelt sentiments in Chamisso's text.

The words alone tend to sound mawkish to modern ears, but Schumann's music transcends any saccharine quality in the poetry and brings it to a depth of beauty and poignant expressive quality that makes Frauenliebe und Leben rank among the finest works in all German Lieder.

By all means make the effort to get acquainted with this work. It is a glowing, very touching tribute to sweet devotion and constancy in married love and family life.

~ FreeThinke

elmers brother said...

I love weddings...I almost always cry...and I'm reminded of the picture that it is of our relationship with Christ.

Anonymous said...

LOVE and MARRIAGE as sung by Frank Sinatra in a televised musical version of Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN back in the fifties.

It was a cute production, but the bouncy, rather corny music got in the way of Wilder's exquisitely wrought tale of life in a rural New England town and what it signifies.

LOVE and MARRIAGE
Written by Cahn and Van Heusen


Love and marriage,
lLove and marriage
Go together like
A horse and carriage
This I tell you brother
You can't have one
Without the other

Love and marriage,
Love and marriage
It's an institute
You can't disparage
Ask the local gentry
They will say it's element'ry

Try, try, try
To separate them
It's an illusion
Try, try, try,
And you will only come
To this conclusion

Love and marriage,
Love and marriage
Go together like
A horse and carriage
Dad was told by mother
You can't have one,
You can't have none,
You can't have one
Without the other!
No Sir!

Courtesy of FreeThinke

Anonymous said...

I love that the Bushes did what Jenna and they wanted, and to hell with the media and socialite crowd.

The bride and groom would have been lost in the hoop-la, but I think this epitomizes the Bush family, and is a big reason why they're demonized.

They don't play the Washington game. In a way, if you don't play, you pay. I do like that they thumbed their noses at the whole crowd, and did it their way.

Their daughter and her new husband had a wedding about them as it should be.

Pris

elmers brother said...

amen Pris

Karen Townsend said...

I'm so happy about Jenna's wedding and how it was all done. She and Henry got the privacy they wanted and the families were able to celebrate with friends. Good for them.

It was unbelievably hot and humid this weekend, even for Texas. When they were married, at 7:30PM local time, it was still 90 degrees. Fortunately, the morning rain was long over and they had a sunny day.

The media even honored the request of the band of not publishing the music requests until the ceremony was over. And, the fact that Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell officiated was cool. He's from here and did the inaugural prayer and benediction for Bush's two. Old friend of theirs.

Z said...

Karen.."Old friend of theirs!" ??Odd, isn't it? I'll bet most people thought they used a Black minister to impress America, huh?
Sort of like they built an eco-friendly house to impress America?
OH! I forgot...they never TOLD anybody he'd be Black (and they have known him for years)...AND they forgot to announce to the media how GREEN their ranch is...
..
Must be they have integrity, not just trying to pander to Leftist sensitibilities?

Say it ain't so!! (smile)

Pris, it sure is wonderful that they had such a small, personal wedding.

Z said...

FT, sadly I Googled Adelbert and can't find the poetry. But, I'm sure it's lovely and wholesome and positive; maybe that's why I can't find it! (smile)

I love the Schumann story; that they were so in love and had tons of kids and that Clara went on to perform his works after he died relatively young of mental illness.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful...
ElBro's words are a lovely reminder, as well.

Anonymous said...

Hi Z,

I couldn't find Chamisso's poetry either–––not even in German. I think you must buy the score. Schumann said it was for "high voice" but mezzo-sopranos have been its greatest interpreters. The recording I first knew and still love best is now very old–––Kathleen Ferrier with conductor Bruno Walter at the piano. It was recorded live for the BBC, and still may be the most satisfying recorded performance. I'm sure it's "out of print" now, but copies may show up on Amazon.com.

You would love just playing the accompaniments which are beautiful all by themselves––almost self-contained. I've had the pleasure of performing these songs several times with good singers in the past.

The sentiments in both music and words are the polar opposite of the modern Feminist Agenda. As I said earlier, the MUSIC, itself, lends the words greater depth and beauty. That's often the case with so-called classical music, where in the best instances not a note or a syllable is ever wasted or without specific meaning.

The poetry doesn't stand up too well by itself, frankly. This is true of MUCH of the greatest German Lieder. Ask Mr. Z what he thinks, please. I wonder if he'd agree?

There's a more recent recording out by Brigittte Fassbender (1981). I haven't heard it, but I'm sure it's good.

I heard Maureen Forrester perform this cycle in Carnegie Hall with pianist John Newmark more years ago than I can accurately remember, but the evening was unforgettable.

I hope you get to know these songs someday soon. I know you'd love theem.

~ FreeThinke

Z said...

FT..thanks.
It's sad how women have been told they're 'less than' if they devote themselves to a husband and children. If it's based on love, this marriage and the children, then how can they have bought into this lib attitude? If the husband is a good man who cherishes the family like he ought to, then wouldn't it just be the most rewarding thing possible for a woman to fulfill all the things she can fulfill for him and the kids? I'd have thought so.
But, our girls have bought into the DREAM of having it all. Today, many women are returning to being at-home moms and loving it. Let's hope it's a trend.
Just seems like a terrible trade off to smack your kids in daycare to feel like you're a valid member of society! As if raising children isn't valid.
I'm generalizing here, again, because I know some families have to have working moms and that a lot of those families work out pretty well...but...

As for the music, neither of us is huge on German lieder, but some of the lyrics and melodies are wonderful, I'm sure. I just can't listen to concerts full of it..neither can Mr. Z.

I guess I'd give Fassbinder a try, but it won't be any time soon. thanks for the information.....

EDGE said...

Is that Obama leading the ceremony?!!?!

Just pickin'!

Z said...

NO, edge! That's a Black pastor the Bushes got just to LOOK open minded!! (yes, a little sarcasm here!)

Anonymous said...

Hate to say it, but but what you said in your last post is probably at least partially true, Z.

Such gestures are definitely "politic"–––especially for politicians and their families.

FT

Anonymous said...

Oh what a wonderful wedding!
Oh what a beautiful bride!
Everybody was so happy
The cried and cried and cried ...


Also from the musical version of Our Town c. 1963.

Anonymous said...

So much furor about the possibility of GAY weddings. So little rejoicing over Jenna Bush Hagee's traditional family-style, non-political wedding.

What does that say about us that we spend more energy on hatred, tongue-clucking, fear-mongering and dismay than on gratitude, goodwill and rejoicing?

Z said...

Just how much rejoicing did you hope we could do here at geeeeZ?

The marriage is a splendid happening........gay marriage is something many don't want. Sadly, the negative usually gets the attention.

Anonymous said...

"Sadly, the negative usually gets the attention."

YUP! That was my point exactly.

FT

PS: There are millions of de facto gay marriages extant, but they remain largely unacknowledged. I think most sensible people prefer it that way. REAL trouble would start, however, if any authoritarian personality, who managed to jockey himself into into power, tried to rule that people of the same sex could not form a household, share expenses and be responsible to and for one another through thick and thin. FT