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Description
The swan Knight Lohengrin (Orlando Bloom) is sailing down the river in a boat pulled by a swan while Elsa (Idina Menzel) watches him on the riverbank

Composition and Performance History:

The story of Lohengrin was biased on an old medieval German fairytale Parsifal by Wolfram von Eschenbachn who was a German knight and poet from the middle ages best known for his greatest epic poets of medieval German literature. Wagner later wrote an opera about Parsifal and he even featured Wolfram as a character in his previous opera Tannhauser. While composing Lohengrin, Wagner created a new form of operatic music called the through composed music drama in which the music is not divided individually but is played from scene to scene without stopping unlike previous operas which are divided into arias, recitatives and choral sections both the singers and musicians sing and play throughout the opera without stopping.

Lohengrin was first performed at the Staatskapelle Weimar in Weimar, Germany on August 28th, 1850 and it was an instant success. The first performance was conducted by Wagner’s friend and fellow composer Franz Liszt who chose the premiere date to honor the birthday of Weimar’s most famous citizen Johnann Wolfgang von Gothe who was a German writer and statesman and he wrote The Sorrows of Young Werther, Elective Affinities, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and Faust. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was made famous by the French composer Paul Dukes who wrote it into a symphony and that later inspired Walt Disney who used his character Mickey Mouse as the protagonist in the 1940 animated movie Fantasia. Franz List was inspired by Gothe’s famous story Faust and he wrote a symphony based on it called The Faust Symphony in 1857.

Unfortunately, Wagner didn’t attend the premiere of Lohengrin because he was exiled after he played his part in the Uprising in Dresden. Queen Victoria loved Wagner’s music, she attended one of his concerts when he was visiting England, afterwards she met him backstage. The queen noted the meeting in her diary describing Wagner as a "short, very quiet, wears spectacles and has a very finely-developed forehead, a hooked nose & projecting chin." Wagner was flattered when he met the queen. "You have probably heard how charmingly Queen Victoria behaved to me," he wrote to Franz Liszt. "She attended the seventh concert with Prince Albert ... I really seemed to have pleased the Queen. In a conversation I had with her after the first part of the concert, she was so kind that I was really quite touched. These two were the first people in England who dared to speak in my favor openly and undisguisedly, and if you consider that they had to deal with a political outlaw, charged with high treason and wanted by the police, you will think it natural that I am sincerely grateful to both." For a long time, Queen Victoria wanted to see Lohengrin, but it wasn’t until 1899 that she finally saw a performance of it that was done privately for only her and the entire royal family at Winsor Castle, the Queen loved it. Another monarch loved Lohengrin and it was King Ludwig II of Bavaria, he first saw the opera when he was 14 years old and that started his obsession with fairy tales and this obsession led him to build his fairytale castle Neuschwanstein. He even had a boat made to look like the boat that Lohengrin rode in at the Venus Grotto at Linderhof Castle. Ludwig II would escape to this incredible hideaway to be rowed around in his golden boat. Not a bad way to relax and daydream!

Bridal Chorus:

The most popular and recognizable aria in Lohengrin is the Bridal Chorus aka Here comes the Bride. Its commonly performed at weddings all over the world by either a pipe organ, band or string quartet as the bride walks down the aisle of the church towards the altar to meet with the groom and the marriage officiant would perform the wedding ceremony after the music is played. In the opera the chorus start singing it while as the hero, Lohengrin, accompanied by his new wife, Elsa, enters the bridal chamber, which is dominated by a very large bed. Their attendants then help them disrobe for their wedding night. The first wedding to use the Bridal Chorus was the wedding of Queen Victoria’s daughter who was also named Victoria to Prince Frederick William of Prussia in 1858 and it had been a wedding tradition ever since.

Plot:
In the 10th century, King Henry the Fowler arrived in Brabant, Belgium where he has assembled the German tribes in order to expel the marauding Hungarians from his dominions, He also needs to figure out what happened to Duke Gottfried of Brabant who had been missing for a long time. Count Fredrick von Telramund has accused Gottfried’s older sister Elsa of murdering her brother in order to become the Dutchass of Brabant. Count Fredrick calls upon Henry to punish Elsa and make him the new Duke of Brabant. King Henry calls for Elsa to answer Count Fredrick’s accusation against her, but Elsa didn’t answer, she lamented over Gottfried’s fate, so King Henry declares that he cannot resolve the matter and will leave it to God’s judgement through trial by combat which is a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the fight was proclaimed to be right. In essence, it was a judicially sanctioned duel.
Count Fredrick agrees enthusiastically, however when King Henry asks Elsa who would be her champion, she described a knight in brilliant gleaming armor and that this knight approached her from out of nowhere and that he felt sorry for her. The herald calls for a champion to step forward, but no one came. Elsa kneels and prays to god to send her a champion to her. Suddenly the crowd looks at the river and there on the river was a seashell shaped boat that was pulled by a swan and in the boat stood a knight with shining armor named Lohengrin. The swan pulls the boat towards the shoreline and Lohengrin disembarks, dismisses the swan who pulls the boat away and bows to King Henry. He then asks Elsa if she will have him as her champion and if he would win her hand in marriage. Elsa kneels in front of Lohengrin and places her honor in his keeping. He asks only one thing in return for his service: Elsa must never ask him his name or where he came from, Elsa agrees to this. Count Fredrick’s supporters advise him to forfeit the dual because he cannot prevail against the knight’s powers, but he refuses, and the duel began. Lohengrin defeats Count Fredrick but he spares his life. Taking Elsa by the Hand he declares that she is innocent. The crowd was relieved, and they began to rejoice. As for Count Fredrick he was banished from the court along with his wife Ortrud who was a witch. She tries to revive Count Fredrick’s courage and assured him that they are destined to rule the kingdom again. She plans to persuade Elsa to violate Lohengrin’s Only condition. When Elsa appears on the balcony before dawn, she hears Ortrund lamenting and takes pity on her. As Elsa descends to open the doors to the castle, Ortrund prays to the gods Wodan and Freia for malice, guile and cunning in order to deceive Elsa and restore pagan rule to the region, Ortrund warns Elsa that since she doesn’t know anything about Lohengrin and that he can leave at anytime as suddenly as he came, but Elsa is sure of his virtues. The two women go into the castle, left alone outside Count Fredrick vows to bring about Lohengrin’s downfall.
The next morning, a herald announced that Count Fredrick is now banished and that anyone who follows him or helps him shall be considered a traitor and be arrested for treason. He also announces that King Henry has offered to make Lohengrin the Duke of Barbant; However Lohengrin declined the title and he preferred to be known only as “Protector of Barabant” The Herald further announces that Lohengrin will lead the people to glorious new conquests and will celebrate the marriage of himself and Elsa, while the crowd cheers four noblemen express misgivings to each other because Lohengrin has rescinded their privileges and is calling them to arms. Count Fredrick secretly draws the four noblemen aside and assures them that he will regain his position and stop Lohengrin by accusing him of sorcery.
As Elsa and her servants are about to enter the church, Ortrud rushes to the front of the procession and challenges Elsa to explain who Lohengrin is and why anyone should follow him. Their conversation is interrupted by the entrance of King Henry with Lohengrin and as they approach, Elsa tells both of them that Ortrud was interrupting the ceremony. King Henry tells Ortrud to step aside, then leads Elsa and Lohengrin toward the church. Just as they are about to enter the church, Count Fredrick enters and He claims that his defeat in combat was invalid because Lohengrin did not give his name (trial by combat traditionally being open only to established citizens), then accuses Lohengrin of sorcery. He demands that Lohengrin must reveal his name; otherwise King Henry should rule the trial by combat invalid. Lohengrin angrily refuses to reveal his identity and claims that only one person in the world has the right to make him do so: his beloved Elsa, and she has pledged not to exercise that right. Elsa, though visibly shaken and uncertain, assures him of her confidence. King Henry refuses Count Fredrick questions, and the nobles of Brabant and Saxony praise and honor Lohengrin. Elsa falls back into the crowd where Ortrud and Count Fredrick try to intimidate her, but Lohengrin forces them both to leave the ceremony, and consoles Elsa. Elsa takes one last look at the two villains, then enters the church. As Elsa and Lohengrin were getting married they express their love for each other. Ortrud's words, however, have made an impression on Elsa; she laments that her name sounds so sweet on her husband's lips, but she cannot utter his name. She asks Lohengrin to tell her his name when no one else is around, but at all instances he refuses. Finally, despite his warnings, she asks Lohengrin the fatal questions but before he can answer, Count Fredrick and his four recruits rush into the room in order to attack him and they tried to kill him. Lohengrin fights with Count Fredrick and then he defeats him and kills him. Then, he sorrowfully turns to Elsa and asks her to follow him to King Henry, to whom he will now reveal his secrets.
Later that day on the riverbank the soldiers are equipped for war. Count Fredrick’s corpse is brought in, Elsa comes forward followed by Lohengrin who then tells King Henry that Elsa has broken her promise and then he explains everything by recounting the story of the Holy Grail and of Monsalvant, he reveals that he is Lohengrin, knight of the Grail and the son of King Parsifal and that he was sent to protect a unjustly accused woman. The laws of the Holy Grail say that Knights of the Grail must remain anonymous and if their identity is revealed, they must return home from whence they came. As Lohengrin sadly says goodbye to Elsa, the Swan boat arrives. Lohengrin tells Elsa that if she had kept her promise she could have found her lost brother. He gives her his sword, horn and ring, for he is to become the future leader of Brabant. As Lohengrin tries to get into the boat, Ortrund arrives. She tells Elsa that the swan is actually Elsa’s long-lost brother Gottfried and that she had cast a spell on him and turned him into a swan. This made the people so angry that they considered Ortrund guilty of witchcraft. Lohengrin prays and Gottfried the swan transforms back into a human and was reunited with Elsa at last. Lohengrin declares him the Duke of Brabant. Ortrund commits suicide by drowning herself in the river as her evil plans have been thwarted. A dove descends from heaven and takes its place of the swan at the head of the boat. Then the boat casts off and transports Lohengrin to the castle of the Holy Grail. Elsa was so sad that she falls to the ground and died of a broken heart.
Lohengrin In Popular culture:
Lohengrin has appeared lots of times in popular culture, in addition to the Bridal Chorus, the operas overture is very beautiful and heavenly. This music inspired Benny King’s song “Stand by Me” he even used the same notes in the famous violin solo. The overture was also used in Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 movie The Great Dictator in which the villain Adenoid Hynkel (who is a parody of Adolf Hitler) is playing and dancing with a large ball that is shaped like the globe. This playful scene represents Hynkel’s obsession with world domination. Charlie Chaplin loved Wagner’s music, he felt that Lohengrin’s overture was perfect for the globe scene because he felt moved by the music and that it was beautiful and playful.

Lohengrin’s prelude to Act 3 can be heard in lots of cartoons. In the Bugs Bunny cartoon Long-Hared Hare the orchestra plays it while the opera singer Giovanni Jones prepares to go on stage, then Bugs Bunny approaches him disguised as a teenaged girl. He says “Frankie and Perry just aren't in it you’re my swooner dream boat lover boy” this made Giovanni Jones feel proud, Bugs Bunny then asks him for his autograph, and he hands him a notebook and a pen which is really a stick of dynamite. After the off-screen explosion, Giovanni steps out to the stage with a singed face and evening wear torn to shreds. He takes a couple of bows and then collapses. Frankie is referring to Frank Sinatra who was a singer and actor. Perry is referring to Perry Como who was a singer, actor and television personality.

Description
The swan Knight Lohengrin (Orlando Bloom) is sailing down the river in a boat pulled by a swan while Elsa (Idina Menzel) watches him on the riverbank

Composition and Performance History:

The story of Lohengrin was biased on an old medieval German fairytale Parsifal by Wolfram von Eschenbachn who was a German knight and poet from the middle ages best known for his greatest epic poets of medieval German literature. Wagner later wrote an opera about Parsifal and he even featured Wolfram as a character in his previous opera Tannhauser. While composing Lohengrin, Wagner created a new form of operatic music called the through composed music drama in which the music is not divided individually but is played from scene to scene without stopping unlike previous operas which are divided into arias, recitatives and choral sections both the singers and musicians sing and play throughout the opera without stopping.

Lohengrin was first performed at the Staatskapelle Weimar in Weimar, Germany on August 28th, 1850 and it was an instant success. The first performance was conducted by Wagner’s friend and fellow composer Franz Liszt who chose the premiere date to honor the birthday of Weimar’s most famous citizen Johnann Wolfgang von Gothe who was a German writer and statesman and he wrote The Sorrows of Young Werther, Elective Affinities, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and Faust. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was made famous by the French composer Paul Dukes who wrote it into a symphony and that later inspired Walt Disney who used his character Mickey Mouse as the protagonist in the 1940 animated movie Fantasia. Franz List was inspired by Gothe’s famous story Faust and he wrote a symphony based on it called The Faust Symphony in 1857.

Unfortunately, Wagner didn’t attend the premiere of Lohengrin because he was exiled after he played his part in the Uprising in Dresden. Queen Victoria loved Wagner’s music, she attended one of his concerts when he was visiting England, afterwards she met him backstage. The queen noted the meeting in her diary describing Wagner as a "short, very quiet, wears spectacles and has a very finely-developed forehead, a hooked nose & projecting chin." Wagner was flattered when he met the queen. "You have probably heard how charmingly Queen Victoria behaved to me," he wrote to Franz Liszt. "She attended the seventh concert with Prince Albert ... I really seemed to have pleased the Queen. In a conversation I had with her after the first part of the concert, she was so kind that I was really quite touched. These two were the first people in England who dared to speak in my favor openly and undisguisedly, and if you consider that they had to deal with a political outlaw, charged with high treason and wanted by the police, you will think it natural that I am sincerely grateful to both." For a long time, Queen Victoria wanted to see Lohengrin, but it wasn’t until 1899 that she finally saw a performance of it that was done privately for only her and the entire royal family at Winsor Castle, the Queen loved it. Another monarch loved Lohengrin and it was King Ludwig II of Bavaria, he first saw the opera when he was 14 years old and that started his obsession with fairy tales and this obsession led him to build his fairytale castle Neuschwanstein. He even had a boat made to look like the boat that Lohengrin rode in at the Venus Grotto at Linderhof Castle. Ludwig II would escape to this incredible hideaway to be rowed around in his golden boat. Not a bad way to relax and daydream!

Bridal Chorus:

The most popular and recognizable aria in Lohengrin is the Bridal Chorus aka Here comes the Bride. Its commonly performed at weddings all over the world by either a pipe organ, band or string quartet as the bride walks down the aisle of the church towards the altar to meet with the groom and the marriage officiant would perform the wedding ceremony after the music is played. In the opera the chorus start singing it while as the hero, Lohengrin, accompanied by his new wife, Elsa, enters the bridal chamber, which is dominated by a very large bed. Their attendants then help them disrobe for their wedding night. The first wedding to use the Bridal Chorus was the wedding of Queen Victoria’s daughter who was also named Victoria to Prince Frederick William of Prussia in 1858 and it had been a wedding tradition ever since.

Plot:
In the 10th century, King Henry the Fowler arrived in Brabant, Belgium where he has assembled the German tribes in order to expel the marauding Hungarians from his dominions, He also needs to figure out what happened to Duke Gottfried of Brabant who had been missing for a long time. Count Fredrick von Telramund has accused Gottfried’s older sister Elsa of murdering her brother in order to become the Dutchass of Brabant. Count Fredrick calls upon Henry to punish Elsa and make him the new Duke of Brabant. King Henry calls for Elsa to answer Count Fredrick’s accusation against her, but Elsa didn’t answer, she lamented over Gottfried’s fate, so King Henry declares that he cannot resolve the matter and will leave it to God’s judgement through trial by combat which is a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the fight was proclaimed to be right. In essence, it was a judicially sanctioned duel.
Count Fredrick agrees enthusiastically, however when King Henry asks Elsa who would be her champion, she described a knight in brilliant gleaming armor and that this knight approached her from out of nowhere and that he felt sorry for her. The herald calls for a champion to step forward, but no one came. Elsa kneels and prays to god to send her a champion to her. Suddenly the crowd looks at the river and there on the river was a seashell shaped boat that was pulled by a swan and in the boat stood a knight with shining armor named Lohengrin. The swan pulls the boat towards the shoreline and Lohengrin disembarks, dismisses the swan who pulls the boat away and bows to King Henry. He then asks Elsa if she will have him as her champion and if he would win her hand in marriage. Elsa kneels in front of Lohengrin and places her honor in his keeping. He asks only one thing in return for his service: Elsa must never ask him his name or where he came from, Elsa agrees to this. Count Fredrick’s supporters advise him to forfeit the dual because he cannot prevail against the knight’s powers, but he refuses, and the duel began. Lohengrin defeats Count Fredrick but he spares his life. Taking Elsa by the Hand he declares that she is innocent. The crowd was relieved, and they began to rejoice. As for Count Fredrick he was banished from the court along with his wife Ortrud who was a witch. She tries to revive Count Fredrick’s courage and assured him that they are destined to rule the kingdom again. She plans to persuade Elsa to violate Lohengrin’s Only condition. When Elsa appears on the balcony before dawn, she hears Ortrund lamenting and takes pity on her. As Elsa descends to open the doors to the castle, Ortrund prays to the gods Wodan and Freia for malice, guile and cunning in order to deceive Elsa and restore pagan rule to the region, Ortrund warns Elsa that since she doesn’t know anything about Lohengrin and that he can leave at anytime as suddenly as he came, but Elsa is sure of his virtues. The two women go into the castle, left alone outside Count Fredrick vows to bring about Lohengrin’s downfall.
The next morning, a herald announced that Count Fredrick is now banished and that anyone who follows him or helps him shall be considered a traitor and be arrested for treason. He also announces that King Henry has offered to make Lohengrin the Duke of Barbant; However Lohengrin declined the title and he preferred to be known only as “Protector of Barabant” The Herald further announces that Lohengrin will lead the people to glorious new conquests and will celebrate the marriage of himself and Elsa, while the crowd cheers four noblemen express misgivings to each other because Lohengrin has rescinded their privileges and is calling them to arms. Count Fredrick secretly draws the four noblemen aside and assures them that he will regain his position and stop Lohengrin by accusing him of sorcery.
As Elsa and her servants are about to enter the church, Ortrud rushes to the front of the procession and challenges Elsa to explain who Lohengrin is and why anyone should follow him. Their conversation is interrupted by the entrance of King Henry with Lohengrin and as they approach, Elsa tells both of them that Ortrud was interrupting the ceremony. King Henry tells Ortrud to step aside, then leads Elsa and Lohengrin toward the church. Just as they are about to enter the church, Count Fredrick enters and He claims that his defeat in combat was invalid because Lohengrin did not give his name (trial by combat traditionally being open only to established citizens), then accuses Lohengrin of sorcery. He demands that Lohengrin must reveal his name; otherwise King Henry should rule the trial by combat invalid. Lohengrin angrily refuses to reveal his identity and claims that only one person in the world has the right to make him do so: his beloved Elsa, and she has pledged not to exercise that right. Elsa, though visibly shaken and uncertain, assures him of her confidence. King Henry refuses Count Fredrick questions, and the nobles of Brabant and Saxony praise and honor Lohengrin. Elsa falls back into the crowd where Ortrud and Count Fredrick try to intimidate her, but Lohengrin forces them both to leave the ceremony, and consoles Elsa. Elsa takes one last look at the two villains, then enters the church. As Elsa and Lohengrin were getting married they express their love for each other. Ortrud's words, however, have made an impression on Elsa; she laments that her name sounds so sweet on her husband's lips, but she cannot utter his name. She asks Lohengrin to tell her his name when no one else is around, but at all instances he refuses. Finally, despite his warnings, she asks Lohengrin the fatal questions but before he can answer, Count Fredrick and his four recruits rush into the room in order to attack him and they tried to kill him. Lohengrin fights with Count Fredrick and then he defeats him and kills him. Then, he sorrowfully turns to Elsa and asks her to follow him to King Henry, to whom he will now reveal his secrets.
Later that day on the riverbank the soldiers are equipped for war. Count Fredrick’s corpse is brought in, Elsa comes forward followed by Lohengrin who then tells King Henry that Elsa has broken her promise and then he explains everything by recounting the story of the Holy Grail and of Monsalvant, he reveals that he is Lohengrin, knight of the Grail and the son of King Parsifal and that he was sent to protect a unjustly accused woman. The laws of the Holy Grail say that Knights of the Grail must remain anonymous and if their identity is revealed, they must return home from whence they came. As Lohengrin sadly says goodbye to Elsa, the Swan boat arrives. Lohengrin tells Elsa that if she had kept her promise she could have found her lost brother. He gives her his sword, horn and ring, for he is to become the future leader of Brabant. As Lohengrin tries to get into the boat, Ortrund arrives. She tells Elsa that the swan is actually Elsa’s long-lost brother Gottfried and that she had cast a spell on him and turned him into a swan. This made the people so angry that they considered Ortrund guilty of witchcraft. Lohengrin prays and Gottfried the swan transforms back into a human and was reunited with Elsa at last. Lohengrin declares him the Duke of Brabant. Ortrund commits suicide by drowning herself in the river as her evil plans have been thwarted. A dove descends from heaven and takes its place of the swan at the head of the boat. Then the boat casts off and transports Lohengrin to the castle of the Holy Grail. Elsa was so sad that she falls to the ground and died of a broken heart.
Lohengrin In Popular culture:
Lohengrin has appeared lots of times in popular culture, in addition to the Bridal Chorus, the operas overture is very beautiful and heavenly. This music inspired Benny King’s song “Stand by Me” he even used the same notes in the famous violin solo. The overture was also used in Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 movie The Great Dictator in which the villain Adenoid Hynkel (who is a parody of Adolf Hitler) is playing and dancing with a large ball that is shaped like the globe. This playful scene represents Hynkel’s obsession with world domination. Charlie Chaplin loved Wagner’s music, he felt that Lohengrin’s overture was perfect for the globe scene because he felt moved by the music and that it was beautiful and playful.

Lohengrin’s prelude to Act 3 can be heard in lots of cartoons. In the Bugs Bunny cartoon Long-Hared Hare the orchestra plays it while the opera singer Giovanni Jones prepares to go on stage, then Bugs Bunny approaches him disguised as a teenaged girl. He says “Frankie and Perry just aren't in it you’re my swooner dream boat lover boy” this made Giovanni Jones feel proud, Bugs Bunny then asks him for his autograph, and he hands him a notebook and a pen which is really a stick of dynamite. After the off-screen explosion, Giovanni steps out to the stage with a singed face and evening wear torn to shreds. He takes a couple of bows and then collapses. Frankie is referring to Frank Sinatra who was a singer and actor. Perry is referring to Perry Como who was a singer, actor and television personality.