Original 'Here comes the bride' wedding march sheet music goes on sale for astonishing $3.6million 

  • The tune was originally composed by Richard Wagner for his opera Lohengrin
  • The song became a wedding staple after Victoria, the Princess Royal used it in her wedding to Prince Frederick William of Prussia
  • While real life brides love the music, in the opera, the bride dies of grief after her husband leaves her

By Kiri Blakeley For Dailymail.com

Published: 08:39 EST, 13 September 2015 | Updated: 12:55 EST, 13 September 2015

If you've got a wedding coming up and a few million to spare, there's one thing you might want the wedding band to have - the original sheet music for Here Comes the Bride.

It'll set you back $3.6million, according to Page Six.

The jaunty tune, also known as the Bridal Chorus or Wedding March, has become synonymous with brides waltzing down the aisle, but it was originally written by Richard Wagner for his opera Lohengrin in 1850.

Rare memorabilia website Moments in Time is selling the manuscript. 

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'Here Comes the Bride' was originally the chorus of an opera written by Richard Wagner in 1850

'Here Comes the Bride' was originally the chorus of an opera written by Richard Wagner in 1850

The original manuscript for the piece (above) is being sold for $3.6million by rare memorabilia site Moments In Time

The original manuscript for the piece (above) is being sold for $3.6million by rare memorabilia site Moments In Time

The piece, originally titled Treulich Geführt, gained huge popularity when it was used as the processional at the wedding of Victoria the Princess Royal to Prince Frederick William of Prussia in 1858.

In the opera, the chorus is sung by the women of the wedding party as they accompany the heroine Elsa to the bridal chamber.

While the tune is meant to usher bride and grooms the world over into happily ever after, in the opera, the bride's husband has to abandon her her shortly after their wedding, and the bride collapses dead in grief.

Wagner was said to be amused that his dark processional became a staple of church weddings. 

Opera composer Richard Wagner (above) was said to be amused that the music for his tragic opera was being used for weddings

Opera composer Richard Wagner (above) was said to be amused that the music for his tragic opera was being used for weddings

'Here comes the bride, all dressed in white' are the lyrics that usually accompany the music, but these are not even close to the original opera lyrics

'Here comes the bride, all dressed in white' are the lyrics that usually accompany the music, but these are not even close to the original opera lyrics

While the lyrics that normally accompany the chorus at weddings goes 'Here comes the bride, all dressed in white' these are, of course, not the original German lyrics composed by Wagner.

It's unclear who first came up with the refrain that ended up accompanying brides down the aisle.

Moments in Time specializes in original historic letters and manuscripts.

Also on sale is Babe Ruth's first contract with the Yankees, the surrender agreement ending World War II, and an original manuscript page from Darwin's Origin of the Species. 

The original Here Comes the Bride sheet music used to be preserved at the Karpeles Manuscript Library, according to Buffalo State University of New York. 


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