The Stationers Guild

Last night we attended a concert in Bedford, NY entitled “Music and the Court of France from Louis XIV to Napoleon.”  This lovely concert was held in The Fellowship Hall of St. Matthew’s Church and featured various arrangements by French and Italian composers of the period and an unusual version of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (The Eroica).  Beethoven had originally called this the Bonaparte symphony, but later changed it to “The Eroica” when Napoleon appointed himself Emperor. 

What was unusual, was that Beethoven’s 3rd was performed by a quartet based on arrangement written by one of Beethoven’s students, Ferdinand Ries in 1810.  This remarkable arrangement was discovered in Finland by cellist James Wilson, who played in the quartet.   Anthony Newman, pianist and Music Director, suggested that it just might be the first time this arrangement was played in the United States.   If so, we were privileged to hear it.

I suppose you are wondering what The Eroica and wedding invitations have in common.  Frankly, not a lot.  Nevertheless, every time I see a well-crafted wedding invitation it seems like I am hearing or better yet seeing a new variation of a Symphony.   In the eight years of working with bridal couples designing wedding invitations for their special day, I cannot recall two being  identical.  Font styles will change, ink colors are different and there are many other variations which make each individual invitation unlike any other.    Designers are pushing the edge in create beautiful new designs on hand-made papers where ink colors resonate using letterpress and engraved printing.

Do yourself a favor and drop into a stationery store in your neighborhood and see and feel the exciting new designs in wedding invitations and stationery.  “Feeling is believing,” is the motto of a new generation of consumers who eschew the Internet and are rediscovering the beauty of personal correspondence.

Sheila P. May
Thérèse Saint Clair