Friday 8 May 2009
Tune of the Day: Trumpet Voluntary
Jeremiah Clarke's “Prince of Denmark's March”
This famous march, popularly known as the “Trumpet Voluntary”, was composed in honor of George, Prince of Denmark, by organist Jeremiah Clarke around 1700. For many years, though, the piece was incorrectly attributed to his elder, and more widely-known, contemporary, Henry Purcell.
The march is very popular as wedding music (it was played during the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles in St Paul's Cathedral) and was often broadcast by the BBC during World War II, especially when broadcasting to occupied Denmark. It is also used as the march of the Nobel prize laureates at the Nobel ceremonies in Stockholm on December 10th.