The ''Prince of Denmark's March'' ( da, Prins Jørgens March), commonly called the '' Trumpet Voluntary'', was written around 1700 by the English composer

Jeremiah Clarke Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674 – 1 December 1707) was an English baroque composer and organist, best known for his ''Trumpet Voluntary,'' a popular piece often played at wedding ceremonies or commencement ceremonies. Biography The exact date of Cla ...

, the first organist of the then newly-rebuilt

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

Composition

For many years the piece was attributed incorrectly to Clarke's elder and more widely known contemporary

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...

. The misattribution emanated from an arrangement for organ published in the 1870s by William Spark (the town organist of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, England). It was later arranged for several different ensembles by

Sir Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...

. The oldest source is ''A Choice Collection of Ayres'', a collection of keyboard pieces published in 1700. A contemporary version for wind instruments also survives. According to some sources, the march was written in honour of

Prince George of Denmark Prince George of Denmark ( da, Jørgen; 2 April 165328 October 1708) was the husband of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. He was the consort of the British monarch from Anne's accession on 8 March 1702 until his death in 1708. The marriage of Georg ...

, husband of

Queen Anne of Great Britain Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from 8 March 1702 until 1 May 1707. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, the kingdoms of England and Scotland united as a single sovereign state known as ...

. Clarke also composed "

King William's March "King William's March" is a work by the English Baroque composer Jeremiah Clarke (1674-1707).Palmer p.18 It was composed in honour of William of Orange who had become King of England following the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Clarke's better kno ...

" in honour of Prince George's brother-in-law

William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198) * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...

Usage

Historical

Popular as

wedding music Music is often played at wedding celebrations, including during the ceremony and at festivities before or after the event. The music can be performed live by instrumentalists or vocalists or may use pre-recorded songs, depending on the format o ...

,Dan Fox (2007
World's Greatest Wedding Music: 50 of the Most Requested Wedding Pieces
p.7. Alfred Music Publishing, 2007. Retrieved January 4, 2011 the march was played during the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles at St Paul's Cathedral in 1981 and during the wedding of

Prince Joachim of Denmark , father = Henri de Laborde de Monpezat , mother = Margrethe II of Denmark , house = Glücksburg (official) Monpezat (agnatic) , religion = Church of Denmark , occupation = Military Attaché, Royal Danish Embassy in ...

and

Alexandra Manley Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, , formerly Princess Alexandra of Denmark, (''née'' Alexandra Christina Manley; born 30 June 1964) is the former wife of Prince Joachim of Denmark, the younger son of Margrethe II of Denmark. She was born i ...

in 1995. The march was broadcast often by BBC Radio during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, especially when programming was directed to

occupied Denmark At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Soverei ...

, since the march symbolised a connection between those two countries. The broadcasts were introduced by the first bars of the tune voiced over by the words "''Her er London. BBC sender til Danmark''." ("This is London. BBC is broadcasting to Denmark.") In Denmark the march thus became strongly associated with the opposition to Nazi occupation and propaganda. It is still performed during the annual celebrations of the liberation. For many years, the Trumpet Voluntary remained the European Service signature tune of the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. It is the corps march, both slow and quick, of the British Army's

Royal Army Chaplains' Department The Royal Army Chaplains' Department (RAChD) is an all-officer department that provides ordained clergy to minister to the British Army. History The Army Chaplains' Department (AChD) was formed by Royal Warrant of 23 September 1796; until the ...

. A variant of the tune is used in the final chorus of

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...

's ballad opera, ''Polly'', (premiered 1777), where the original is called 'The Temple'.

In popular culture

*A brief portion of the tune can be heard at the end of the song " Tubthumping" by British anarcho-punk band

Chumbawamba Chumbawamba () were a British rock band formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the 1998 Brit Awards. Other singles include "Amnesia", " Enou ...

and in the coda of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' song "

It's All Too Much "It's All Too Much" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album ''Yellow Submarine (album), Yellow Submarine''. Written by George Harrison in 1967, it conveys the ideological themes of that year's Summer of Love. The B ...

". *It was one of the seventeen classical pieces used in creating the lead track of the 1981 '' Hooked on Classics'' project. *It was used as the melodic counterpoint to the intro and verses of Sting's hit "

All This Time All This Time may refer to: * ''All This Time'' (Heartless Bastards album), 2006 * ''All This Time'' (Sting album), a 2001 live album and concert film by Sting * "All This Time" (Drax Project song), 2019 * "All This Time" (Michelle McManus song ...

". *It was used in the final wedding scene of the film '' Foolin' Around''. Peter Sellers parodied the tune in his satire on the use of "classics" by pop musicians, titled "Trumpet Volunteer" from his album ''

The Best of Sellers ''The Best of Sellers'' is the first studio album by the English actor, comedian and singer Peter Sellers. Released as a 10-inch LP on EMI's Parlophone label in December 1958, the album has been cited as "the first British comedy LP created in a re ...

''. The piece was used on ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focuse ...

'' as the theme for the recurring segments Colbert Platinum (on trumpet) and Colbert Aluminum (on kazoo). The march is used as the background music during the hourly performance of the Royal Clock in the

Queen Victoria Building The Queen Victoria Building (abbreviated as the QVB) is a heritage-listed late-nineteenth-century building designed by the architect George McRae located at 429–481 George Street in the Sydney central business district, in the Australian stat ...

, Sydney, Australia. The tune was sampled for the ''Greatest Thing Ever'' segment from the

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

show '' Mad''. The soundtrack by

Vladimir Dashkevich Vladimir Sergeevich Dashkevich (russian: Владимир Серге́евич Дашкевич) (born 20 January 1934) is a Russian composer, known mainly for his film music. Originally, he studied chemical technology at Moscow State University o ...

to ''

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson'' (russian: link=no, italics=yes, Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона) is a series of Soviet television films portraying Arthur Conan Doyle's ficti ...

'', a series of Soviet television films produced between 1979 and 1986, was inspired by this composition. The arrangement by Henry Wood for trumpet, string orchestra and organ was known to the Soviet public as the signature tune of the shortwave

BBC Russian Service BBC News Russian (russian: BBC News Ру́сская слу́жба) – formerly BBC Russian Service (russian: Ру́сская слу́жба Би-би-си́) – is part of the BBC World Service's foreign language output, one of nearly 4 ...

, and an orchestral piece in a similar style was created which could be identified with the spirit of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. It was used as

Lord Steven Regal Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is known for his over 20 years spent in WWE, as both a performer and an on-screen authority, and for his t ...

's entrance music in

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

while competing as a heel/villain.

References

Notes

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prince Of Denmark's March 1700s compositions Compositions by Jeremiah Clarke British military marches Royal Army Chaplains' Department Compositions with a spurious or doubtful attribution Prince George of Denmark