The ''Prince of Denmark's 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, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

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 of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...

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

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, England. It was later arranged for several different ensembles by Sir Henry Wood. 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 and Norway, Duke of Cumberland (; 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. ...

, husband of Queen Anne of Great Britain. Clarke also composed " King William's March" in honour of Prince George's brother-in-law William III.

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 Musician, instrumentalists or Singing, vocalists or may use pre-recorded songs, depend ...

,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 and Alexandra Manley in 1995. The march was broadcast often by

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, especially when programming was directed to occupied Denmark, 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 a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

. 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 Peach ...

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

In popular culture

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show''. Sellers featured on a number of hit comi ...

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 piece was used on ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, 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 ...

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

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

show '' Mad''. *The soundtrack by

Vladimir Dashkevich Vladimir Sergeevich Dashkevich () (born 20 January 1934) is a Russian composer, known mainly for his film music. Originally, he studied chemical technology at Moscow State University of Fine Chemical Technologies, but he later studied music under ...

to '' The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson'', 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 () – formerly BBC Russian Service () – is part of the BBC World Service's foreign language output, one of nearly 40 languages it provides. History The BBC's first Russian-language broadcast was a translation of a speech ...

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

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. *It was used as Lord Steven Regal's entrance music in

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (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 National W ...

while competing as a heel/villain. *A brief portion of the tune can be heard at the end of the 1997 song "

Tubthumping "Tubthumping" is a song by British rock band Chumbawamba, released in August 1997 by EMI, Universal Records (1995), Universal and Republic Records as the first single from their eighth studio album, ''Tubthumper'' (1997). It is the band's most ...

" by British anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba and in the coda of

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

' 1969 song " It's All Too Much". *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". *It was used in the final wedding scene of the film '' Foolin' Around''.

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 Henry Purcell