Trumpet Voluntary

Album: Classical Tribute to Diana (1699)
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Songfacts®:

  • Jeremiah Clarke (1674-1707) was an English Baroque composer, who is best remembered for this popular keyboard piece. Commonly known as the "Trumpet Voluntary," its proper title is the "Prince of Denmark's March." For many years this piece was misattributed to Clarke's contemporary Henry Purcell but it has now been reclaimed by Clarke.
  • Jeremiah Clarke died tragically young, "A violent and hopeless passion for a very beautiful lady of a rank superior to his own" causing him to commit suicide.
  • The march is very popular as wedding music, most famously in the widely televised 1981 wedding of Lady Diana to Prince Charles in 1981.
  • A brief portion of the tune can be heard at the end of the Chumbawamba song "Tubthumping" and it also features in the fade-out of The Beatles' track "it's All Too Much."

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