Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674–1707) was an English baroque
composer, organist and, pupil of John Blow at St Paul's
Cathedral. He later became organist at the Chapel
Royal. After his death, he was succeeded in that post
by William Croft.
Clarke is best remembered for a popular keyboard piece:
the Prince of Denmark's March, which is commonly called
the Trumpet Voluntary, written about 1700. From c. 1878
until the 1940s the work was attributed to Henry
Purcell, and was published as Trumpet V...(+)
Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674–1707) was an English baroque
composer, organist and, pupil of John Blow at St Paul's
Cathedral. He later became organist at the Chapel
Royal. After his death, he was succeeded in that post
by William Croft.
Clarke is best remembered for a popular keyboard piece:
the Prince of Denmark's March, which is commonly called
the Trumpet Voluntary, written about 1700. From c. 1878
until the 1940s the work was attributed to Henry
Purcell, and was published as Trumpet Voluntary by
Henry Purcell in William Sparkes's Short Pieces for the
Organ, Book VII, No. 1 (London, Ashdown and Parry).
This version came to the attention of Sir Henry J.
Wood, who made two orchestral transcriptions of it,
both of which were recorded. The recordings further
cemented the erroneous notion that the original piece
was by Purcell. Clarke's piece is a popular choice for
wedding music, and has featured in royal weddings.
The famous Trumpet Tune in D (also incorrectly
attributed to Purcell), was taken from the semi-opera
The Island Princess which was a joint musical
production of Clarke and Daniel Purcell (Henry
Purcell's younger brother)—probably leading to the
confusion.
For many years, the piece was incorrectly attributed to
his elder, and more widely-known, contemporary, Henry
Purcell, who was organist of Westminster Abbey. The
misattribution emanated from an arrangement for organ,
that was published in the 1870s by a Dr. William Spark,
then town organist of Leeds. It was later adopted by
Sir Henry Wood in his well-known arrangement for
trumpet, string orchestra and organ.
The oldest source is a collection of keyboard pieces
published in 1700. A contemporary version for wind
instruments also survives. According to some sources,
the march was originally written in honour of George,
Prince of Denmark, the consort of the then Princess,
later Queen Anne of Great Britain.
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.
Although originally written for Orchestra, I created
this arrangement of the "Prince of Denmark's March" for
Woodwind Quartet (Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet & Bassoon).
