Royal Wedding Playlist

My esteem for the soon-to-be-wed Royals just went up considerably when I saw their wedding playlist:

Before the Service

Bach: Fantasia in G (Pièce d’orgue à 5)
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Veni Creator Spiritus
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford: Prelude on St. Columba Op. 28
Elgar: Sonata for Organ Op. 28
Elgar: Serenade for Strings in E minor Op. 20
Britten: Courtly Dance V: Galliard from Gloriana (Symphonic Suite) Op. 53a no. 7
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Greensleeves
Davies: Farewell to Stromness
Delius: On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
Walton: "Touch Her Soft Lips and Part" from Henry V Suite
Finzi: Romance for String Orchestra Op. 11
Whitlock: Canzona from Organ Sonata in C minor

Processional Music:

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry: March from The Birds
Parry: "I was Glad"
Vaughan Williams: Prelude on Rhosymedre


Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer’, words by William Williams and music by John Hughes
Love Divine All Love Excelling’, words by Charles Wesley and music by William Penfro Rowlands
‘Jerusalem,’ by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry with words by William Blake.

The Anthem and Motet

The Anthem, ‘This is the day which the Lord hath made’, has been composed specially for the occasion by John Rutter. It was commissioned by Westminster Abbey as a wedding present for Prince William and Miss Middleton and will be performed by both the Choir of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal Choir. Mr. Rutter is a British composer, conductor, editor and arranger who specialises in choral music.

The Anthem will be followed by the Motet ‘Ubi caritas’ by Paul Mealor, a Welsh composer, who is currently Reader in Composition at The University of Aberdeen.

Mr. Mealor’s composing studio is on the Isle of Anglesey, where Prince William and Miss Middleton live. This version of ‘Ubi caritas’ was written on Anglesey and premiered at the University of St. Andrews in November 2010.

The National Anthem will be sung immediately before the Signing of the Registers.

The Signing of the Registers and the Recessional

During the Signing of the Registers, the choirs will sing ‘Blest pair of Sirens’, words by John Milton from At a Solemn Musick, music by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry.

Following the Signing, there will be a Fanfare by the Fanfare Team from the Central Band of the Royal Air Force. The Fanfare, called Valiant and Brave, after the motto of No. 22 Squadron (Search and Rescue Force) was specially composed for this Service by Wing Commander Duncan Stubbs, Principal Director of Music in the Royal Air Force.

The Recessional, for the Procession of the Bride and Bridegroom:

William Walton: Crown Imperial
Charles-Marie Widor: Toccata from Symphonie V (the only non Englishman of the bunch, besides Bach)
Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March no. 5