Royal wedding music extracts ( on piano ) - April 2011

The order of service for the the marriage of His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales, K.G. with Miss Catherine Middleton (now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) on 29th April, 2011 was announced first thing on 28th April. So I thought I would go through my music collection and assemble some extracts reduced to the common denominator of my piano to give viewers a fun preview. You will find here the hymn tunes, and extracts from the introit, signing of register music and playout. The extracts include: Fantasia on 'Greensleeves' (Vaughan Williams) - opening; 'I was glad' (Parry) - opening; hymn tunes (Cwm Rhondda, Blaenwern, and Jerusalem); 'Blest Pair of Sirens' (Parry) - opening; and Widor Toccata (opening). I have had to stick to the public domain music (plus a short extract from the Vaughan Williams, which in isolation is probably public domain now as it is a straight arrangement of 'Greensleeves'). The music choice overall is excellent - my only quibble is with the choice of 'Blaenwern' as the tune for 'Love divine, all loves excelling' - I know he is Prince William of Wales, but there is plenty of other Welsh content in the service, and I really think John Stainer's 'Love Divine' is a superior and better-known tune for this hymn. But Stainer was organist at St Pauls, and the service was at Westminster Abbey...... UPDATE Having now seen the TV broadcast coverage of the wedding since uploading this video, I note that only the guests in the Abbey would have heard any of the music before or after the service as the media roadshow focused on the arrival and departure of the bride / bride and groom, which was of course outside the Abbey.

After the wedding, I hope this video may help brides and grooms wishing to have music from the wedding at their own ceremonies, but using the piano, or, at any rate, more modest musical resources than the London Chamber Orchestra and the organ of Westminster Abbey.
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Played by Phillip Sear
http://www.psear.co.uk

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[JayyB]

Very nice idea to put this in piano form, thank you! I'd never heard the tune "Blaenwern" as we don't have that in hymnals in the US, and first thought it kind of dull, but the more I listened to it the better I liked it. I hope I can find some music for it. It's a nice addition to our commonly used "Hyfrydol" and "Love Divine" tunes. You played all of these pieces beautifully.

[PSearPianist]

@JayyB Thank you very much for that. Dare I say it - I actually prefer the 'Love Divine' tune, but the Royal Wedding has certainly given a lift to Blaenwern here in UK!

[PandaEllysium]

any chance you know the name for that irish song performed by th choir? i really liked it and have been looking for it.

[PSearPianist]

@PandaEllysium Offhand I don't. You may be able to find an order of service somewhere on the internet - it was certainly published in the British newspapers at the time.

[PandaEllysium]

@PSearPianist

thank you anyway. i like your music too. you have a really nice way of making the music flow.

greensleeves is a favourite of mine :)

keep up the good work :D

[PSearPianist]

@PandaEllysium Thank you for that, and a Happy 2012!

[PSearPianist]

@mattvid00 I AM glad to hear that!

[mattvid00]

i loved the I was glad part!

[mattvid00]

@PSearPianist if you'd pardon the pun! :)

[PSearPianist]

@dwightmorrow53 That's a pleasure!