Music and Hymns At The Royal Wedding

Music

The bride processed down the aisle to the anthem "I Was Glad," written by by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, from Psalm 122. It was composed for the crowning of Prince William's great-great-great grandfather, Edward VII, at Westminster Abbey in 1902. As the choir sang, the bride made her three-and-a-half minute procession through the Nave and Quire on her father's arm, to meet the Prince. The recessional music was the orchestral march "Crown Imperial" by William Walton, which was also played at Charles and Diana's wedding.

Two choirs, one orchestra and a fanfare team performed the music at the wedding service of Prince William and Middleton at Westminster Abbey. These were the Westminster Abbey Choir, Chapel Royal Choir and London Chamber Orchestra, and a fanfare team of the Central Band of the Royal Air Force.

The choirs were directed by James O’Donnell, Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey. The Abbey’s Sub Organist, Robert Quinney, will play the organ. The Organist, Choir Master and Composer at Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal is Andrew Gant. The London Chamber Orchestra was conducted by Christopher Warren-Green, who is its Music Director and Principal conductor.

The fanfares were performed under the direction of Wing Commander Duncan Stubbs, whose own composition, Valiant and Brave, was performed as the royal couple signed the wedding register. "Valiant and Brave" is the motto of 22 Squadron, in which Prince William is serving as a search and rescue pilot at RAF Valley in North Wales.

Hymns

William and Kate chose three of their favourite hymns: "Jerusalem", and two others with a strong association with Wales. The first was the rousing "Guide me, O Thou Great Redeemer". It is also known as the Welsh rugby anthem "Bread of Heaven," and the Duke of Cambridge is the vice-royal patron of the Welsh Rugby Union. It was sung at the funeral of Princess Diana, and is associated with Welsh Male Voice Choirs and Eisteddfodau, having been originally written in Welsh by 18th-century Methodist preacher William Williams.

The words to their second hymn, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" were written by 18th-century Methodist evangelical preacher Charles Wesley, whose output of more than 6,000 hymns includes the Christmas carol "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." Its tune – "Blaenwern" – was composed by a Welshman, William Penfro Rowlands, during the Welsh Christian revival of 1904–1905. This hymn was sung at the Prince of Wales's 2005 marriage to the Duchess of Cornwall.

The third hymn, also considered as an anthem, is "Jerusalem". With text by visionary 19th-century poet William Blake and music written in 1916 by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, it is "a favourite at Last Night of the Proms, the Women's Institute and weddings."