I know .. One should be able to escape it, at least here on PW.. I have not been following the nonsense, but someone just emailed me a link to this site. Apparently the "music Service" has been revealed.
The selections are utterly British. Our Jason (Afan) would be proud, since Mr. Elgar is well represented, and not only by the inevitable Pomp and Circumstance.. Goodness, my accent is turning all stiff and British just writing this:
P.S. There is a Bach piece, thankfully, to save the day. And, perhaps more importantly, there are modern pieces.. Well at least pieces by contemporary composers, e.g. one, carrying the ultra traditional title of Ubi caritas, by Paul Mealor, and several others by Maxwell Davies, "master of the Queen's music".

http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org/blog/2011/April/28/Music-for-the-Wedding-Service

Before the Service

The music before the Service will begin with a selection of organ pieces: Fantasia in G (Pièce d’orgue à 5) by Johann Sebastian Bach, followed by Veni Creator Spiritus by the Master of The Queen’s Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies; Prelude on St. Columba Op. 28 by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford and Sonata for Organ Op. 28 (Allegro maestoso and Allegretto) by Elgar

Following this will be seven orchestral pieces:

Serenade for Strings in E minor Op. 20 (Allegro piacevole, Larghetto and Allegretto) by Edward Elgar

Courtly Dance V: Galliard from Gloriana (Symphonic Suite) Op. 53a no. 7 by Benjamin Britten

Fantasia on Greensleeves by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Farewell to Stromness by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring by Frederick Delius

Touch Her Soft Lips and Part from Henry V Suite by William Walton

Romance for String Orchestra Op. 11 by Gerald Finzi

Three of these pieces – Farewell to Stromness, Touch Her Soft Lips and Part and Romance for String Orchestra Op. 11 – were played at the Service of Prayer and Dedication for The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in 2005. The Couple specifically chose these pieces for that reason. The final piece of music before the Service begins continues the broadly British theme: Canzona from Organ Sonata in C minor by Percy Whitlock.

Processional Music

The Service will begin with a Fanfare by The State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry to mark the arrival of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh. The Fanfare will be followed by three Processionals. For the Procession of The Queen, Prince William and Miss Middleton have chosen March from The Birds by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry. Prelude on Rhosymedre by Ralph Vaughan Williams will accompany the Procession of the Clergy, and was chosen for its Welsh echoes. The Couple have selected ‘I was Glad’, also by Parry, for the Procession of the Bride.

Hymns

Prince William and Miss Middleton have chosen three hymns for the Service: ‘Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer’, words by William Williams, translated by Peter Williams and others, and music by John Hughes. The second will be ‘Love Divine All Love Excelling’, words by Charles Wesley and music by William Penfro Rowlands. The third will be ‘Jerusalem’, by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, words by William Blake. All three hymns have been chosen because they are favourites of the Couple.

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, will be Crown Imperial by William Walton. Toccata from Symphonie V by Charles-Marie Widor and Pomp and Circumstance March no. 5 by Edward Elgar will follow the Service. :

Thanks for posting this, Andromaque. Although I have no interest in the ever-growing spectacle that is The Royal Wedding (no offense to our UK members and friends, just not my - ahem - "cup of tea"), I am indeed interested in the musical selections and particularly why they might have been chosen.

I took the liberty of posting your link in the "Let's Talk Weddings" thread... hope you don't mind (I gave you credit).

Ahh, Elgar's Serenade for strings. One of my all-time favourites. Especially the second movement. So beautiful.

Thanks for that. Kind of sad now that I won't be around to watch. All that music might just make the spectacle worth sitting through. It's a pretty big list of musical items.

Thanks for that Andromaque (hiding behind the logo of one-eared Vincent vanG) ... I hope to tape the Wedding Day at Buckingham Palace ... we tune in to the four hour ceremony at 11am our time ... the list of British composers (with a Bach or two) is indeed impressive ... we all expect Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance to be included in the merry romp but later (when the dust has settled), I’m going to make an in-depth study of all the chappies mentioned. (The music of Vaughan Williams, Delius and Holst are already familiar haunts)

Let’s hope our Cousins (from o’er the big pond) don’t expect to hear a blast of of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” ... from Westminster Abbey.

PS The thought occurs ... if the US are so taken up with the monarchy ... why don’t they get their Congress to swop top names ... instead of a President ... they could royally sequestrate to King Barrack Obama to the sound of Dixie ... one way to have got an invite to the wedding.

Please excuse the jollity ... the bonny sun is up ... I’m on my third cup of morning tea on a beautiful cloudless autumn day.

One hymn that will be played in the church is And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time \ Jerusalem. I had heard that piece in many British films without knowing exactly what it was. I wanted a copy of it and someone in the Sibelius forum was kind enough to send me a copy.

Thanks for the info, Andromaque. It makes me happy that billions of people will hear this music, especially the Delius piece, which has long been a favorite of mine.

"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."

I thought this particularly nice.

I must be the only person who thinks it's ridiculous to make such a huge deal about this. It's a wedding! So she's royalty now.. So what... She probably feels like crap at least partly because her one and only wedding will be completely different from what she wanted, not to mention so much pressure (whole world watching), and complete lack of privacy. Sheesh.

Yeah, but the music was celestial.

+1,000,000

Yes, I'm glad to see Elgar there =P

"Royal Wedding Music: so English! "

and since when was "Cwm Rhondda" English?

The most important thing is that it's an excuse for a Bank Holiday (as is Monday!!): so more time to practice.

The choral accompaniment of the coronation anthem “I was glad” by Sir Charles Hubert Hasting Parry was most apt ... as the Kate Middleton, on the arm of her father, started the long red-carpeted ambulatory down the nave of Westminster Abbey .

Taping the BBC coverage of the Pomp and Circumstance ceremony went like a charm ... however, the endless lecturing of the bridal pair by the officiating clergy needed radical editing ... the massive (and patient) crowds lining the routes obviously had a field day waving their Union Jacks.

PS As a professor of music at the University of Oxford, Parry (1848-1918) might be better known as the author of the choral song Jerusalem.

hey.. keep your "clever" remarks about other members to yourself, will you, btb?

You said it MissP,

"I must be the only person who thinks it's ridiculous to make such a huge deal about this. It's a wedding! So she's royalty now.. So what... She probably feels like crap at least partly because her one and only wedding will be completely different from what she wanted, not to mention so much pressure (whole world watching), and complete lack of privacy. Sheesh."

What utter infantile rubbish!

So I'm not allowed to say what I think about this "event"? Rubbish? Take a good look at yourself for that.

Reports are that she had a tremendous amount of say in the wedding.

Stepping on my soap box now): IMHO, it just amazes me how snarky some people can be about a happy event. With all the tragedy, war and economic upheaval in the world, it was nice to have something to smile about and enjoy the beauty of it. If you don't like it, keep it to yourself or at least don't be so snarky about it. (Stepping off my soap box now).

You thought the Bishop of London was lecturing?!?!

I personally enjoyed his words and even piped up with a "hear, hear" a couple of times.

I spent this morning in central London mingling with the crowds, catching glimpses of the Prince, the Princess and the Queen, listening to the glorious Parry music on the loudspeakers in the Mall, singing “Jerusalem”, and generally enjoying the sense of enjoyment and festivity among the vast crowd.

Angelina, you are of course entitled to your view, but you must realise that most people in the UK do not share it. I don’t know where “your own somewhere” is, but perhaps it is not in the UK? Today has been a true national festival. As I write this I can hear the strains of a street party for 350 people drifting across the garden. Nobody I know shares your cynicism. Do you really want to be perceived as a spoilsport and a cynic?

This picture of the Southwark Children’s Brass Band at Victoria Station this morning typifies the national mood. They played really well!




The expectant crowd in the Mall, young children sitting on their parents’ shoulders.




The street party.

The prince and his bride looked very happy. I think my dad practically stayed up all night watching it. He watched Prince Charles's wedding and he was determined not to miss this one, though he's older now so I don't know if he made it through the whole thing. It's sad that Diana was not there to see it - I still remember when she died, although I was very young at the time. The couple has very good taste in music, and no Pachelbel's Canon!

We may not all understand nor fully appreciate what this event means to Britain in general, to many monarchists, royalists and celebrity "sightseers" in particular. As much as some may decry what they perceive as the faded glory, the pompous pageantry, and the extravagant expense of a royal wedding, it is heartening, if not infectious, to see what delight, pleasure and fun it is bringing to so many people. The little boost that the event may make to the British economy should not be overlooked, either. A momentary unifying of a nation in celebration cannot be all bad.

I don't recall any celebrations in the US or elsewhere that bring such world-wide attention and general enthusiasm, naysayers notwithstanding. I think we might just try to enjoy the mood of the day, admire the grace and poise of the young Duchess of Cambridge as she is thrust upon the world stage and wish the new Duke and Duchess well.

If we can't, we can just ignore it; it will soon go away.

Regards,

A British friend was asking me if I was planning to watch the wedding, and it caught me off guard! I had forgotten what day the wedding was! I also realized in a flash that it was a loaded question and hemmed and hawed for half a second...Somehow at the same time we both remembered the obvious-- "Oh that's right, you don't have a TV!" Whew... But then I helpfully added that I could watch it on Youtube. Waking up at the usual time today, I felt some regret to have missed it! My friends said there was going to be a street party in their little village...*aww*

I woke about early as usual to see my husband off to work and get ready for school. Since my first class wasn't till 9:50 AM, I had some time to kill. (Though it takes me an hour and twenty minutes to drive to school.) I forgot about the wedding and turned on the TV to catch the news and was surprised to catch it live. I loved the spectacle and I loved the music. "Jerusalem" brought me to tears. My mother was born and raised in Liverpool, and even though she was Roman Catholic, it was always her favorite hymn.

A rare occasion to be allowed to be English, Christian and proud of it, in a Country where it has become almost illegal.

Thal

I nearly forgot about the wedding. By the time I remembered to tune in I saw the bride entering Westminster Abbey with her father. But what I really wanted to hear was all the music that preceded the ceremony. If anyone can find a website that is replaying the coverage before the ceremony please let us know.

And I've been amused to read some of the lofty condescension in the American press. They all wish Kate & William well, but then breathe a sigh of relief that the US has no Monarchy ('this is what we fought for!', yadda yadda) so therefore the US is a classless society. It it weren't so hypocritical it might be funny.

And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time \ Jerusalem
They've been replaying this on the radio here and it sounds wonderful very moving. I watched a few clips when I got home last night - the national happy party atmosphere is lovely. Would be a lot of fun to be there.

I just tuned in to watch a little bit and ended up watching the lot, and really enjoyed it. The music was great! Haven't heard so much Parry all at once for a very long time. I'm not a huge Rutter fan, but I liked that, too! And I have to say checking out everyone's dresses was fun. (What about Princess Beatrice's hat!)

Alas, I couldn't watch because of my time zone, though a friend of mine stayed up for it. His Anglophilia was glowing this morning, shortly before he crashed.

'Jerusalem' proudly resides in The New English Hymnal, 488, set to William Blake's atmospheric poetry.