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The Music Room => General Classical Music Discussion => Topic started by: Solitary Wanderer on June 19, 2007, 07:18:28 PM

Title: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Solitary Wanderer on June 19, 2007, 07:18:28 PM
What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?

I already have it written in my Will that it will be...

Prelude to Act .1. Lohengrin   BP/HvK



I'm interested to hear your ideas :)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: hornteacher on June 19, 2007, 07:27:54 PM
I plan to live forever.......or die trying.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: not edward on June 19, 2007, 08:32:04 PM
The stand-alone Baker/Barbirolli Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: mahlertitan on June 19, 2007, 08:59:23 PM
I called it first: Bruckner's 7th symphony second movement.

in fact i told a friend about it already, when i die, i want the adagio to bruckner's 7th be played!
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Bonehelm on June 19, 2007, 09:05:26 PM
The finale from Mahler's Resurrection symphony.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Kullervo on June 19, 2007, 09:13:22 PM
I don't intend on having a funeral.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Mark on June 19, 2007, 09:29:54 PM
Have a listen for yourselves:

Rachmaninov - All-night Vigil: Bless the Lord, O my soul (http://download.yousendit.com/9AFD2E5C643466D2)

This is the EXACT recording I want played. ;)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Mozart on June 19, 2007, 09:46:48 PM
I won't attend my funeral but I would like Beethoven's 7th, the 2nd movement would be awesome. If I do have a funeral it would have to be all darth vader like.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Harry Collier on June 20, 2007, 12:50:23 AM

Elégie Op 30  by Vieuxtemps (viola & piano).
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: val on June 20, 2007, 01:10:28 AM
Since I will not be able to hear it, I don't care. They can even play Rachmaninov's 2nd Concerto.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: marvinbrown on June 20, 2007, 01:13:37 AM
Quote from: hornteacher on June 19, 2007, 07:27:54 PM
I plan to live forever.......or die trying.

 I agree with your philosophy in life hornteacher.....so I guess it will just be the two of us then...living forever or dieing trying to live forever (thats the spirit!!!)


 marvin
 PS:  In case we fail how about Seigfried's Funeral March from Wagner's Ring Cycle??  If you are going to go might as well go in style.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Sergeant Rock on June 20, 2007, 03:26:56 AM
Peggy Lee, Is That All There Is?

Is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is


Sarge
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Bunny on June 20, 2007, 04:42:15 AM
Jewish funerals don't have music.  Mourners are not allowed ot listen to music for 30 days except as part of a religious service.

But, I think Bernstein's Kaddish would fit the bill.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: toledobass on June 20, 2007, 05:19:29 AM
I never really thought about it.  A friend's mom wants 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead' performed though.


Allan
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Haffner on June 20, 2007, 05:47:19 AM
3rd Movement op.132 Beethoven



Before I heard that piece, it was "Catch the Rainbow" off of Rainbow-Live in Germany
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Todd on June 20, 2007, 05:47:52 AM
The Ballad of Jimi Hendrix by Stormtroopers of Death.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Anne on June 20, 2007, 06:29:36 AM
Catholic Services use a lot of music:

Beethoven's Kyrie from Missa Solemnis - Boem recording

Siegfried'd funeral music - Solti

Mille cherubini in coro (Schubert - Melichar) from Pavarotti's Christmas album

Schubert's Ave Maria
- sung by Pavarotti

For once it doesn"t have to be a coordinated music program.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Haffner on June 20, 2007, 06:38:25 AM
Quote from: Anne on June 20, 2007, 06:29:36 AM
Catholic Services use a lot of music:

Beethoven's Kyrie from Missa Solemnis - Boem recording






Hey I didn't know that Beethoven's Missa Solemnis was actually used in Catholic services! Thanks for that information, Anne!
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: George on June 20, 2007, 07:10:51 AM
Quote from: hornteacher on June 19, 2007, 07:27:54 PM
I plan to live forever.......or die trying.


Great answer!  ;D


Me: I Know it's Over by the Smiths.  8)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Anne on June 20, 2007, 07:24:23 AM
Quote from: Haffner on June 20, 2007, 06:38:25 AM



Hey I didn't know that Beethoven's Missa Solemnis was actually used in Catholic services! Thanks for that information, Anne!

I don't know whether it is allowed or not.  It's just what I want played.  When my father died, the people from the church were quite lenient.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: orbital on June 20, 2007, 07:26:58 AM
Quote from: Bunny on June 20, 2007, 04:42:15 AM
Jewish funerals don't have music.  Mourners are not allowed ot listen to music for 30 days except as part of a religious service.

Depends on the synagogue I think. There was music (and organ music with choir at that.. taped) at my father's funeral.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: PSmith08 on June 20, 2007, 09:02:08 AM
This is really for my amusement, though I'll be beyond caring at that point. There's nothing like expressing one's sense of humor from...[cue Vincent Price voice] beyond the grave!

"You Have Killed Me," Morrissey, Ringleader of the Tormentors.

"I'm No Angel," Gregg Allman, various releases

"Tuba mirum," Giuseppe Verdi, Requiem (Solti '68)

"Heilig, heilig ist Gott der Allmächtige," Franz Schmidt, Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (Welser-Möst '98)




Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Kullervo on June 20, 2007, 09:06:09 AM
Quote from: PSmith08 on June 20, 2007, 09:02:08 AM
This is really for my amusement, though I'll be beyond caring at that point. There's nothing like expressing one's sense of humor from...[cue Vincent Price voice] beyond the grave!

"You Have Killed Me," Morrissey, Ringleader of the Tormentors.

"I'm No Angel," Gregg Allman, various releases

"Tuba mirum," Giuseppe Verdi, Requiem (Solti '68)

"Heilig, heilig ist Gott der Allmächtige," Franz Schmidt, Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (Welser-Möst '98)

"That'll Be the Day" Buddy Holly

Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Guido on June 20, 2007, 09:30:54 AM
Bach solo celo Suites... Not sure which - either movements from the first or second, and the Sarabande of the fifth.

Maybe some Part - Cantus, Fratres?

Maybe the old cliche Barber's Adagio. or some of the piano music...

Ives' Decoration Day in its violin/piano arrangement.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: George on June 20, 2007, 11:36:40 AM
Quote from: PSmith08 on June 20, 2007, 09:02:08 AM
"You Have Killed Me," Morrissey, Ringleader of the Tormentors.

"There is a Place in Hell for Me and my Friends," Morrissey, Kill Uncle  >:D
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: MishaK on June 20, 2007, 11:38:52 AM
Quote from: MahlerTitan on June 19, 2007, 08:59:23 PM
I called it first: Bruckner's 7th symphony second movement.

in fact i told a friend about it already, when i die, i want the adagio to bruckner's 7th be played!

Just like Hitler?
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: PSmith08 on June 20, 2007, 11:42:57 AM
Quote from: George on June 20, 2007, 11:36:40 AM
"There is a Place in Hell for Me and my Friends," Morrissey, Kill Uncle  >:D

That's a good one, too; it won't, however, make my guests feel as awful as "You Have Killed Me."

That's a big part of it. Now that I think about it, "I Don't Mind If You Forget Me," off Viva Hate might do it, too. As long as they feel bad.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: George on June 20, 2007, 12:00:49 PM
Quote from: PSmith08 on June 20, 2007, 11:42:57 AM
That's a good one, too; it won't, however, make my guests feel as awful as "You Have Killed Me."

That's a big part of it. Now that I think about it, "I Don't Mind If You Forget Me," off Viva Hate might do it, too. As long as they feel bad.

;D
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Wendell_E on June 20, 2007, 12:10:27 PM
4'33"
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Solitary Wanderer on June 20, 2007, 12:29:32 PM
I'm On Fire ~ Bruce Whatshisname
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Bunny on June 20, 2007, 12:53:06 PM
Quote from: orbital on June 20, 2007, 07:26:58 AM
Depends on the synagogue I think. There was music (and organ music with choir at that.. taped) at my father's funeral.

Funerals in the synagogue?  I think you mean the memorial chapel.  they never bring a dead body into the Shul. 
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Bunny on June 20, 2007, 01:06:53 PM
Quote from: Haffner on June 20, 2007, 06:38:25 AM



Hey I didn't know that Beethoven's Missa Solemnis was actually used in Catholic services! Thanks for that information, Anne!

It's a mass, isn't it?  Why shouldn't it be used in a service?  It's not a requiem mass (Missa pro Defunctis/Missa defunctorum) though, so it might not have all the right parts for a funeral.  A Missa solemnis (High Mass) is just a musical setting for a "regular" Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei).  The Requiem has more parts, omits some others to have this form: Introit, Kyrie Eleison, Gradual, Tract, Sequence (dies irae), Offertory, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Communion; and sometimes also Libera Me, In Paradisum, Pie Jesu are added. 

I can't imagine that you couldn't at least use some parts of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis  as long as the other parts are also included.   You can always check with a priest about that.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Valentino on June 20, 2007, 01:13:16 PM
Something sort of sad and uplifting at the same time, like the second movement of K. 466 I think.
And Happy by the Stones of course.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: techniquest on June 20, 2007, 01:52:20 PM
Lento by Howard Skempton must be one of the tunes to be played, as must Hairless Heart by Steve Hackett.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Solitary Wanderer on June 20, 2007, 02:12:32 PM
Thing is, if you don't make specific plans you could end up with...

All Things Bright and Beautiful

or

Bridge Over Troubled Water


::)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Rabin_Fan on June 20, 2007, 02:14:10 PM
Mahler 4, 4th mvt makes sense as the soprano sings about the delights of heaven.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: PSmith08 on June 20, 2007, 02:14:52 PM
Quote from: Solitary Wanderer on June 20, 2007, 02:12:32 PM
Thing is, if you don't make specific plans you could end up with...

All Things Bright and Beautiful

or

Bridge Over Troubled Water


::)

Or, the dreaded "Wind Beneath My Wings."

Especially if the particularly maudlin relative gets their way.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: quintett op.57 on June 20, 2007, 03:00:12 PM
Kreutzer sonata I think
Or Haydn's piano sonata HOB.XVI:49

If I had to choose a requiem : Ein Deutsche Requiem
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Bogey on June 20, 2007, 03:03:14 PM
During the service:

A live perfomance of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 (Prelude)

When they're putting me in the ground or spreading my ashes, something on the bagpipes.
Title: The Faure Requiem
Post by: Xenophanes on June 20, 2007, 04:28:44 PM
Not that it's the greatest requiem but for me it most fits the emotional situation, moving from solemn sadness to hope. I think people need to face the reality of the death, move through it, and get beyond it. I think the Faure does that.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: m_gigena on June 20, 2007, 04:31:41 PM
Quote from: MahlerTitan on June 19, 2007, 08:59:23 PM
I called it first: Bruckner's 7th symphony second movement.

in fact i told a friend about it already, when i die, i want the adagio to bruckner's 7th be played!

What if your friend dies first?
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Bonehelm on June 20, 2007, 05:39:08 PM
Quote from: Manuel on June 20, 2007, 04:31:41 PM
What if your friend dies first?

Ohhhh !!!  :D
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: max on June 20, 2007, 06:12:29 PM
Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music, the Istvan Kertesz version and Schubert's Deutsche Messe. I also wouldn't mind the Sailor's chorus from the Flying Dutchman. 8).

But I won't object if only the long silences of a Bruckner symphony are 'played'.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Valentino on June 20, 2007, 11:02:03 PM
That's good fun! Zeeleute, Zeeleute! at a funeral says something.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: mahlertitan on June 20, 2007, 11:38:21 PM
Quote from: Manuel on June 20, 2007, 04:31:41 PM
What if your friend dies first?

good riddance.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: carlos on June 21, 2007, 04:45:11 AM
I would accept any piece; only want it to sound

loud enough so as I could hear it well.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: BachQ on June 21, 2007, 04:46:55 AM
Cherubini, Marche Funebre
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Haffner on June 21, 2007, 01:24:14 PM
Quote from: Rabin_Fan on June 20, 2007, 02:14:10 PM
Mahler 4, 4th mvt makes sense as the soprano sings about the delights of heaven.





Wunderbar!
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Bonehelm on June 21, 2007, 01:28:34 PM
Quote from: carlos on June 21, 2007, 04:45:11 AM
I would accept any piece; only want it to sound

loud enough so as I could hear it well.

I'm afraid that's going to need an earth-shattering, Mahlerian piece and orchestra !  0:)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Haffner on June 21, 2007, 01:31:30 PM
Has anyone mentioned the first movement of Mahler's 9th, or the last of his 6th?
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: greg on June 21, 2007, 01:32:30 PM
4'33"
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Haffner on June 21, 2007, 01:35:48 PM
Quote from: greg on June 21, 2007, 01:32:30 PM
4'33"




Huh?
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Solitary Wanderer on June 21, 2007, 01:39:04 PM
Quote from: Haffner on June 21, 2007, 01:35:48 PM



Huh?

Its 4'33" of silence by Glass, Reich or Riley [?]
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Haffner on June 21, 2007, 01:41:08 PM
Quote from: Solitary Wanderer on June 21, 2007, 01:39:04 PM
Its 4'33" of silence by Glass, Reich or Riley [?]






OOOOOooohhhh (Andy makes a sound halfway between a "duh" and "doh".)

Thank you, SW!
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Solitary Wanderer on June 21, 2007, 01:49:30 PM
Quote from: Haffner on June 21, 2007, 01:41:08 PM





OOOOOooohhhh (Andy makes a sound halfway between a "duh" and "doh".)

Thank you, SW!

I just did a search. Its by John Cage from 1951 :)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Solitary Wanderer on June 21, 2007, 01:51:05 PM
 Heres the score (http://solomonsmusic.net/Allais_silence.gif)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: PSmith08 on June 21, 2007, 01:52:50 PM
Quote from: Solitary Wanderer on June 21, 2007, 01:51:05 PM
Heres the score (http://solomonsmusic.net/Allais_silence.gif)

You sure? I thought Cage just marked three movements "tacet," as opposed to setting out anything in stave notation.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Solitary Wanderer on June 21, 2007, 01:55:10 PM
Quote from: PSmith08 on June 21, 2007, 01:52:50 PM
You sure? I thought Cage just marked three movements "tacet," as opposed to setting out anything in stave notation.

This (http://solomonsmusic.net/4min33se.htm) is the link I found :)

I, too thought the 'score' looked 'odd'  :)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: orbital on June 21, 2007, 01:57:56 PM
Quote from: Bunny on June 20, 2007, 12:53:06 PM
Funerals in the synagogue?  I think you mean the memorial chapel.  they never bring a dead body into the Shul. 
I mean the part where there is the religious ceremony (the car with the casket waiting outside) inside the synagogue. But that is all there is to a Jewish funeral AFAIR  ::)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: PSmith08 on June 21, 2007, 02:03:25 PM
Quote from: Solitary Wanderer on June 21, 2007, 01:55:10 PM
This (http://solomonsmusic.net/4min33se.htm) is the link I found :)

I, too thought the 'score' looked 'odd'  :)

The score there is to Allais' "funeral march," here is the description of Cage's score:

QuoteThe original Woodstock manuscript, dated August 1952, is now lost and was written in conventional grand staff notation, containing measures of silence. It is here referred to as the Woodstock ms. It was this score that David Tudor used for the premiere performance. Tudor made at least two reconstructions of this score for his own performances.

      The original was on music paper, with staffs, and it was laid out in measures like the Music of Changes except there were no notes. But the time was there, notated exactly like the Music of Changes except that the tempo never changed, and there were no occurrences -- just blank measures, no rests -- and the time was easy to compute. The tempo was 60.47

The second manuscript (1953) was a birthday gift to Cage's friend, Irwin Kremen, and is here referred to as the Kremen ms (Kremen manuscript). It was written in graphic, space-time notation, where each movement was drawn as a time line in which each second is equal to an eighth of an inch. This is one of Cage's earliest graphic scores. It specifies the movement lengths as: 30", 2'23", and 1'40". In 1993, it was reproduced in Peters edition 6777a.

A third version, here designated First Tacet Edition, is the one that is most well known and used by performers and is now out of print, Peters No. 6777 (1960). The author has not seen a manuscript version of this edition. It is a typewritten score that simply lists the three movements with Roman numbers with the word "TACET" (silent) below each. Below that is the following statement:

      NOTE: The title of this work is the total length in minutes and seconds of its performance. At Woodstock, N.Y., August 29, 1952, the title was 4'33" and the three parts were 33", 2'40", and 1'20". It was performed by David Tudor, pianist, who indicated the beginnings of parts by closing, the endings by opening, the keyboard lid. However, the work may be performed by (any) instrumentalist or combination of instrumentalists and last any length of time.

      FOR IRWIN KREMEN                               JOHN CAGE

This statement is very curious. The timings Cage gave here for the Woodstock performance are not correct, because the original printed program shows that the timings were not 33", 2'40", and 1'20", but 30", 2'23", and 1'40". This raises an important question: Why would he give incorrect timings for the Woodstock performance? (A proposition is given below.)

A fourth version was a facsimile of the Kremen ms, but reduced in size, and was printed in Source in July, 1967. In performance it is the same as the original Kremen ms. It is here referred to as the Source Edition.

A fifth version, published by Henmar Press in 1986 curiously carries the same Peters listing (No. 6777). Here referred to as the Second Tacet Edition, it is nearly the same as the first, with the important exception that it was printed in Cage's own calligraphy, with the following statement added before the last sentence of the above:

      After the Woodstock performance, a copy in proportional notation was made for Irwin Kremen. In it the timelengths of the movements were 30", 2'23", and 1'40".

This is a puzzling statement. How could one have been a copy of the other when the timings were different? (The timings are the essence of the piece.) Of what is the Kremen edition a copy? It could not have been a copy of the original, since the original was lost. Additionally, the original timings were not 33", 2'40", and 1'20" but the ones Cage made for the Kremen ms. It is also significant that Cage does not state that the piece was recomposed. One possible hypothesis is that the Tacet Editions were secondary, and that they were made in error.

A sixth version is Peters No. 6777a (1993), which is an exact reproduction of the Kremen ms. It is referred to here as the Kremen Edition.

The following table shows the movement lengths for the two different timings represented in the various versions. The proportions shown are the percentages of the total length.

I don't think I'm going to get too worked up over all this, then.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: max on June 21, 2007, 10:28:15 PM
Quote from: Valentino on June 20, 2007, 11:02:03 PM
That's good fun! Zeeleute, Zeeleute! at a funeral says something.

They would at least know how to properly toast the departed! ;D
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: greg on June 22, 2007, 06:03:27 AM
no, this is the score to 4'33":


(http://g.sheetmusicplus.com/Look-Inside/large/1008430_01.jpg)
(http://g.sheetmusicplus.com/Look-Inside/large/1008430_02.jpg)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Bulldog on December 14, 2008, 08:35:50 PM
Quote from: Two-Tone on December 14, 2008, 08:27:21 PM
Why should I care? I don't plan on coming to my funeral  ;D

If you're not there, I'm not going either.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Brian on December 15, 2008, 12:56:57 PM
Quote from: Bulldog on December 14, 2008, 08:35:50 PM
If you're not there, I'm not going either.

(http://www.seattlechoralcompany.org/Images/applause.jpg)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Daverz on December 15, 2008, 01:02:44 PM
Quote from: Two-Tone on December 14, 2008, 08:42:02 PM
The only reason I could think of to come to my funeral would be to see for myself whose tears are real and whose are not. But as I am often fooled by my wife's crocodile stuff, why risk being fooled by my girl-friend as well?  8)

And then there are the folks who came just to make sure you're really dead.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: mahler10th on December 15, 2008, 01:27:41 PM
When I die I will posthumously arrange for Goecki's "Amen" to be played as I burn in the chamber.  If it isn't played, I will rise from the dead and sing it myself.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: donaldopato on December 15, 2008, 01:38:09 PM
A complete performance of Mahler's 10th would be nice, but I would settle for Messiaen's "Dieu Parmi Nous".

Will probably get neither, but I won't mind.  ;)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Kullervo on December 15, 2008, 01:42:21 PM
I don't think so highly of my person as to have some great, heartrending masterpiece played at my funeral.

The feedback of a microphone on karaoke night at an Applebee's, or the sound of a dog barking in the distance would be more appropriate.  ;D
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Dundonnell on December 15, 2008, 03:43:09 PM
Quote from: Corey on December 15, 2008, 01:42:21 PM
I don't think so highly of my person as to have some great, heartrending masterpiece played at my funeral.

The feedback of a microphone on karaoke night at an Applebee's, or the sound of a dog barking in the distance would be more appropriate.  ;D

Oh, Corey...that's kind of sad :(

I would like the Finale of Mahler's 2nd at mine.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Dancing Divertimentian on December 15, 2008, 04:51:11 PM
Across The Universe by The Beatles.


Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: karlhenning on December 15, 2008, 05:18:18 PM
Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Opus 96
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Dundonnell on December 15, 2008, 05:27:08 PM
Quote from: karlhenning on December 15, 2008, 05:18:18 PM
Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Opus 96

With or Without Fireworks, Karl? ;D
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: greg on December 15, 2008, 07:04:25 PM
Quote from: karlhenning on December 15, 2008, 05:18:18 PM
Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Opus 96
Hm...... mine is slightly similar.

The opening movement of Shostakovich's 9th would be cool to me......

(with pirate costumes, of course)



As Mahler said, f*ck tradition.  8)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Kullervo on December 15, 2008, 07:40:52 PM
Quote from: Dundonnell on December 15, 2008, 03:43:09 PM
Oh, Corey...that's kind of sad :(

Hehe. If I had to have something played for the benefit of my friends and family it would be the slow movement of Sibelius's 5th.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Haffner on December 22, 2008, 04:15:30 PM
Beethoven opus 132, Heiliger Dankesang (Borodin String Quartet)
"Catch the Rainbow" (off of Rainbow Live in Germany)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Christo on December 23, 2008, 05:04:36 AM
Richard Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen 8)

if that takes a bit too long, my personal choice would remain:

Ralph Vaughan Williams, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis  0:)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Norbeone on December 25, 2008, 03:56:38 PM
The unfinished fugue from Bach's Art of the Fugue. Either played live (string quartet or organ) or Glenn Gould's recording.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Anne on December 27, 2008, 11:12:23 PM
"Mille Cherbini in coro" an Italian cradle song, sung by Pavarotti on his Christmas album.

For later in life at the wedding Schubert's "Ave Maria."

I haven't figured out the next piece - something to do with children.

For the death and funeral I'd like Siegfried's death and funeral march.  The very last thoughts would be Mahler's 9th because it beautifully is full of the acceptance of death and the passing into the next life so peacefully.

We had music similar to the above when my father passed away (we did omit Wagner as it was not a religious work).  Many people stopped and said it was a beautiful service.  For my husband's funeral I do not remember even one piece of music played.  The children chose the music.  That's not quite right as Schubert's "Ave Maria" was played.

Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Wanderer on December 28, 2008, 02:49:31 AM
Quote from: G$ on June 22, 2007, 06:03:27 AM
no, this is the score to 4'33":

"Copyrighted Material"

One can almost smell the irony.


Quote from: Solitary Wanderer on June 19, 2007, 07:18:28 PM
What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?

I already have it written in my Will that it will be...

Prelude to Act .1. Lohengrin   BP/HvK

Good choice. Are there any penalties for not following the instructions? Imagine the looks on the faces of the disinherited ones once they discover they erroneously played the prelude to act 3...


As for me, the usual Orthodox service (chanted appropriately) will suffice. They can play whatever they like later at the reception.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Anne on December 30, 2008, 09:36:14 PM
Quote from: AndyD. on June 20, 2007, 06:38:25 AM



Hey I didn't know that Beethoven's Missa Solemnis was actually used in Catholic services! Thanks for that information, Anne!

Hi Andy,

Maybe I shouldn't have said that.  I highly doubt the church would want a mass broken up and only part of the music played.  I was just saying what I'd like to hear.  Actually, playing Wagner next to Missa Solemnis, on second thought, does not seem to go together very well.  I'd be curious to know what the church's attitude would be toward MS.

For sure in my town, we'll NEVER have to worry about MS being played here.  The talent is just not there.   
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: ezodisy on December 31, 2008, 03:46:51 AM
Not that I believe in such a tradition, but I would choose the opening piece of Bach's G minor sonata for solo violin, Grumiaux recording would be fine. If some witty soul were to switch CDs and put on the finale of Hartmann's sixth symphony I wouldn't mind (obviously).
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Cato on December 31, 2008, 07:30:10 AM
Quote from: ezodisy on December 31, 2008, 03:46:51 AM
Not that I believe in such a tradition, but I would choose the opening piece of Bach's G minor sonata for solo violin, Grumiaux recording would be fine. If some witty soul were to switch CDs and put on the finale of Hartmann's sixth symphony I wouldn't mind (obviously).

Dude! The Hartmann Sixth Finale would be rawking awesome at a funeral!   8)

On the other hand, I will have to admit that I have been thinking quite a bit about Death these days: for various reasons I would like the last 3 or 4 minutes of the slow movement from Bruckner's Sixth Symphony, where the little funeral march is transformed with difficulty into a resigned, hopeful, accepting ascent.    0:)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Haffner on December 31, 2008, 09:17:29 AM
Quote from: Anne on December 30, 2008, 09:36:14 PM
Hi Andy,

Maybe I shouldn't have said that.  I highly doubt the church would want a mass broken up and only part of the music played.  I was just saying what I'd like to hear.  Actually, playing Wagner next to Missa Solemnis, on second thought, does not seem to go together very well.  I'd be curious to know what the church's attitude would be toward MS.

For sure in my town, we'll NEVER have to worry about MS being played here.  The talent is just not there.   


I would be VERY interested to hear LvB's Missa... played in the context of a Mass. Or even "just" the Kyrie or Santus/Benedictus (both are like being in heaven anyway).
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Bogey on December 31, 2008, 10:09:33 AM
Quote from: Anne on December 30, 2008, 09:36:14 PM
Hi Andy,

Maybe I shouldn't have said that.  I highly doubt the church would want a mass broken up and only part of the music played.  I was just saying what I'd like to hear.  Actually, playing Wagner next to Missa Solemnis, on second thought, does not seem to go together very well.  I'd be curious to know what the church's attitude would be toward MS.

For sure in my town, we'll NEVER have to worry about MS being played here.  The talent is just not there.   
Quote from: AndyD. on December 31, 2008, 09:17:29 AM

I would be VERY interested to hear LvB's Missa... played in the context of a Mass. Or even "just" the Kyrie or Santus/Benedictus (both are like being in heaven anyway).

Here is bit that you both may find interesting my friends:

'Missa Solemnis,' a Divine Bit of Beethoven

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5202103
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: vandermolen on December 31, 2008, 02:29:24 PM
Quote from: Christo on December 23, 2008, 05:04:36 AM
Richard Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen 8)

if that takes a bit too long, my personal choice would remain:

Ralph Vaughan Williams, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis  0:)

Vaughan Williams: Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: ChamberNut on December 31, 2008, 02:31:33 PM
Carter's string quartets.  I won't care anyways, I'll be dead.   :D
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: karlhenning on December 31, 2008, 02:43:41 PM
He'll have written Quartet № 6 by then, you know, Ray.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Christo on December 31, 2008, 04:35:32 PM
Quote from: vandermolen on December 31, 2008, 02:29:24 PM
Vaughan Williams: Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus.

:) Do you identify with Lazarus - or with the rich man?   ;)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Mark G. Simon on December 31, 2008, 06:34:05 PM
Quote from: ChamberNut on December 31, 2008, 02:31:33 PM
Carter's string quartets.  I won't care anyways, I'll be dead.   :D

I read that this actually happened once. Some time in the 1970s a wealthy man in Miami died and he had it in his will that the Juilliard Quartet come down and play the newly composed Carter 3rd Quartet at the memorial service.

As a way of punishing his relatives.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: karlhenning on December 31, 2008, 09:57:05 PM
(What if his relatives liked it? . . .)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: vandermolen on January 01, 2009, 03:25:14 AM
Quote from: Christo on December 31, 2008, 04:35:32 PM
:) Do you identify with Lazarus - or with the rich man?   ;)

No, with Jesus actually  ;D (only joking)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Anne on January 01, 2009, 03:51:45 PM
Thanks, Bogey, for that LvB story.  Gives me points to ponder while listening.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: jchen on January 01, 2009, 04:02:09 PM
lol I am not ready for my funeral  :( I am too young  ::) :P
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: drogulus on January 01, 2009, 04:16:28 PM

     Sun Cycle

    [mp3=200,20,0,center]http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/11/2/1559968/02.%20Sun%20Cycle.mp3[/mp3]
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Dancing Divertimentian on January 01, 2009, 07:25:04 PM
Quote from: jchen on January 01, 2009, 04:02:09 PM
lol I am not ready for my funeral  :( I am too young  ::) :P

But you can't hold it off forever. ;D


Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: greg on January 01, 2009, 08:22:57 PM
Okay, maybe i'll change my mind. Maybe I'll have the ending of Tristan und Isolde played at my funeral. It would be the saddest experience ever.... the next day, we'd need 3 more funerals..... then it'd multiply (but it turns out i'm actually faking my own death). Aha........ thus begins my plan for world domination. Everyone will be dead and I'll have Disney World to myself at last!!!  >:D
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Christo on January 02, 2009, 01:12:45 AM
Quote from: vandermolen on January 01, 2009, 03:25:14 AM
No, with Jesus actually  ;D (only joking)

In that case I woujld advise some resurrection symphony - instead of funeral music.  0:)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: max on January 02, 2009, 10:19:30 PM
Der Vogelfanger bin ich ja!
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Homo Aestheticus on January 03, 2009, 09:32:22 AM
The third movement 'Aria' from Handel's Concerto Grosso Opus 6, No. 12.   

(Berlin Philharmonic/Karajan)

Followed by a purely instrumental version of  The Entry Of The Gods Into Valhalla from  Das Rheingold.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: vandermolen on January 04, 2009, 02:12:11 PM
Quote from: Cato on December 31, 2008, 07:30:10 AM
Dude! The Hartmann Sixth Finale would be rawking awesome at a funeral!   8)

On the other hand, I will have to admit that I have been thinking quite a bit about Death these days: for various reasons I would like the last 3 or 4 minutes of the slow movement from Bruckner's Sixth Symphony, where the little funeral march is transformed with difficulty into a resigned, hopeful, accepting ascent.    0:)

A wonderful choice I think (Bruckner)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: donaldopato on January 04, 2009, 04:43:13 PM
Messiaen's "Dieu Parmi Nous". I love that grand "Hollywood" ending. Besides I know most of the people at my funeral would be absolutely baffled and that would please me to no end.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Dundonnell on January 04, 2009, 05:52:15 PM
Quote from: donaldopato on January 04, 2009, 04:43:13 PM
Messiaen's "Dieu Parmi Nous". I love that grand "Hollywood" ending. Besides I know most of the people at my funeral would be absolutely baffled and that would please me to no end.

What an excellent idea :)

I remember sitting beside an organist who was playing the work and watching in awe as he used the organ pedals to underpin that glorious, thunderous final climax to the piece.

Quite wonderful ;D
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: donaldopato on January 04, 2009, 06:00:00 PM
It is a stunning piece to watch. A friend of mine is a wonderful organist and played it for me on a fabulous Cassavant, using a score autographed by Messien. As like you, I was sitting next to him, mouth agape.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Dundonnell on January 04, 2009, 06:14:17 PM
Quote from: donaldopato on January 04, 2009, 06:00:00 PM
It is a stunning piece to watch. A friend of mine is a wonderful organist and played it for me on a fabulous Cassavant, using a score autographed by Messien. As like you, I was sitting next to him, mouth agape.

Marvellous :)
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Bu on January 05, 2009, 06:40:08 PM
Quote from: Solitary Wanderer on June 19, 2007, 07:18:28 PM
What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?

Suggestion Diabolique by Prokofiev.......... >:D

Or the Les Adieux piano sonata by Beethoven (with an emphasis on the third movement for those wishing to re-unite in the next world).
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Ten thumbs on January 06, 2009, 01:09:01 AM
I think it unlikely that my mourners will want to sit through a long work. Indeed, at the crematorium the music is liable to be cut off without a sixpence after a few minutes. Therefore I have chosen something very short: Fanny Mendelssohn's song 'Allnächtlich im Traume' - a good illustration of why her brother Felix declared that Fanny's songs are the most beautiful that any person on this earth can make.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: imperfection on January 06, 2009, 08:04:08 PM
Not sure about mine, but I know for sure what DG, EMI, Decca, Philips, Naxos, Hyperion, Sony Classics, BIS, Brilliant, MDG, Centaur, Chandos, Harmonia Mundi, and Testament will play at Harry's:

Ludwig van Beethoven
Rage over a lost penny in G major, Op. 129
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: greg on January 08, 2009, 05:13:53 PM
Quote from: Bu on January 05, 2009, 06:40:08 PM
Suggestion Diabolique by Prokofiev.......... >:D
Oh, man... another awesome idea. Come back as a ghost and jump on the piano during the funeral and start playing it yourself. It might add to the cool creepiness factor just a little bit.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: schweitzeralan on February 14, 2009, 06:49:40 AM
Quote from: Solitary Wanderer on June 19, 2007, 07:18:28 PM
What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?

I already have it written in my Will that it will be...

Prelude to Act .1. Lohengrin   BP/HvK



I'm interested to hear your ideas :



Sibelius' Tapiola.
Title: Re: What piece of music do you want played at your funeral?
Post by: Coopmv on February 14, 2009, 12:53:27 PM
Without a doubt, it will be Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9mEI28XR7c

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale016-Eng3.htm