Music for my mother's funeral - help please Options

[klavierkat]

I wonder if you lovely organists out there could help me? My mother very sadly passed away last Monday night and i am putting together the order of service. She was keen on organ music (mainly loud upbeat pieces!) but wonder if you could suggest something more suitable for her funeral? I know she liked Jesu joy of man's desiring and Albinoni's Adagio but these are a little predictable. We have 2 lovely hymns, and I'm thinking of playing a recording of Brahms' How lovely are Thy Dwellings for a period of reflection during the service. Many thanks for your ideas.

[Tosher]

If the organist is up to it...'Elegy' by Thalben-Ball or 'Solemn Melody' by Walford-Davies may be very appropriate.

Tosher

[mrbouffant]

"Salix" or "Lantana" from Percy Whitlock's "Plymouth Suite" are beautiful miniatures.

The Bach B minor fugue on a theme of Corelli is also sufficiently attractive but appropriate for an occasion such as a funeral.

[Barry Toner]

If the organist is up to it...'Elegy' by Thalben-Ball or 'Solemn Melody' by Walford-Davies may be very appropriate.

Tosher

We had exactly those two pieces in that order for my mother's funeral a few years ago and I would have suggested them, but Tosher got there first.

I particularly liked the Walford-Davies as the tune has also been set as an anthem to the words "Had we but hearkened to thy words" (she and most of the family are church singers). Recording of organ version in youtube here.

[Listener]

Many sympathies on the loss of your mother and hope the service goes as you wish and gives you a treasured memory

We wanted an upbeat service that would carry people through but disagreed in a v gentlemanly/ladylike way (!) about the hymns. Unbeknownst to us, the minster asked the organist to do an impro on the third [i.e. the one left out] during the committal, which was a lovely surprise (we'd just asked that s/he played something appropriate and left it to his/her expertise).

[Vox Humana]

Sorry to hear about your mother, klavierkat. Are you looking for CD suggestions or is there going to be an organist? Either way, I think the suggestions above are good ones. I often play the coffin out to the Thalben-Ball Elegy, but it goes just as well before the service. For a "big" concluding voluntary, any of Bach's big minor key Preludes and Fugues would suit well. Another tuneful piece that I have trotted out a lot recently before funerals is Percy Whitlock's Folk Tune.

If the organ is going to be played, it would be best to contact the organist and discuss the music. Unless they are very proficient they won't have time to find and learn anything new and it's more important to choose something that they are happy playing and that will befit the occasion.

Some very easy pieces (easy for both performer and listener) suitable for playing before funerals are:
Stanley Vann: A Tender Spiritual
Enrico Passini: Cantabile no.30
Charles Camilleri: Wine of Peace
Britten: Prelude to "They Walk alone" (a bit similar in concept to the Camilleri though and, so far as I know, only available in a prohibitively expensive volume of all Britten's organ music).

[Czerny]

I hope it's not inappropriate or disrespectful to suggest that if your mother particularly liked upbeat pieces perhaps it would be nice to include one in the service. There will still be room for some more contemplative music as well.

[Vox Humana]

In the quiet but cheerful category there's Pietro Yon's Humoresque "L'Organo Primitivo" (also known as Toccatina).

Bach's chorale prelude In dir ist Freude is louder and joyful.

[oldnotes]

The slow movement from Dvorak's New World symphony - 'Going Home'. I've heard it just once at a funeral and it was very moving.

[Swell Box]

The GTB Elegy and Whitlock Folk Tune are both suitable, but quite similar, so I don't think you would want both at the same ceremony.

Elgar's Nimrod is also popular, but is probably better suited where there is a military connection.

Sir George Thalben Ball succeeded Sir Walford Davies as Organist of the Temple Church in London. It is said that the GTB Elegy is an inversion of the Walford Davies solemn Melody. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

SB

[Stephen Barber]

Sir George Thalben Ball succeeded Sir Walford Davies as Organist of the Temple Church in London. It is said that the GTB Elegy is an inversion of the Walford Davies solemn Melody. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)
SB

The Elegy was improvised at the end of a radio broadcast of choral evensong: Walford Davies asked GTB to "play a beautiful melody". So he played what he knew Walford Davies wanted: "a long, singable, rising and falling line, similar to Sir Walford's own Solemn Melody."

Probably too late now for the OP, but I don't think you can go wrong with Bach.

Pieces I play before include:
Bach: Ich ruf zu dir", Archer: Adagio (from Suite for organ), Paul Manz: Aria, Grieg: Last Spring (from the OUP Grieg album), Guilmant: Adagio from Sonata in C minor (A Graded Anthology, Book 5), Vierne: Adagio from 3rd Symphony, & Reverie (from the 24 Pieces en Style Libre). And, I agree that Whitlock's Folk Tune is excellent.

Afterwards: as well as any of the big Bach pieces and the previous recommendations, Karg-Elert's Nun Danket (depending on the mood of the funeral).

[Keyhorn]

...

Pieces I play before include:
Bach: Ich ruf zu dir", Archer: Adagio (from Suite for organ), Paul Manz: Aria, Grieg: Last Spring (from the OUP Grieg album), Guilmant: Adagio from Sonata in C minor (A Graded Anthology, Book 5), Vierne: Adagio from 3rd Symphony, & Reverie (from the 24 Pieces en Style Libre). And, I agree that Whitlock's Folk Tune is excellent.

Afterwards: as well as any of the big Bach pieces and the previous recommendations, Karg-Elert's Nun Danket (depending on the mood of the funeral).

Frequently, to add to the list above, I play the Bach: Schmucke dich, O liebe Seele - in a sort of prophetic sense. It often seem to hit the mark whilst the mourners are foregathering.