# Found my funeral music, what's yours?



## JamieHoldham (May 13, 2016)

Hello I have thought about this for some time and I think I have found my funeral music, it is the Adagio from Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata, Adagio and Fuga in C Major, here is the piece and the Adagio starts at the 5:05 marker:






But I thought I could also get a thread going about what other peoples music are for there funeral? Doesn't have to be classical really, whatever you have chosen regardless of genre.

Also make sure you listen to the chord progression at the 8:00 marker, it's certainly worth it if you dont want to listen to the rest of the piece.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Good choice Jamie.
We did a have a topic like this :

http://www.talkclassical.com/42593-if-you-were-going.html


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## JamieHoldham (May 13, 2016)

Pugg said:


> Good choice Jamie.
> We did a have a topic like this :
> 
> http://www.talkclassical.com/42593-if-you-were-going.html


Woops forgot about that, also this is slightly different, what music for your funeral, rather than something you listen to before you die.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

JamieHoldham said:


> Woops forgot about that, also this is slightly different, what music for your funeral, rather than something you listen to before you die.


I am almost sure we did had that one also, I post when I find it.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

For me: Thomas Tallis' "Spem in alium." 

And when this thread eventually dies? What music shall we play to commemorate its demise?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)




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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

This from sting, Nimrod from Elgar and Four last songs by Strauss


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

September by Richard Strauss, Ich bin die welt abhanden gekommen by Mahler, final scene of Tannhauser by Wagner, Amelia by Joni Mitchell and Gates of Eden by Bob Dylan.


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## Ariasexta (Jul 3, 2010)

I have not decided yet, but I guess I will have the musical offering limited to no more than 4 minute.


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## Ariasexta (Jul 3, 2010)

My candidates:

1-One allemande or sarabande from Johann Froberger
2-The opening section of a keyboard variation
3-A piece by Sainte Colombe
4-A ground by Henry Purcell or John Blow
5-A pavan for viol consort 

Theses are what I can think of now.


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

The one and only choice!


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## JamieHoldham (May 13, 2016)

Atrahasis said:


> The one and only choice!


Those funeral expenses are going to be pretty high hiring a entire orchestra..

unless you play it on a CD player


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Glory in Death! 
Full orchestra with greatest choir ever assembled!


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

JamieHoldham said:


> Those funeral expenses are going to be pretty high hiring a entire orchestra..
> 
> unless you play it on a CD player


At 1 hour 20 minutes, renting the facilities will cost a lot even with a CD player.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Faure Paradisium from the Requiem, the slow movement to the Bach double violin concerto, the third movement to LvB's A minor quartet no 15, the final song of Strauss' Four Last Songs and RVW The Lark Ascending

I think I should actually write this down, because knowing my relatives, they'll just probably play something like Stairway to Heaven and The End by the Doors.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Atrahasis said:


> Glory in Death!
> Full orchestra with greatest choir ever assembled!


Going to cost a lot of money.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

"I Feel Good" by James Brown. Give everybody a chuckle! Why not? I mean, you're dead, right?


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## Weird Heather (Aug 24, 2016)

I don't like funerals; they are far too solemn and serious. I will come back and haunt anyone who decides to have such a funeral for me. Years ago, one of my friends went out with a two-day drunken wake instead - something like that would be the best way to react to my demise. The music for such an occasion should be as irreverent as possible. For classical music, P.D.Q. Bach would be appropriate. The Missa Hilarious would definitely be suitable, and I am also partial to the Pervertimento for Bagpipes, Bicycle, and Balloons. Drinking songs and songs with crude lyrics from the English Renaissance/early Baroque time period would work too. Aside from that, I think Spike Jones or "Weird Al" Yankovic would set the appropriate tone, or any sort of music that would be a good accompaniment to a drunken party would be suitable.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

This one works for me:


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## bioluminescentsquid (Jul 22, 2016)

Nothing. I have lived a good life; whether people play music after I've passed doesn't matter a jot.
But while I'm living, I'm going to have plenty of my Bach, Sweelinck, Forqueray, Froberger, Buxtehude, and whatnot, for tomorrow we die! :tiphat:


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

KenOC said:


> "I Feel Good" by James Brown. Give everybody a chuckle! Why not? I mean, you're dead, right?


Well you wouldn't want folks to think that they are singing "I feel good" because you are gone.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

bioluminescentsquid said:


> Nothing. I have lived a good life; whether people play music after I've passed doesn't matter a jot.
> But while I'm living, I'm going to have plenty of my Bach, Sweelinck, Forqueray, Froberger, Buxtehude, and whatnot, for tomorrow we die! :tiphat:


Very wise words actuality, never thought of it that way.


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## bioluminescentsquid (Jul 22, 2016)

But if need be, my music of choice is Sweelinck's Fantasia "Chromatica."








JamieHoldham said:


> Hello I have thought about this for some time and I think I have found my funeral music, it is the Adagio from Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata, Adagio and Fuga in C Major..


I really like BWV 564 too - especially the Fugue, played by Koopman at a breakneck speed on a 16' plenum!


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

*F. J. Haydn* _String Quartet in G minor, Op. 20 no. 3_: 3rd movement

as performed by Quatuor Mosaïques

This, in my opinion is about the most beautiful thing in all of musicdom.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

At my gravesite: the violin obligato from the Benedictus to Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Something uplifting and cheerful, trouble is I don't know what!


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

^
Won't this work like the colour yellow? It intensifies positive emotions when you feel happy, but makes you feel much worse if you feel unhappy. Adding a major key to the depressing or menacing songs like in some lieder in Schubert's Winterreise cycle and you get really sickening mix, much worse than anything in minor key. Can be tough on your mourning audience.
Anyway, one thing is sure, that I don't want to hear any music I heard during the funeral ever again. It leaves an unpleasant residue in my mind.


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## Vinyl (Jan 22, 2014)

At the grave of Richard Wagner by Liszt. 
It's short, sufficiently melancholy, and resolves beautifully. Perfect.


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## Genoveva (Nov 9, 2010)

Pugg said:


> I am almost sure we did had that one also, I post when I find it.


This one, perhaps?

www.talkclassical.com/18710-what-would-you-choose.html


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I will have silence. When I die I expect the entire world to listen to no music, wear black, not speak, eat no refined carbohydrates, and have no sex for a year.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I haven't chosen the hymns yet, or the sacred music - I don't really want to think about it - but at some point I'd like to have bagpipes playing the Atholl Highlanders. 






_(Fine stirring music from the Ladies from Hell, but not actually in the Place, God forbid...)_


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

our forum goes deeply mystical /otherworldly/ stoical or whatever you might call it with threads like this and some in religious music thread , just an observation. well, why not?


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

_Der Hölle Rache_, from the Magic Flute, and the _In Paradisum_ from Fauré's Requiem

...I'm hedging my bets


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Probably the 3rd movement of Beethoven's Symphony 7, followed by Threads by This Will Destroy You and probably a Black Sabbath song to go into the furnace by. Summat like 'Never say Die' or 'Killing Yourself to Live'. My mate wants them to play Burn Motherf*cker Burn by Five Finger Death Punch.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> I will have silence. When I die I expect the entire world to listen to no music, wear black, not speak, eat no refined carbohydrates, and have no sex for a year.


Well yes. Obviously.


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## adrien (Sep 12, 2016)

For me it would have to be the first band I signed


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## bioluminescentsquid (Jul 22, 2016)

Woodduck said:


> I will have silence. When I die I expect the entire world to listen to no music, wear black, not speak, eat no refined carbohydrates, and have no sex for a year.


I really hope that I die before you... I can't live without my refined carbohydrates, among other things.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> I will have silence. When I die I expect the entire world to listen to no music, wear black, not speak, eat no refined carbohydrates, and have no sex for a year.


That's so cruel :lol:


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## OldFashionedGirl (Jul 21, 2013)

The fourth movement from Mahler 2nd Symphony.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)




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## James Mann (Sep 6, 2016)

I would appreciate some Brahms performed at my funeral, but I would also consider some Mozart. I would prefer to go out joyfully!


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Wow, there are some great choices in this thread. I can't wait for everyone to die so that I can enjoy all this great music:devil:


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## worov (Oct 12, 2012)




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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Triplets said:


> Wow, there are some great choices in this thread. I can't wait for everyone to die so that I can enjoy all this great music:devil:


You have to get an invite first.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Merl said:


> Burn Motherf*cker Burn by Five Finger Death Punch.


I have to wonder what drove them to come up with a song title like that, much less the band name.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Florestan said:


> I have to wonder what drove them to come up with a song title like that, much less the band name.


Anarchy against all Florestan .


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

I don't care if it would be executed fully because I'm dead by then (hopefully) but my list would be:
- Amnerika by Frank Zappa
- Amelia by Joni Mitchell (in the live version with Pat Metheny's guitar solo)
- 60 seconds over Tokyo by Pere Ubu
- A Love Supreme by the John Coltrane Quartet
- all the string quartets and Cantata profana by Béla Bartók
- Faust Cantata by Alfred Schnittke
- Third by the Soft Machine and Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt
- Riding the wind by the Mihály Dresch Quartet (especially The Great Plains)
- Messiaen's Transport de joie d'une âme
- some Russian Choir Music by Lvov with Nikolas Tichomiroff's bass
- a lot of Bulgarian, Rumanian, Serbian and Albanian folk music
- and so much more


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Pugg said:


> Anarchy against all Florestan .


I take such as a sign of great frustration with the state of the world. I too am frustrated with the state of the world, but look for the better world to come, which world's advent won't be achieved through wars or regulations.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I'd probably have to go with "O Sacrum Convivium" by Messiaen.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)




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## Dedalus (Jun 27, 2014)

Whatever the attendees at my funeral wanted to listen to. Funerals are for the living to mourn; they aren't for the dead.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

J.S. Bach Jesu, meine Zuversicht; BWV 728
Marie-Claire Alain, organ

Only 2 minutes in length; sweet and achingly beautiful. May be played on a continuous loop as provided in my will.

It is hoped SOMEBODY there will connect with this and will pursue more Bach!

However I wouldn't hold my breath....since that would probably kill me.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Dedalus said:


> Whatever the attendees at my funeral wanted to listen to. Funerals are for the living to mourn; they aren't for the dead.


A nice sentiment, but I'm not going to risk them playing Kool & The Gang's "Celebrate good times" as they pack me off to Hades.


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## jenspen (Apr 25, 2015)

As I've passed the biblical span, I've made the arrangements. I don't want an funeral as such, but to be cremated and have a post-ashes-scatter gathering at which they could play DFD singing the aria Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen from 



 and I've shown them the CD, which is in the same file as the will.

Though, as has already been pointed out, the funeral is for the living so I don't care if my heirs and assigns decide to play something they'd like instead.

For instance, I made a mistake when I was asked to choose music for the funeral of an old friend who'd had a shortish career as a professional singer and died unexpectedly and too young. After a couple of suitable arias from her repertoire, I chose, as the last piece of music, "Des Baches Wiegenlied" from what my friend had told me was the most moving performance she had ever been present at - "Die schöne Müllerin" sung by Gerard Souzay.

She loved it, I loved it. Her family hated it because it was not "proper music". After all, the funeral was for them.


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## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

I will not be able to hear it, so whatever they play on my funeral will not matter


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)




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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Here is a good funeral music which was written by Felix as he wrung out his anguish over the death of his beloved sister, Fanny:


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

Jollity Farm by The Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band


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## jailhouse (Sep 2, 2016)

Tristan said:


> I'd probably have to go with "O Sacrum Convivium" by Messiaen.


probably me 2.

id probably follow that up with the final 8 or so minutes of mahler's 2nd.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

The sound of silence seems appropriate .


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## Guest (Oct 5, 2016)

No need for funeral music here, I'm going to live forever


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Leman said:


> No need for funeral music here, I'm going to live forever


That's the spirit!!! :lol:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Leman said:


> No need for funeral music here, I'm going to live forever


 One can only dream. ..


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

This is a nice thread.

Now perhaps we can discuss types of caskets. Plain pine vs. laminated mahogany, for example?


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## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

hpowders said:


> This is a nice thread.
> 
> Now perhaps we can discuss types of caskets. Plain pine vs. laminated mahogany, for example?


Bury me in a coffin shaped like a Pokeball.


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## Genoveva (Nov 9, 2010)

Leman said:


> No need for funeral music here, I'm going to live forever


I spotted a newspaper article a few days ago reporting that some recent scientific research suggests that human life spans have flattened out over recent decades and are likely to peak out at about 115 years on average some time in the future. This was based on analysis of longevity data for France, Japan, UK and US. The gist of it was that as we get older, we inevitably incur damage to our DNA. While medical advances and general increases in affluence have improved life expectancy considerably over recent centuries, there are simply too many of our bodily functions that will begin to fail sooner or later and which science cannot be expected to solve.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Who wants to live forever? I want to live for an indefinite period of time staying at current age (35, ok, maybe 30 is better, or 25 ) and with option to "pull the plug".


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)




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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

:tiphat:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Stones, Sympathy for the Devil. I'm hedging my bets.


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## Friendlyneighbourhood (Oct 8, 2016)

This is mine:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Flamme said:


>


I wont attend that funeral.


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## Vinski (Dec 16, 2012)

Keep 'em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you!


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## LOLWUT (Oct 12, 2016)

I would choose my favourite piece in the whole world, the adagio from Mahler's Third.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

LOLWUT said:


> I would choose my favourite piece in the whole world, the adagio from Mahler's Third.


Don't forget to mention it in your last will.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

I don't want people to leave the funeral thinking that I was a long-winded, boring jerk. They know that already! So I'll pick three minutes of perfection and have Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus, K. 618.


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