Music at my funeral

Today is the day that I will sit down and plan my own funeral, not the entire rite, but the music. Some will ask me if I am feeling poorly. Not at all. My arthritis continues to exert influence; hearing joins sight in disadvantage; diabetic management continues apace, and my memory fails increasingly each day. Otherwise, all systems are go, go, go.

Some will say “why bother” as you won’t be there in the room at your own funeral. Who knows? Possibly I will watch from a muted distance. I once attended a memorial service for a friend who was a spiritualist; half the attendees were convinced she was with us in the room. Maybe she was; I was careful what I said or thought.

At least I won’t have to play for my own funeral. I am an organist after all who once attended a funeral for someone who I later learned had left instructions in her will that I should be invited to play for her service. I learned this part way through the final hymn. Guess that’s why she left me no inheritance.

With thanks to Jessica Jo on Facebook I discovered a wonderful thread of imaginative suggestions for a musicians’ funeral. The list of selections below is both instructive and entertaining. Favourite pieces of music include (in no particular order) include the following. I have also included YouTube links where the music is less familiar):

How great thou art

Christ the Lord is risen today

When the roll is called up yonder

Bloom where you’re plant (no cremation please)

What wondrous love is this – Most popular on this list

Palestrina sicut cervus (As the deer longs for water – Psalm 42)

Eternal Father strong to save (The Navy hymn)

Amazing Grace coupled with some ragtime pieces

I want to walk as a child of the light

For all the saints

Hark the herald angels sing

Nearer my God to thee

Abide with me

The tune THAXTED

The strife is o’er

Lift high the cross

I heard the voice of Jesus say (The Rowan Tree)

The King of Love my shepherd is

Be still and know that I am God

Guide me O Thou great Jehovah

Be Thou my vision

My song is love unknown

Nimrod, Elgar

Cortege et Litanie, Dupre

Praise my soul the king of heaven

Be still my soul, Finlandia

Gabriel’s Oboe, from the movie The Mission

Jesus joy of man’s desiring

And can it be,

How lovely is thy dwelling place, from Brahms requiem

Because he lives

All hail the power of Jesus’ name

How can I keep from singing

Here I am Lord

When all the saints go margining in

Love divine all loves excelling

The selections above hint at a broad range of churchmanship and life experience. Musicians spend so much time caring for the needs of others it may be quite helpful to consider how we may wish our musical legacy to emerge amidst our own last rites. Some have thought this through in great detail. See one example here.

So what music would I propose for my own funeral? The Paul Anka tune My Way might be an honest reflection for myself, though its swish arrogance may not be ideal. While I worked in many musical styles over the years in many settings, my preferences are almost uniformly classical. I would love it if the following could be included in some fashion:

Cortege et Litanie

How can I keep from singing

Wondrous Love

Gabriel’s Oboe

Nimrod

So what about you, dear reader? As the saints come marching in, how do you wish to go out? Do tell.