SATB Funeral music needed
  • lmassery
    Posts: 405
    Dear Friends - one of my choir members passed away suddenly and the funeral is Saturday - since most of the choir will be able to attend the funeral, I'm in need of something simple for satb, asap. Something that can be put together in 10 or 15 minutes. Any ideas!? thanks
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,185
    Sorry to hear about the sudden death. Here are a couple of pieces you might consider:

    Goss: God so loved the world
    Ingegneri: O bone Iesu
  • Fr. Jim Chepponis
    Posts: 220
    My sympathy and prayers.

    A possibility for an easy piece would be for the choir to "dress up" an appropriate hymn. One that could work is "Jerusalem, My Happy Home" (LAND OF REST) as a 2-part canon between men and women.

    If your choir hymnal has an SATB version of "The Living God, My Shepherd Is" (BR. JAMES' AIR), that would work as well, perhaps alternating stanzas between unison (men or women) and SATB.

    I've always thought that "What Wondrous Love Is This" (WONDROUS LOVE) would be quite fitting for a singer's funeral, since it has so many references to singing. The third stanza seems so appropriate: "And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on." However, I don't think this hymn has a standard SATB arrangement.
    Thanked by 1ny_ct_fl_ms_organist
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Not SATB, but the SEP is wonderful. I used it a number of months ago for someone who did not want 'distracting noise' as he put it.
  • Andrew Motyka
    Posts: 944
    Let me piggyback on Fr. Chepponis' suggestion of LAND OF REST by pointing out that Tietze's Introit Hymns has a decent setting of the Requiem aeternam set to that tune.
  • mrcoppermrcopper
    Posts: 653
    Some may feel it's not the right tone, but "O Danny Boy" is sometimes used and it is beautiful. I have an online score for SATB a cappella at www.hartenshield.com/0295_danny_boy.pdf and a recording at www.hartenshield.com/0295_danny_boy.mp3 . It is relatively easy to sing.

    William Copper
  • Caleferink
    Posts: 429
    Please be assured of my prayers for you, your choir member, and your choir.

    If your choir already knows it, Mozart's "Ave verum corpus" would be an excellent choice at Communion (or any other setting of that text your choir may know well). I also like Fr. Chepponis' idea of "dressing up" a hymn in a pinch. A couple other ideas I can think of off the top of my head would be Stainer's "God So Loved the World" and Dubois' "Adoramus te Christe" -- again, if your choir is already familiar with either of these.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    re:
    "dressing up" a hymn in a pinch



    I wrote a simple LM hymn, inspired by the Requiem Propers (with just a touch of modern sentimentality). I have sung it to Conditor Alme Siderum, of which there is a wonderful SATB arrangement in the 1906 English Hymnal.

    Here is the hymnal:
    http://archive.org/details/theenglishhymnal00milfuoft

    Conditor Alme is #1 (p33) in that hymnal. If that's too Advent for you, there a bunch others- the 1906 has a lot of really wonderful SATB Chant Hymn Arrangements)

    And of course, there are plenty of non-chant LM Hymns with SATB harmonizations.

    Here is my hymn text (swap out the pronouns as needed, and the doxology if you have another one you prefer):

    Eternal Rest grant her, we pray
    and shine the light of endless day.
    Appoint for her a place with those
    who in You died, and in You rose.

    Lord Jesus Christ, our Glorious King
    protect her soul from suffering.
    Deliver her from darkness deep,
    and give the angels guard to keep.

    Receive our prayer and offering,
    the tears we shed, the songs we sing.
    Accept our sacrifice today
    to aide the soul for whom we pray.

    With her, and with us, Lord be near.
    To You we cry, bend down your ear:
    For in Your mercy there is light,
    You make the darkness ever bright.

    Praise be to God, The Glorious King
    The Father, whom the angels sing.
    Praise be to Christ, His only Son.
    Praise to the Spirit, with Them One.
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    "Be still my soul" FINLANDIA
    "Inscription of hope" Z. Randall Stroope
    "Adoramus te Christe" GPdaPalestrina (or Dubois, easier)
    "Kyrie eleison" set to Faure's Pavane (forget publisher, sorry) as an "alius cantus"


  • lmassery
    Posts: 405
    wow, these are great suggestions. Thank you all for the help and the prayers
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Vaughan Williams "O How Amiable". I used it for the exact same occasion with my last choir.
    Thanked by 1chonak
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,151
    I just posted Adam's Requiem hymn set to my harmonization of EISENACH in another thread.
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • Mad_Dan_EcclesMad_Dan_Eccles
    Posts: 51
    I am sorry this rather too late for your need, but hope that this suggestion may help someone else in future.

    Please let us know what you did sing when you have a spare minute.

    Assuming that borrowing something from the Anglicans is acceptable, Purcell's "Thou Knowest Lord" is a simple and extraordinarily moving setting of one of the funeral sentences from the 1662 BCP. It probably comes off best with treble voices trained in the English fashion, but whenever I hear it, it always gives me dreadful goose bumps in places where a goose should never bump.

    There are other sentences set as part of the same service. To my mind these settings demonstrate more than anything Purcell's genius - achieving such an impact with such simplicity is more than most musicians could ever dream of.

    Tempo is sometimes a bone of contention - there's the "very slightly quicker" school of thought and the "slow it down" school. I incline to the latter, especially in a resonant acoustic; the music seems to broaden out and become far more than human voices.
    Thanked by 2Gavin ScottKChicago
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