Beautiful funeral music

PolskaPiano

Edited to revise the question:

1) Also, I have two beautiful and very capable singers- a soprano and tenor. What is just beautiful that they could sing in the offertory spot. I would love to glean your knowledge. I was thinking Pie Jesu or O Bone Jesu.

2) Communion: The singers know Franck's Panis Angelicus, but the fact that I've used this at sooo many weddings makes it feel like it doesn't fit. However, there will be many priests and many faithful catholics there hoping to sing. We will need a second communion hymn and I'd like it to be a hymn.

3) In Paradisum: I have always used the paraphrase of Subvenite (Old Hundreth/ Come to Their Aid O Saints of God. . . ) Now that I know the Subvenite actually is the Introit, I feel kind of silly using it for the Song of Farewell. However, I don't want to kill myself or the cantors learning too much in 4 days. They are singing for my priest friend's funeral as a favor for me.

I guess I'm feeling a bit like I'm drinking from a firehose here after discovering the propers for a funeral mass and the fact the bishop is celebrating and 30 priests will be there has me second guessing myself a bit.

I appreciate any help or mentoring. I think I have gotten to the point that I am really overthinking this.

And excuse my language, but damn, I only know a sliver of what I should know about liturgy (with a degree in Lit. Music and 12 years experience). After spending hours planning, it is almost painful to read the stripped down prayers from Order of Christian Funerals compared to the beauty and richness of the old prayers. I already feel so spread thin as a DM, but I have got to learn some of these propers. One piece at a time, right?

My first boss (of 9 years) and now good friend has died. He was a good man and priest. I have the honor of planning the music. The bishop will be presiding. At least 30 priests present.

It occurs to me that there may be certain rituals for a priest. In our NO masses, this is the structure I plan from. (Music I am planning to use in parentheses.) I would love to use a beautiful Pie Jesu, but is it odd fitting taking something used in the EF and sticking it in the NO?

Entrance
Psalm
Alleluia
Offertory
(Mass parts) (From lectionary and Missa Simplex)
Communion (Panis Angelicus?)
Song of Farewell
Recessional Hymn (Sing with all the Saints in Glory?)

PS Many of you would have appreciated his intelligence. Though he never peeped a word of song during the liturgy, he had a great appreciation for music. His sister even sang professionally in a regional opera. He always had classical music playing in his office. When I went through his home looking for photos for the funeral luncheon, I came across a library card file of all his music, including composer, year, the conductor, symphony, etc. He also had a copy of Winnie the Poo in Latin on his table. (So many books is numerous languages, but I got a kick out of the Poo book.) I remember when he brought up BXVI's request for renewal of chant in the liturgy. That was my first interaction with chant and it was good. Our old bishop wanted to close down the church because it was a small aging parish. My pastor negotiated to keep it open as long as he was alive. (He was about 75 at the time.) A news team came out to interview him as part of a story on the consolidation in the diocese, and in his gruff way he told them that the only way he'd leave the church was a pine box. Haha. He planned to serve until he passed- but his health forced him out three years ago. I learned so much from his homilies and discussions with him. He will be dearly missed. Thank you for reading along. He would roll over in his grave if he had a eulogy at his funeral. As he put it: if it's good enough for Pope John Paul II (no eulogy), it's good enough for me!

TimTheEnchanter

Before you do anything:

Many priests have their funeral music pre-selected in their will or in another document (I think some dioceses actually require this). Either his family or the diocese should have that information, if it exists, and should get it to you ASAP.

I did a priest's memorial Mass in June, and that was the case. We basically had to do everything he had on the sheet.

PolskaPiano

I was surprised but I connected with one of the priests organizing the funeral. He hadn't picked out music to my knowledge. I did get some good ideas from the priest. I feel a little better that I don't have to "try too hard" and can pick some songs for the people to sing as well

dad29

To my knowledge, there is no bar to using a Pie Jesu during an OF Mass; you could certainly use it as an offering during the Communion after the antiphon is sung. Consider using the Chant In Paradisum and Canticle of Zachary following your recessional. There is ALSO no bar to using the Dies Irae, perhaps before the entrance procession.

M. Jackson Osborn

One organ piece that I always play as a voluntary before the service is Bach's Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit. It is excruciatingly appropriate in mood and text. Tradition has it that Bach dictated this organ chorale on his death bed. One could play this by itself on the organ, or, if one had a soloist, one could have the soloist sing the chorale and then play the organ chorale (or vice versa).

CCooze

I know that there are some definitive differences between the OF and EF rites, but even at the Solemn Requiem Mass I just sang this weekend, there wasn't really any extra time at the offertory for a motet, following the chant - it's been a little while since I've sung an OF funeral Mass, though, but I don't see how there could be that much of a difference in timing, at that point?

A setting of "Salve Regina" could be beautiful at Communion, and also quite appropriate.
The solemn tone chant is actually what I just sang, following the Lex Aeterna, and even in our packed little chapel, it ended right as the last communicant received. I'm sure there must be a setting out there that would be good for your singers.

This was the first Requiem, for me, that had the burial site on the same grounds as the chapel, so it was really neat to go straight from the Mass to the Burial rite, getting to see all of the music in its proper and continuous context, rather than having to find a place for the In Paradisum and Canticle of Zachary.

Incardination

A Requiem motet that can either be lengthened or shortened as needed...

mmeladirectress

Sometimes at Offertory of funeral Masses we will sing "O Jesu Christe" - Jacquet de Mantua, AKA Jachet de Mantua, Jachet de Mantoue, Jacquet of Mantua, Jachet de Mantova, Jacques Colebault, Jacobus Collebaudi (!)

Happy to see this thread, I too am looking for beautiful funeral music.

CharlesW

I have used "Pie Jesu" by Faure, Gounod, and others at offertory during our OF funerals. There isn't enough time for music there, but the priest will wait until the soloist finishes. "Panis..." by Franck and the Mozart "Ave Verum" are often requested. "In Paradisum" is sung by the pastor as a solo before the final dismissal. He does it well, so no problem. "Dies Irae" we never use. It represents a mindset from the EF that is discouraged in the current funeral rites. I see no opportunity or desire to bring it back. I haven't been directly forbidden to use it, but its use is discouraged.

btodorovich87

For those like me with limited choral forces at funerals, one Christoph Dalitz has a very simple and effective 2-part Requiem aeternam on CPDL and at his website.

jefe

This tune was brought to my attention by Osborn. The Psalm text and Anglican chant harmony fit very well indeed. This is my realization. But it's the depth of beauty that speaks to me. It can be done in any number of different ways.I have a new titanium shoulder this week, so this it the first I've typed. Our area Priests have a written out orders of the funeral Mass in their personnel file. For my own death I want only a Compline Office to be held and a short mention in the collect.

ryand

I have always used In Paradisum as the final piece of music. If the family wishes (and it is my preference) it is the only thing sung after the dismissal. If they want a hymn, it’s hymn first and the priest waits to leave until In Paradisum.

Did Dies Irae for the first time in my life a few weeks ago at a funeral for a friend’s mother. OF with Gregorian propers and a trinitarian hymn after communion. It was a pleasure and honor to sing for that (no organ, as should be for funerals)

Here is how we planned the music:
1. Open the Gradual

:-)

dad29

getting to see all of the music in its proper and continuous context, rather than having to find a place for the In Paradisum

So with your new understanding of church graveyards being 'right there' on the grounds, and singing the In Paradisum, you also probably know the REAL genesis of the New Orleans ditty "When the Saints Go Marching In".

dad29

"Dies Irae" we never use. It represents a mindset from the EF that is discouraged in the current funeral rites.

To what end is this "discouraged"? I find the zeitgeist-makers to have been in error lots of times, and very honestly I am a pretty even-handed bi-ritual guy.

ryand

“They got rid of texts that smacked of a negative spirituality inherited from the Middle Ages. Thus they removed such familiar and even beloved texts as Libera me, Domine, Dies irae, and others that overemphasized judgment, fear, and despair. These they replaced with texts urging Christian hope and arguably giving more effective expression to faith in the resurrection.[3]”

+Bugnini

To my knowledge it is not forbidden, but it was removed from the ritual books as the sequence. For all the other nonsense that’s allowed under the umbrella of alius cantus aptus, I think it’s fine to include, unless you’re a modernist archbishop who is scared of scary things.

dad29

In THESE days, I would think that any sensible Bishop would be 'scared' of death, judgment, heaven, and hell. At the very least, he should be afraid of angry parents. It's no longer a sacrilege to smack a priest or Bish in the chops, since the 1983 Code came out.

Heh.

CCooze

I've always said that it is good for Christians to have a healthy fear of hell!
Nowadays, the second a person dies, "another angel has gotten his/her wings." Blegh...

With the Protestant mindset of heaven and hell, with no purgatory, the logical end would be that pretty much everyone went to hell.

Besides, our priest, upon request of the deceased, read the full Dies Irae in English at the end-homily. It's beautiful, poignant, and does not cause me to despair, but to remember how unworthy I am of heaven, and that we have hope in the resurrection, but that it isn't assured. As our pastor recently homilized, "God loves us so much, and respects our Free Will so much, that He will allow us to go to Hell, should that be where our choices lead us."

CharlesW

I don't make the rules and just work there. The "Dies Irae" is not a hill I would fight and die on. I agree with the sentiment to put greater emphasis on the Resurrection. After the Black Death, the liturgy took a morbid and dark turn in the west, understandable in that horrid situation with bodies piled everywhere. Those days are past and more emphasis is being put on the Resurrection, which is fine with me. And as noted, "Dies..." is not in the Rite of Christian Burial or funeral liturgy. I assume it is still in the ordo for the 1962 liturgy, but I really haven't looked.

Drake

Yes, Dies Irae is still the sequence for requiems in the 1962 books (even outside of funerals proper).

dad29

It's "alia aptus," of course, so do-able.

As to the Black Plague thing: myth. The Plague showed up about 100 years after the Dies was written.

CharlesW

Plagues were a common thing, either black or non black. I have been reading an interesting book by Kyle Harper, professor of classics, and senior vice president and provost at the University of Oklahoma titled, "The Fall of Rome." Plagues killing up to half the population of the empire seriously weakened it repeatedly and eventually contributed to it being conquered. He documents them and their consequences. The Black Death just happened to be one of the worst of them. Even if the Dies Irae was written before the Black Death, it was an innovation introduced into the liturgy.

"Dies..." was at least 13th century, but both its authorship and dates are unknown. It could have been written by Thomas of Celano, but no proof exists. Generally, when Latins don't know where something came from, they attribute it to St. Gregory the Great. The Black Death peaked around 1347-1351, although it was certainly around before then. Harper documents occurrences in the 5th century onward and even indicates smallpox may have been present.

In any event, I will follow the appropriate ordo and rite for OF funerals. Just because something was once done in the liturgy doesn't mean we have permission or any reason to do it in another context.

CCooze

My point was simply that I don't find the Dies Irae depressing or despairing, but that of a soul realizing how much mercy is needed to save sinners, who are undeserving of heaven, in the first place.

CharlesW

That I will agree with. If I were told I could do it, I would. But that hasn't happened. I don't add things to the liturgy because someone likes them.

a_f_hawkins

The Ordinariate Rite still has the Dies Irae

The Sequence Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) may be sung or recited, if suitable (see Appendix).

And it's also in LOTH as an optional hymn. Both admit the Latin, and each has a different translation into English. Verse 13 has been modified officially to exclude the reference to Mary (Magdalen), now considered a mis-attribution. Curiously, as printed for the Ordinariates the English translation has been modified, but the Latin has not!

eft94530

3) In Paradisum: I have always used the paraphrase of Subvenite (Old Hundreth/ Come to Their Aid O Saints of God. . . ) Now that I know the Subvenite actually is the Introit

Uh, that sentence packs together a lot of confusion.

Gregorian Missal (1990) (PDF 25 mb)
(subset of Graduale Romanum, under each chant is an English translation)
http://media.musicasacra.com/books/gregorianmissal-eng.pdf

See Gregorian Missal p 688 ff.

Introit is one of ..
Requiem aeternam, p 688
Ego autem cum iustitia, p 497
Intret oratio mea, p 586
Si iniquitates, p 566

Several separate chants are at the end of the funeral ..
Sub Venite, p 696
In Paradisum, p 698

CCooze

Subvenite is sung as the coffin is brought into the church, before Mass.
In Paradisum is sung as the coffin is removed from the Church, after Mass, heading to the cemetery.

This is what I meant by getting to do things in their proper/continuous order - the coffin was brought into the chapel, as Subvenite was chanted, and the Requiem Aeternam introit was sung as the priest concluded vesting.
The confiteor (the one at Communion, by the people) was even chanted by the subdeacon.
The In Paradisum was sung, intoned by clergy, as we left the chapel, after Mass, with the coffin, bringing it to the Burial site, which took about 2 minutes to walk to, once outside the chapel.

Si iniquities (de profundis) and Exsultabunt Domino were sung by the clergy, prior to entering the chapel with the coffin (and/or the prior evening).

ryand

I’ve always had priests ask for Subvenite (or English equivalent) at the END of Mass, as they incense the coffin. Followed by In Paradisum as the coffin leaves the church.

Never heard of Subvenite at the beginning

CHGiffen

Take a look at this complete layout of the "Mass for the Dead: Mass, Absolution, and Burial" ... note that the Subvenite is exactly as CCooze describes it

http://missale.heliohost.org/requiem.html

ryand

Interesting. Guess it’s switched around here ... the sprinkling of the casket “Grant to thy servant” with the casket at the back of the church, introit for procession, and subvenite for incensing at the end.

Incardination

Something for pre-Mass... simple, yet quite compelling if done right. We also use it during November.

CCooze

If you use it for All Souls, it should have the "Requiem Aeternam," rather than the "Gloria Patri" verse, right?

Incardination

If it were used in a liturgical context, that would be correct. As simply pre-Mass music that wouldn't be required.

EDIT:
Using as pre-Mass (in the EF) also avoids the issue with organ during a funeral / Requiem.

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