Music has always played an important role in Funeral services. Browse our sheet music and scores, and let Stretta help you find the right music today.
Since the 13th century, clergymen have gathered in calendar brotherhoods on the calends, the first days of each month, to remember their deceased brothers. As at the funerals themselves, there was extensive singing. Later, choirs emerged from this ritual, to perform motets at funerals, in church or at the grave.
In addition to settings of Requiems, the Dutch composers of the 15th and 16th centuries wrote funeral motets to commemorate princes and rulers, which continued to spread across Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, with settings such as Handel’s Funeral Music for Queen Caroline, Musical Exequies by Heinrich Schütz and Purcells’s Funeral Music for Queen Mary. This began to expand into the secular world with works like Monteverdi’s Lamento d‘Arianna.
In France, the Sarabande was the most popular lament before the funeral march developed in the late 18th century. In the last century, new works such as dirges and epitaphs have entered the repertoire as expressions of mourning and grief.
Nowadays, pop or rock songs are often played at funerals. Here is a list of popular modern songs for funeral ceremonies:
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Score
Item no.: 168634
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, organ
Score
Item no.: 625016
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 624506
for: Organ
Score
Item no.: 622371
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 101200
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 267805
for: Voice (high), 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet), harp, organ
Score
Item no.: 676663
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 301423
for: Harp or Harps
Score
Item no.: 376037
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 116503
Easily manageable and popular organ music pieces from the baroque, classical and romanticism periods
for: Organ
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 293394
for: Soprano Alto Tenor Bass Voice SATB Organ Accompaniment
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 244973
for: Oboe [violin/cello], organ
Score
Item no.: 621443
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 244190
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, basso continuo
Score (with critical report)
Item no.: 746298
for: Soloists, mixed choir (SSATTB), basso continuo
Choir part Alto
Item no.: 693436
for: Viola
Stimme, Urtextausgabe
Item no.: 406828
for: Gesang, Gemischter Chor, Orchester
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 231680
for: Organ, piano
2 Scores
Item no.: 605076
for: 1–2 accordions
Music score
Item no.: 603240
for: Male choir (TTBB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 419518
for: Voice (tenor), piano
Book
Item no.: 330293
includes, besides the original version, a version with a smaller orchestra
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, organ
Piano reduction
Item no.: 667213
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 768076
for: Flute, piano
Item no.: 298745
for: Piano
Item no.: 159889
for: Alto saxophone, piano
Item no.: 580056
for: KLAR (A-SAX)
Item no.: 285905
for: 2 mixed choirs (SATB, SATB), basso continuo
Choir score
Item no.: 631115
for: 2 flutes (duet)
Ensemble score
Item no.: 159013
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, organ
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 584569
Arranged for piano by Lawrence Rosen
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 185528
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 697060
for: Violin, piano
Item no.: 292314
for: Choir
Choir score
Item no.: 364143
for: Mixed choir, orchestra [organ]
Choir score
Item no.: 347504
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 141821
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, basso continuo
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1687767
Fassung IV
Passio secundum Joannem
Postcard
Item no.: 1684651
Arie für Violine und Klavier
for: Violin, piano
Item no.: 605569
In G minor
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 696826
for: STREICH- UND ZUPFINSTRUMENTE VIOLINE VIOLINE UND KLAVIER
Item no.: 429326
for: 4 trumpets, horn, 4 trombones, tuba
Score (C), Parts
Item no.: 1590911
Eulenburg Studienpartituren
for: 3 violins, basso continuo
Study score
Item no.: 299763
Schütz-Gesamteinspielung, Band 13
Audio-CD
Item no.: 677165
38 Sätze zum Kirchenjahr und für die Trauerfeier
for: 2–4 melodic instruments
Item no.: 279167