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:
Musik für Gottesdienst, Konzert und Unterricht
for: Organ
Music score (anthology), CD
Item no.: 684636
BWV 244
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Soloists, 2 mixed choirs (SATB, SATB), orchestra
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 116686
'Auch das Schöne muss sterben'
Breitkopf Urtext
for: Mixed choir (SATB), orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 350903
for vocal duet and piano (low key)
for: 2 voices (medium, low), piano
Piano score
Item no.: 611104
25 best-loved pieces for funerals
for: Organ (manuals)
Music score
Item no.: 1582968
arranged for violin and piano
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 177765
50 Solo Songs for Special Occasions from Weddings to Funerals for Medium
for: Voice (medium/low), piano [organ]
Music score (anthology), online audio
Item no.: 562699
Passio secundum Joannem BWV 245 - Urtext Stuttgarter Bach-Ausgaben
Fassung IV (1749) mit der unvollendeten Revision 1739 im Anhang
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 346649
"Actus tragicus"
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Mixed choir (SATB), baroque orchestra
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 167439
Stuttgarter Bach-Ausgaben · Urtext
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), 2 violins, viola, bassoon, basso continuo
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 233890
50 Solo Songs for Special Occasions from Weddings to Funerals
for: Voice (high), piano [organ]
Music score (anthology), online audio
Item no.: 562698
Das Chorbuch für gemischte Stimmen
>> <<
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir book
Item no.: 297599
over a Basso Ostinato
for Organ
for: Organ
Single edition
Item no.: 136945
Johann Sebastian Bach. Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke (NBA) II/5 (Gesamtausgabe, Urtextausgabe) (Complete edition, Urtext)
for: Soloists, 2 mixed choirs (SATB, SATB), orchestra
Score (Hardcover)
Item no.: 215847
Die Carus-Neuausgabe dieses Werkes enthält die Chorfuge Nr. 6, die in Mendelssohns Autograph zu finden ist und auch bei der Uraufführung musiziert wurde.
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 205041
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 289885
for: Gemischter Chor (SATB), 1-2 Trompeten, 3-2 Posaunen, Orgel, [Pauken]
Score
Item no.: 235638
Piano reduction
Item no.: 285500
for: 2 soloists (SBar), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, organ
Piano reduction
Item no.: 192705
Arrangiert für Violoncello und Klavier
for: Cello, piano
Music score
Item no.: 356319
Святый
Text in kirchenslavisch (kyrillisch und transskribiert)
for: Mixed choir (SSAATTBB), cello
Score
Item no.: 315658
Riduzione per Organo solo
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 388914
Die 100 schönsten Melodien von Klassik bis Pop, mittelschwer arrangiert
for: Piano
Music score (anthology), 3 CDs
Item no.: 370739
Rekonstruktion nach der Maurerischen Trauermusik
for: Male choir, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 241365
Musik unserer Zeit
for: Viola [violin/cello], string orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 288501
from Piano Sonata op. 35
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 401346
Heft 3: Pfingsten – Ende des Kirchenjahres
for: Organ (manuals)
Music score
Item no.: 496508
Comfort and Hope in Song
36 old and new songs
for: Mixed choir (SATB/SAB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 419513
For Strings op. 11
for: String orchestra
Score
Item no.: 395390
Arranged for organ
With hammond registration.
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 277004
16-part Mixed Choir
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 380350
aus der Bühnenmusik zu Kuolema
for: Piano
Item no.: 284280
Trauermotette nach den Klageliedern Jeremiae
für vier- bis siebenstimmigen gemischten Chor a cappella
for: Mixed choir (4–7 parts) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 119460
50 Best-loved Pieces for Organ
(manualiter)
for: Organ (manuals)
Music score
Item no.: 632901
Ergreifende Trauermusik
for: Flexible wind ensemble (4 voices)
Set of parts
Item no.: 960612
Biblioteca Orgánica vol. 14
for: Organ manuals [harmonium]
Music score
Item no.: 366878
arranged for two trumpets in B-flat and piano
for: 2 trumpets (B-flat), piano
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 488744
Melodie der Welt (MDW)
for: Voice, piano [guitar/keyboard]
Single edition PVG (Piano/Vocal/Guitar)
Item no.: 635547
Version von 1900 (Urtextausgabe) (Urtext)
for: 2 soloists (SBar), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, organ
Piano reduction
Item no.: 580480
Trauermusik eines kunsterfahrenen Canarienvogels. Tragikomische Kantate
for: Mittlere Stimme, Violinen (2), Viola, Basso continuo
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 115131
Funeral music
for: 2 soloists (SB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, organ
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 661158
Fifty of the Best-Loved Pieces
spiral-bound
for: Organ
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 485457
12 neue Kleinorgel-Kompositionen für Trauer- und Trostanlässe
for: Organ (manuals)
Music score
Item no.: 631226
Rubank Solo-Ensemble Sheet
for: Flötenquartett
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1667173
for: 4 solo voices (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), baroque orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 285525
Early version
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SSAATTBB), orchestra
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 444394
Music for Strings
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 176724
HWV 54
for: 6 soloists (SSATBB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 550475