You can’t get to my age, (68 in a few months time) without thinking about death from time to time. By now, so far as I know, all the previous generations of my family have gone. My contemporaries are also going of course. So, from time to time I also think about the music at my own funeral. I’ve blogged on this before (Why does God have all the best tunes) but listening recently to a programme on the radio about Henry Purcell made me think about the topic again. The trigger was a brief extract from Dido’s Lament (When I am laid in earth) from Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas. I have this on CD but I had forgotten just how beautiful it is.
It turns out that an arrangement of this piece for military band is always played at the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph in London. Here it is from 2009.
The band orchestration gains its emotional weight I think from the context. For me the fullest impact however comes from the human voice. I listened to several versions, including this one by Jeff Buckley and this one by Kirsten Flagstad. I was also recommended this one by Janet Baker. My choice however is a version by Emma Kirkby.
For the moment then that is two of my nominal list of three fixed. In case you are wondering, here’s the other one – the big finish.
To hear the specific section jump to 14.20 or click this link - http://youtu.be/ChygZLpJDNE?t=14m20s
Other possibilities? Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington or perhaps this:
Any other thoughts?
