Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary

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Queen Mary
(portrait of Étienne Desrochers)

The Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary ( Funeral Music for Queen Mary ) is a three-part funeral music of the English composer Henry Purcell from 1695 and bears in Zimmerman directory number 860 for the works of Purcell.

The piece, composed on the occasion of the death of Queen Mary II of England , consists of a funeral march , three Funeral Sentences and a canzone . Parts of this music were also played on the occasion of his own death in November of the same year.

music

The first printed edition of Funeral Music was published by William Croft as Anthem for the Funeral of Queen Mary II in his major work Musica Sacra , Vol. 1, London 1724.

Purcell provided four slide trumpets , an organ and a four-part choir for the work . But there are also arrangements and adaptations that add trombones , timpani or a drum to the original instrumentation . The key is in G minor , the time signature is consistently slow Commontime.svgor 4 / 4 - stroke . The length of the piece is between 12 and 15 minutes, depending on the interpretation.

construction

In modern interpretations, the piece is usually played in this form:

  1. March
  2. "Man that is born"
  3. Canzona
  4. "In the midst of life"
  5. Canzona
  6. "You knowest, Lord, the secrets of our Hearts"
  7. March
Westminster Abbey,
location of the premiere
(From Dean's Yard, 2003)

Funeral march

The Queens Funeral March consists of 15 bars that are usually repeated once. Purcell gives the instruction: Sounded before her chariot ( Sounds in front of her hearse ).

Funeral Sentences

These funeral sayings come from the Book of Common Prayer of 1662. Purcell had composed the music for this earlier and used it again on the occasion of the funeral services for the queen. The choir consists of the voices soprano, countertenor , tenor and bass. Accompanied by the organ, he sings:

1. Man that is born of a woman
hath but a short time to live,
and is full of misery.

He cometh up, and is cut down like a flower;
he fleeth as it were a shadow,
and ne'er continueth in one stay.

2. In the midst of life we ​​are in death:
of whom may we seek for succor,
but of thee, O Lord,
who for our sins art justly displeased?

Yet, O Lord, O Lord most mighty,
O holy and most merciful Savior,
deliver us not into the bitter pains
of eternal death.

3. You know, Lord, the secrets of our hearts;
shut not thy merciful ears unto our pray'rs;
but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty.

O holy and most merciful Savior,
thou most worthy Judge eternal,
suffer us not, at our last hour,
for any pains of death, to fall from thee. Amen.

Canzone

The instrumental four-part canzona is a trumpet movement, at a faster pace than the funeral march. It consists of 16 bars twice, each repeated once, and forms the end of the festive music.

Discography (selection)

  • Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary. John Eliot Gardiner , Monteverdi Choir (London). Erato, 1994.
  • Music for Queen Mary. King's College Choir (Cambridge), EMI, 2006.
  • Music for Queen Mary. Westminster Abbey Choir (London). Sony, 2007.
  • Musica Sacra - Funeral Music for Queen Mary. Choir of Clare College (Cambridge). Brilliant Classics, 2009.

Adaptations

  • The American composer Wendy Carlos adapted the funeral march in 1972 for the soundtrack of the film A Clockwork Orange .
  • A work by the American composer Steven Stucky (born 1949) from 1992 is entitled: Funeral Music for Queen Mary (after Purcell) , for wind orchestra

literature

  • R. Prescott-Innes (Ed.): The Funeral of Mary, Queen of Scots - A Collection of Curious Tracts, Relating to the Burial of This Unfortunate Princess (1890). Kessinger, 2009, ISBN 978-1-120-03184-6 . (Facsimile, 106 pages)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Music: Queen Mary's Funeral Music . Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-861459-4 .
  2. ↑ Croft writes in his foreword (PDF; 16.2 MB) to Purcell: "In that Service there is one Verſe compoſed by my Predeceſſor, the Famous Mr.Henry Purcell, to which, in Justice to his Memory, his Name is applied ; the Reaſon why I did not compoſe that Verſe a-new, (ſo as to render the whole Service entirely of my own Compoſition,) is obvious to every Artiſt; […] "
  3. ^ Website of the Petrucci music library IMSLP with the score for Purcell's Funeral Music. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on August 6, 2019 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / erato.uvt.nl
  4. ^ Ricardo Javier Espinosa: An analysis and discussion of conducting performance practices in Steven Stucky's elaboration of Henry Purcell's "Funeral Music for Queen Mary" . (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on August 6, 2019 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / udini.proquest.com