Choral Anthems for Funerals

What to sing at a funeral when your choir is asked to offer choral music…do your ensembles have anthems at the ready? Many of us do not have selections prepared for funerals, especially early in our careers. The last thing on our minds, as young conductors, is preparing music for funerals. Below is a list of serviceable works, not exhaustive, for both funerals and general worship purposes. This list does not include individual movements (although some found their way on the list) from requiem masses, oratorios, cantatas, etc., there are numerous movements that can be pulled from those major works, i.e. Brahms, Fauré, Rutter, Stainer, Bach, Handel, Hayes, etc., as the focus of this posting is on individually written anthems. Although not all are gender neutral, they do have historical significance and are extremely useful, depending on the circumstance.

Please, help to make this list as exhaustive as possible. I, for one, would be interested in expanding my funeral anthem knowledge base, with newly composed works, and forgotten chestnuts.

And I Saw A New Heaven – Edgar Bainton

Beati quorum via – CV Stanford
Bring us, O Lord God – William Harris
Deep Peace – John Rutter
For All The Saints – setting by Robert Shaw
For All The Saints – Vaughan Williams

Funeral Sentences – William Croft

God Be in My Head  – Walford Davies
God Be in my Head – John Rutter
Greater Love Hath No Man Than This – John Ireland
If Ye Love Me – Thomas Tallis
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men – Vaughan Williams
Nunc dimittis – various composers

Requiem - Giacomo Puccini

The Lord Bless You, and Keep You – John Rutter
The Lord Bless You, and Keep You – Peter Lutkin
The Lord Is My Shepherd – Antonín Dvořák
The Lord Is My Shepherd – Allan Pote
The Lord to me a Shepherd Is – Jean Berger
Sing Me to Heaven - Daniel E. Gawthrop

Song for Athene –  John Tavener

They That Go Down To The Sea In Ships – Herbert Sumsion
We Shall Walk through the Valley in Peace – Moses Hogan
When The Saints Go Marching In – setting by John Rutter

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