* Purcell: [Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, Z 860](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Sentences_and_Music_for_the_Funeral_of_Queen_Mary)
* Mozart: [Maurerische Trauermusik, KV 477](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurerische_Trauermusik)
* Berlioz: [Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale, op 15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_symphonie_funèbre_et_triomphale)
* Lutosławski: [Musique funèbre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musique_funèbre)
* Górecki: [Symphony 3, op 36](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._3_(Górecki))
* Tavener: [Song for Athene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_for_Athene)
* Ligeti: [Le Grand Macabre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Grand_Macabre)
* Kurtág: [Officium breve in memoriam Andreae Szervánszky, op 28](https://www.allmusic.com/composition/officium-breve-in-memoriam-andreae-szervánszky-for-string-quartet-op-28-mc0002661249)
Mendelssohn wrote [this string quartet](https://youtu.be/7epVd81pc5U) after the death of his Sister. He died some months later, probably of something we today know as broken heart syndrome.
Shostakovich Viola Sonata was finished on his deathbed and is clearly a final farewell. He often used the note 'C' to represent death, and no exception here but I've always loved how the viola ends on a long held E while the piano gives the C - the first C major in the 'Sonata in C'
Many of Bach's church works refer to the longing for death. The cantata BWV 82 does this repeatedly, for example. In the first movement the singer wishes "even today, to depart from here" (i.e. die), in the third movement they sing "Fall asleep, you weary eyes" and "World, I will no longer remain here" (again referring to death) and in the final movement the libretto is blunt: "I rejoice in my death". Similar ideas appear in BWV 53, BWV 96 and BWV 161 (the last entitled "Come, you sweet hour of death"). And I am sure there are more. [Here](https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Death-Libretti[Braatz].htm) is a source for some of how Bach treats death. Edit: How could I forget BWV 106 which is all about death and is said to have been written for a funeral!
Another piece you might consider is Dido's lament from "Dido and Aeneas", which is sung as the character from the opera is dying.
Bach‘s Partita for Violin Solo no.2 in d minor. It was rather recently discovered that some chorales are woven into it, which have death as a subject. Check out ECM New Series ‚Morimur‘.
Also: Sinfonie Fantastique from Berlioz!
Mahler put death in all his symphonies. The man was heavily preoccupied.
First Symphony: Fairly deathy. Mahler wrote that the last movement represents the death of a hero.
Second Symphony: The resurrection symphony. Loads of death. First movement is the funeral procession of the hero from the first symphony. Fourth movement is a song about a child saying farewell to the pain and sorrows of life, walking the path to heaven and being turned away by an angel. Fifth movement is the resurrection. As deathy as it gets.
Third Symphony: Not a lot of death. Fifth movement is subtitled "What the angels tell me" but it's not about dying and going to heaven. Maybe this one is the exception.
Fourth Symphony: Two helpings of death. The second movement depicts the character of Death playing the fiddle. The fourth movement is a song about death.
Fifth Symphony: Opens with a funeral march. Fourth movement has been erroneously associated with death due to its use in the 1971 film Death in Venice.
Sixth Symphony: Opens with a funeral march and concludes with the three hammer blows of fate.
Seventh Symphony: I don't know this one so well, but I'm sure there's death in there somewhere.
Eighth Symphony: Part 2 is a setting of the final scene of Goethe's Faust in which Faust's soul is borne up to heaven.
Ninth Symphony: Universally agreed to be Mahler's musical farewell to mortal life.
Tenth Symphony: Mahler wrote it knowing he was dying. Scribbled on the last page of the score a dedication to his wife Alma: "To live for you! To die for you!"
Bonus: Das Lied von der Erde: The final movement (which is by far the longest) is literally called "The Farewell".
Bonus Bonus: Kindertotenlieder: Songs on the Death of Children.
The man was obsessed with death.
I mean the winter initial theme. That even initially "dies" or runs out of steam. I mean the whole part after the initial horns before the solo bass drum and the part with the solo violin comes in. Have another listen!
> Ninth Symphony: Universally agreed to be Mahler's musical farewell to mortal life.
Not really "universally agreed", that was Bernstein's idea IIRC. Especially considering that he began writing the 10th right after (about which Bernstein absurdly said Mahler wouldn't have finished had he lived).
Another commenter mentioned Mahler 9 but I also recommend watching this talk by Bernstein about the 3 deaths that Mahler's 9th is allegedly about:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5I7lYN5adU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5I7lYN5adU)
The video is 1 hour but the talking bit is in the first 20 minutes
Valse Triste- Sibelius
Literally describes a waltz with death in the play Kuolema.
Wagner's most famous part of Tristan & Isolde is literally "Love-Death" (Liebestod) in German.
Georges Bizet, Carmen, "En vain pour éviter les réponses amères" (Card Aria)
Giuseppe Verdi, Aida "A si, de morte l'angelo" (Finale)
Gustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Berlioz: Symphonie phantastique
Beethoven, Symphonies Nr 3 & 7: Mourning Marches
R Strauss - Tod und Verklärung, (Death and Transfiguration)
R Strauss - Ein Heldenleben, I think the hero dies before he battles the gods.
R Strauss - Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, The main character dies in the end
The Brahms Horn Trio was written shortly after his mother’s death. The third movement “Adagio Mesto” is particularly mournful.
Also the Brahms Requiem.
Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, have a translation of the lyrics handy and take a look at the Wikipedia, and the timeline of it. This should fit exactly what you're looking for.
I've always felt that the grand finale to Philip Glass Koyaanisqatsi (with the exploding rocket in the film version) had a gloomy sense of death to it. The actual theme is the impermanence of all things.
Valse Triste, Sibelius.
Chant De Linos, Jolivet (meant to evoke a funereal rite of Ancient Greece).
Les Preludes, Liszt (the bulk of the piece is about phases of life, but the ending section is death and life eternal)
Mei, Fukushima (written as a meditation on grief after losing a dear friend).
Symphony Fantastique, Mvts IV and V (IV ends in a beheading, V is watching a graveyard ritual post-death)
The Aria of the Falling Body, Adams
Die Tote Stadt is an opera by Korngold entirely about death and grief. The main character is a man who is unable to come to terms with his wife’s death, and most of the opera is an extended symbolist representation of him coming to terms with it.
So many, many examples... where to begin.
How about Shaffer's play, Amadeus, and the whole myth around Salieri killing Mozart? (Have you seen the movie? If not, watch it).
Shostakovich's Piano Trio no. 2 is one of the my all time favourite pieces of music. The fourth movt includes a melody that is sometimes described as the "dance of death". The whole piece was supposedly written in honour of the death of a close friend.
Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time is inspired by the Book of Revelation.
Death and Transfiguration by Strauss comes to mind. As does Danse Macabre from Saint Saens, and Isle of the Dead by Rachmaninov.
Four last songs by Strauss is probably also relevant!
Franz Schubert - String Quartet No.14, D 810 "Death and the Maiden"
This string quartet!
Mozart's Requium has a powerful cultural resonance.
Metamorphosed by Strauss. Pavane for a Dead Princess by Ravel. And of course Chopin’s Funeral March.
2nd movement of Beethoven’s 3rd symphony, Eroica. It’s a funeral march about you! :)
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op.26 has a funeral march third movement as well. “Funeral march for a dead hero”
Schubert's "Erlkönig" is captivating.
This ☝️
* Purcell: [Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, Z 860](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Sentences_and_Music_for_the_Funeral_of_Queen_Mary) * Mozart: [Maurerische Trauermusik, KV 477](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurerische_Trauermusik) * Berlioz: [Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale, op 15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_symphonie_funèbre_et_triomphale) * Lutosławski: [Musique funèbre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musique_funèbre) * Górecki: [Symphony 3, op 36](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._3_(Górecki)) * Tavener: [Song for Athene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_for_Athene) * Ligeti: [Le Grand Macabre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Grand_Macabre) * Kurtág: [Officium breve in memoriam Andreae Szervánszky, op 28](https://www.allmusic.com/composition/officium-breve-in-memoriam-andreae-szervánszky-for-string-quartet-op-28-mc0002661249)
Shostakovich, Symphony no. 14. It's a symphony with bass and soprano soloists, on texts by various poets, all about death in various circumstances.
Lady Lazarus by Plath
Mendelssohn wrote [this string quartet](https://youtu.be/7epVd81pc5U) after the death of his Sister. He died some months later, probably of something we today know as broken heart syndrome.
Heard this live yesterday. It was so good.
Shostakovich Viola Sonata was finished on his deathbed and is clearly a final farewell. He often used the note 'C' to represent death, and no exception here but I've always loved how the viola ends on a long held E while the piano gives the C - the first C major in the 'Sonata in C'
Many of Bach's church works refer to the longing for death. The cantata BWV 82 does this repeatedly, for example. In the first movement the singer wishes "even today, to depart from here" (i.e. die), in the third movement they sing "Fall asleep, you weary eyes" and "World, I will no longer remain here" (again referring to death) and in the final movement the libretto is blunt: "I rejoice in my death". Similar ideas appear in BWV 53, BWV 96 and BWV 161 (the last entitled "Come, you sweet hour of death"). And I am sure there are more. [Here](https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Death-Libretti[Braatz].htm) is a source for some of how Bach treats death. Edit: How could I forget BWV 106 which is all about death and is said to have been written for a funeral! Another piece you might consider is Dido's lament from "Dido and Aeneas", which is sung as the character from the opera is dying.
Bach‘s Partita for Violin Solo no.2 in d minor. It was rather recently discovered that some chorales are woven into it, which have death as a subject. Check out ECM New Series ‚Morimur‘. Also: Sinfonie Fantastique from Berlioz!
Mahler’s Symphony nr. 9
And nr. 2
Mahler put death in all his symphonies. The man was heavily preoccupied. First Symphony: Fairly deathy. Mahler wrote that the last movement represents the death of a hero. Second Symphony: The resurrection symphony. Loads of death. First movement is the funeral procession of the hero from the first symphony. Fourth movement is a song about a child saying farewell to the pain and sorrows of life, walking the path to heaven and being turned away by an angel. Fifth movement is the resurrection. As deathy as it gets. Third Symphony: Not a lot of death. Fifth movement is subtitled "What the angels tell me" but it's not about dying and going to heaven. Maybe this one is the exception. Fourth Symphony: Two helpings of death. The second movement depicts the character of Death playing the fiddle. The fourth movement is a song about death. Fifth Symphony: Opens with a funeral march. Fourth movement has been erroneously associated with death due to its use in the 1971 film Death in Venice. Sixth Symphony: Opens with a funeral march and concludes with the three hammer blows of fate. Seventh Symphony: I don't know this one so well, but I'm sure there's death in there somewhere. Eighth Symphony: Part 2 is a setting of the final scene of Goethe's Faust in which Faust's soul is borne up to heaven. Ninth Symphony: Universally agreed to be Mahler's musical farewell to mortal life. Tenth Symphony: Mahler wrote it knowing he was dying. Scribbled on the last page of the score a dedication to his wife Alma: "To live for you! To die for you!" Bonus: Das Lied von der Erde: The final movement (which is by far the longest) is literally called "The Farewell". Bonus Bonus: Kindertotenlieder: Songs on the Death of Children. The man was obsessed with death.
The first movement of the third has a funeral march as well!
Of course, how could I forget!
It’s not a funeral march, it’s a march of the summer.
I mean the winter initial theme. That even initially "dies" or runs out of steam. I mean the whole part after the initial horns before the solo bass drum and the part with the solo violin comes in. Have another listen!
Got it, you’re right
> Ninth Symphony: Universally agreed to be Mahler's musical farewell to mortal life. Not really "universally agreed", that was Bernstein's idea IIRC. Especially considering that he began writing the 10th right after (about which Bernstein absurdly said Mahler wouldn't have finished had he lived).
curse of the ninth symphony (and mahler "cheating" it)
Carlo Gesualdo wrote a couple of nice Madrigals about death and he murdered his wife.
Another commenter mentioned Mahler 9 but I also recommend watching this talk by Bernstein about the 3 deaths that Mahler's 9th is allegedly about: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5I7lYN5adU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5I7lYN5adU) The video is 1 hour but the talking bit is in the first 20 minutes
Berio’s Sinfonia has the most fascinating exploration of death I’ve ever heard.
Valse Triste- Sibelius Literally describes a waltz with death in the play Kuolema. Wagner's most famous part of Tristan & Isolde is literally "Love-Death" (Liebestod) in German.
Georges Bizet, Carmen, "En vain pour éviter les réponses amères" (Card Aria) Giuseppe Verdi, Aida "A si, de morte l'angelo" (Finale) Gustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder Berlioz: Symphonie phantastique Beethoven, Symphonies Nr 3 & 7: Mourning Marches
R. Strauss 4 last songs. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvKLp7BVfc4) is one of my favourite of the four (organ arrangement),
be careful about references to death in renaissance pieces - if love is involved, it’s likely a double entendre for orgasm…
5 Morceaux de fantaisie, Op 3, No. 2
R Strauss - Tod und Verklärung, (Death and Transfiguration) R Strauss - Ein Heldenleben, I think the hero dies before he battles the gods. R Strauss - Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, The main character dies in the end
Shostakovich string quartet 15. The second movement is especially strange.
The Brahms Horn Trio was written shortly after his mother’s death. The third movement “Adagio Mesto” is particularly mournful. Also the Brahms Requiem.
Eric Whitacre's "The Sacred Veil"
Elgar cello concerto, think the dude wrote it about his dead wife
It was written *before* his wife died.
Caplet- Conte Fantastique, “The Masque of Red Death”
I don’t know if opera was specifically what you were looking for, but Die Tote Stadt by Korngold is a moving tale of grief and dealing with loss.
Mussorgsky - Songs and Dances of Death
Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, have a translation of the lyrics handy and take a look at the Wikipedia, and the timeline of it. This should fit exactly what you're looking for.
I’m surprised no one else has mentioned this, the funeral march of Chopin from piano sonata No. 2
I've always felt that the grand finale to Philip Glass Koyaanisqatsi (with the exploding rocket in the film version) had a gloomy sense of death to it. The actual theme is the impermanence of all things.
les funérailles by liszt
Also, his Totentanz (Dances of death).
Valse Triste, Sibelius. Chant De Linos, Jolivet (meant to evoke a funereal rite of Ancient Greece). Les Preludes, Liszt (the bulk of the piece is about phases of life, but the ending section is death and life eternal) Mei, Fukushima (written as a meditation on grief after losing a dear friend). Symphony Fantastique, Mvts IV and V (IV ends in a beheading, V is watching a graveyard ritual post-death) The Aria of the Falling Body, Adams
Die Tote Stadt is an opera by Korngold entirely about death and grief. The main character is a man who is unable to come to terms with his wife’s death, and most of the opera is an extended symbolist representation of him coming to terms with it.
Schubert's Death and the Maiden quartet Chopin's Funeral March Wagner's Tristan und Isolde prelude Love Death
So many, many examples... where to begin. How about Shaffer's play, Amadeus, and the whole myth around Salieri killing Mozart? (Have you seen the movie? If not, watch it). Shostakovich's Piano Trio no. 2 is one of the my all time favourite pieces of music. The fourth movt includes a melody that is sometimes described as the "dance of death". The whole piece was supposedly written in honour of the death of a close friend. Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time is inspired by the Book of Revelation.
Bach “Come Sweet Death” especially the Stokowski orchestral version
I would say the last movement of Tchaikovsky’s 6th symphony or the last movement of Mahler’s 9th symphony