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I wanted to make a thread on music while "on" Deathbed. What did they compose? What was the last thing they finished before their death and what was the last piece of music heard? It could also be last words before death.
*Clara Schumann asked her grandson Ferdinand to play her husband's F sharp major romance for her. That was the last music Clara Schumann heard. *Robert Schumanns last composition finished was the Geistervariationen or Theme and Variations in E flat major for piano, WoO 24, composed in 1854. It were composed in the time leading up to his admission to an asylum for the insane. Theres quite a story beyond that piece. *Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was working on his Requiem Mass when he died.
*Last words Mozart 5 December 1791 "The taste of death is upon my lips. I feel something, that is not of this earth". *Ludwig van Beethoven 26 March 1827 "Applaud, my friends, the comedy is finished". His final words are subject to historical debate, and vary with many biographies. Among those that have been reported to be his last words are: "I feel as if up to now I had written no more than a few notes" *Johannes Brahms 3 April 1897 "Ah, that tastes nice. Thank you" after he had a small glass of wine. *Frederic Chopin 17 October 1849 "The Earth is suffocating. Swear to make them cut me open, so that I won't be buried alive". He had a neurotic fear of being buried alive. *Joseph Haydn died at the end of May in 1809, shortly after an attack on Vienna by the French army under Napoleon. He was 77. Among his last words was his attempt to calm and reassure his servants when cannon shot fell in the neighborhood "My children, have no fear, for where Haydn is, no harm can fall". *Austrian composer Gustav Mahler "Mozart! Mozart!" *Edvard Grieg's last words were "Well, if it must be so."
If you were on your deathbed what piece of music would you wanna hear? I would hear Johann Sebastian Bach's Contrapunctus Number One from Kunste Der Fuge. Played by my favorite pianist Glenn Gould.
Easy question. If time permits, I'd like to hear the entire Bach B-Minor Mass (preferably Gardiner's, but I'll settle for Herreweghe). If the Reaper is already knocking, then skip to the Agnus Dei, or even the Dona Nobis Pacem.
Unlike young OSK, I'm not as far removed from such things.
*Frederic Chopin 17 October 1849 "The Earth is suffocating. Swear to make them cut me open, so that I won't be buried alive".
Actually this is a wrong attribution. The note found in the Chopin family papers turned out to have been written by Nicholas, Chopin's father shortly before he died.
According to his family, Chopin's last words were, "our poor mother" in Polish. He is also said to have answered "ne plus" ("no longer") when asked if he were in pain very close to the end.
According to Scriabin's biography he said something like: "The pain is unbearable! This means the end. But this is a catastrophy!" And later that night while delirious "Who is there?" were his last words.
I'd have an entire playlist of as much favorite classical music as possible. But without a doubt, at the very end I will put on headphones and listen to the electronic album Michael Stearns - Planetary Unfolding, so I can be at peace and reunited with the cosmos in grand style.
According to Scriabin's biography he said something like: "The pain is unbearable! This means the end. But this is a catastrophy!" And later that night while delirious "Who is there?" were his last words.
Sabaneev's editor had also supposedly called the apartment the same day to ask how the obituary was coming along, and this was while Scriabin was still very much alive.
I would want to hear the final movement of Honeggar's "Le Roi David.". The final movement is "The Death of David" and ends with a stirring reprisal of one of the main themes, supporting the text from Isaiah about a flower blooming from David's stem. It ends on such a triumphal note of hope.
Then, on a lighter note, when people peer into my casket, I want to hear one of two things, either
Well, WilliamByrd, you've chosen an interesting screen name. Born 1540, student of Thomas Tallis, composer for the Chapel Royal in the time of Elizabeth I; his works survive down to the present century and are published in many contemporary hymnals.
I don't have any famous last words except those of Oscar Wilde: "Either that wallpaper has to go, or I do."
In my personal experience of being with people who are passing away, it is often a rather lengthy process, and their senses are so indrawn toward the end that it is hard to know what music they would like to hear, if any. It is a terrible truth that so many expire to the sound of the television set. My own mother, in fact--- shaking her finger at Dr. Phil. I know I would hate that, but the truth is, she loved television. Silence would be far better for me. They say the sense of hearing goes last, so conversations about the person, in their hearing but as if they weren't there, could be very risky, or at least quite unkind.
For me, I've picked a few selections. If you didn't think it was enough Ravel or Bach to go on... plenty more where that came from.
Ravel, Piano Concerto in G major: Movement II. Adagio assai, Alceo Galliera, soloist, Orchestra National de l'Opera de Monte Carlo, under Werner Haas
J.S. Bach , Prelude and Fugue for organ in B minor, BWV 544. Michael Murray, soloist
Edvard Grieg, Concerto for piano & orchestra in A minor, Op 16: Second Movement, Adagio, Van Cliburn. Can't say for sure, but probably the one he did with the RCA Orchestra.
If you were on your deathbed what piece of music would you wanna hear?
It is an interesting assumption that I'd want to hear anything. It is also interesting to have some kind of expectation about what I might fancy, if I fancied anything. For all I know, I might suddenly want to hear "Yellow Submarine". Or Scelsi's "Konx-Om-Pax".
[quote=Jeff Clef]Well, WilliamByrd, you've chosen an interesting screen name. Born 1540, student of Thomas Tallis, composer for the Chapel Royal in the time of Elizabeth I; his works survive down to the present century and are published in many contemporary hymnals.
Yes. Hes one of my favorite composers. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and Robert Schumann & Edvard Grieg.
Your "deathbed" is only one day... what you do in the other, thousands of other lifedays is a lot more important...
Awesome I was about to answer but your poetic response is the best thing in this sad thread. Thank you!! Reading about Scriabin's dying pain was the most depressing thing I've read in this week.
...if one is lucky. For some, it is a slow long-drawn agony. On my deathbed, I would want to hear the voices of loved ones talking to me, laughing, reminsicing. No music. When I listen to music, I tend to look inwards and pull away from my surroundings. Dying alone is miserable.
When I listen to music, I tend to look inwards and pull away from my surroundings.
Good on you, and therefore you will never be alone, because your 'surroundings' will not be important.
Too young to be concerned about it, though I suppose Beethoven's Op 111, Liszt's Sonata and Elgar's Gerontius would be quite a handful... hey wait... they are NOW!
My college piano teacher told me that he hummed the melody from the third movement of Beethoven's Op. 109 to his father when he (the father) was on his deathbed. When my teacher played it for us in piano literature class later on I practically had tears in my eyes thinking about that...
I would like all my cds and vinyl recordings put on a continuous loop, starting with Chopin, and have time to hear everything before I expire. That way I would live about 30 more years. Seriously, though, if my family wanted to play music at the funeral that I would choose for myself, they would probably play Mozart's Requiem first, followed by a lot of music that isn't very funereal: Chopin Nocturnes, Ballades, Scherzi, Mazurkas, Etudes, and Preludes. Then some Bach, the Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp, Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, some Puccini, and so on. On the other hand, maybe I won't die and can choose the stuff myself.
. Perhaps Op. 111 for the 9 millionth time. 
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