The Guild of Funerary Violinists

 

The Guild's Archive Collection

 

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  Click on the underlined track titles to hear a sample (in mono at a regrettably low quality)  
     
     
     
 
Babcotte, Sudbury and Eaton: The English school of Funerary Violin - from the collection of Gunter II, Prince of Schwatzburg-Rudolstadt-Sonderhausen.
  
 
 
 

 

 

 

1. The Erroneous Dirge of George Babcotte 1587/1697
Performed by Prince Gunter II (?) c.1912
2. Funerary Suite no.4 – Charles Sudbury 1832
Performed by Wilhelm Kleinbach (?) c.1913
3. March - For the subtle approach of Death: to ease the fear and calm the Soul’s gentle mortification
4. Introduction and March - To show the Soul’s newfound delight, and expel the sadness of those who mourn.
5. Dream - As the Soul looks down upon all that is laid aside, a brief moment of grief before the bargaining begins.
6. Panic - For the banishment of all spirits whose heart is not of purest white, and to drive away the evil- minded ghosts that dwell where death is to be found.
7. Flight - As if to dispel all doubts, the cleansed Spirit marks a final path between God and Man, before its ultimate ascension.
8. Eulogy - A final farewell as the Spirit rises unto God; not without sadness we put our faith, and the spirit of our dead, in God’s own hands. (hear a sample from a modern recording).
9. March - Now that all is done and as it should be, we may weep without reserve.
10. Introduction to the Angels – Stanley Eaton 1910
from the Funerary Sonata
Performed by Stanley Eaton Dec.1913
11. The Erroneous Dirge of George Babcotte 1587/1697
Performed by Maria Rotaru 1975. (hear an extract from a modern recording of George Babcotte's Dirge

     

  
 
The Funerary Notebooks of Herr Gratchenfleiss - as recorded on a number of recently re-catalogued cylinders and disks by Wilhelm Kleinbach, 1906-1911.
  
     
 
1. The Noble March of Death
2. The Dizzy Flight of Death
3. The Statuesque Discipline of Death
4. The Stately Tragedy of Death
5. The Formal Stance of Death
6. The Fleeting Panic of Death
7. The Masque of Death
8. The Softly Spoken Wanderings of Death
9. The Sultry Dance of Death
10. The Long Uncertainty of Death
11. The Sombre Coquetry of Death
12. The Worthy Triumph of Death
13. The Undisguised Peace of Death
 
     
     
 
Pierre Dubuisson - Sept Regards sur l’Esprit de la Mort - Wax Cylinder recordings by Jacques Dubuisson, 1913, from the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
  
 

 

 

1. Marche Funèbre - Lent, posé et majestueux
2. Vol - Magnanime et degage
3. Marche Funèbre - Sombre, pourtant ouvert sur l’avenir
4. Éloge - Lyrique et couronné de tristesse
5. Panique - Panique momentanée - enraciné bien q'essayant de se sauver
6. Rêve - Enfin libre, pas sans tristesse, l'esprit s’envole
7. Marche Funèbre - Triomphe de la tragédie

 
     
 
17th and 18th century works of Funerary Violin - as copied by Fr. John Brockley in 1726 and preserved in the library of Chichester Cathedral - performed by Herbert Stanley Littlejohn 1956.
  
 



Orlando Addleston
from Funerarius for Micheal Wise Esquire (1681)
I. Grave
2. III. Allegretto

Michel Meunier
from Pompes Funèbres no. 2 (1693)
3. Pompe I.
4. Pompe II.
5. Pompe III.

Kaspar Ignaz Faustmann
from Todesmusik (1722)
6. Intrada
7. Trauermarsch II.