When Queen Caroline, the wife of King George II of England, died on 20 November 1737, Handel was commissioned to write an anthem for her funeral service. She was buried in King Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey, on the evening of 17 December 1737, with Handel’s work performed after the funeral service.
To emphasize the solemnity of the occasion he used a roughly 100-piece orchestra and 80 choristers. The piece is a so-called “full anthem” consisting of an instrumental Introduction (“Symphony”) and thirteen interlinked choruses. The words were written by Edward Willes, the Sub-Dean of Westminster at that time, using passages from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, albeit sometimes departing from the original wording.
The absence of sections for solo voice has made this anthem a favourite among ambitious choruses and a highlight of any concert programme. Our edition contains the original unabridged version with English text. Martin Focke’s piano reduction follows the Urtext of the Halle Handel Edition.
- Original unabridged version
- Urtext from the Halle Handel Edition
- Straightforward, easy-to-play piano reduction
International Shipping Suspended
With regret we have decided to suspend all international shipping options indefinitely, due to a significant increase in failed deliveries related to customs procedures and lost parcels. We are here to provide a reliable and prompt service to our customers and unfortunately the international solutions available to us are not up to our standards. We will review this decision in the future.
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Deliveries to Europe (SUSPENDED)
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Deliveries to International (SUSPENDED)
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Delivery Times
We aim to dispatch every order within 24 hours excluding weekends.
However, we have learned from experience not to make promises regarding delivery. We aim simply to provide you with a reliable service at a reasonable cost. To keep our prices competitive we do not keep huge stocks of any particular item. No matter how good our stock control, there will occasionally be times when a particular item is not immediately available.
Sometimes this will be due to overwhelming demand, and sometimes it will be due to circumstances beyond our control, such as the item having gone to reprint or out of print. You should be aware that your payment is taken automatically online at the time you place your order. In the circumstances outlined above, we will do our best to contact you and inform you of any anticipated delays. You may cancel your order at any time if you are not happy to wait.
Although we make every effort to ship your order according to these guidelines, we will not be held responsible for any loss or damage caused by delayed delivery.
Stock information:
Regularly updated stock information is now available to view online at ScoreStore. This information can, on occasion, be incorrect due to delays of up to 12 hours in updating. Our system will also allow you to order more items than we have in stock at any one time. If you require urgent delivery of a large order, please contact us to confirm current stock levels. Our Freephone number is 0800 072 0354 and we are in the office 9-5, Monday to Friday.
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In the event that your item is faulty you may return it to us within thirty days and we will refund the cost of the item and reimburse the cost of returning the item to us.
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