This happened to me once before, quite recently. This time the occasion was a memorial service at church for Martin, who sang in the choir until a couple of years ago. Martin was musically well connected (he’d been a recording engineer and worked in broadcasting, as well as singing in choirs) and both choir and congregation were swelled by people he’d known in that capacity.
I realise I didn’t overlap with him for very long in our choir – only for a couple of years before illness began to make his appearances less frequent. The music had been proposed by Martin himself and included Purcell’s Remember not O Lord our offences as well as anthems by Bainton (which I sang to Barry Rose last time, too) and Harris, so something for various different tastes.
I hope that will be the last funeral/memorial event of 2017. I have been involved in six, including two family ones, which is more than enough for one year.