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.<br>
 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.<br>
 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.<br>