His last performance at the BBC Proms, two years ago, was an interpretation of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.

BBC: Prom dedicated to inspirational conductor Sir Colin Davis

In his final days, he and his wife went to a house on the Rhode Island coast and listened to music they had sung together in a small church choir, Mozart's Missa Brevis.

WSJ: The Experts: Do We All Need 'Bucket Lists'?