Funeral march  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Funeral March for the Obsequies of a Deaf Man (1884) by Alphonse Allais

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A funeral march or dead march is a march, usually in a minor key, in a slow "simple duple" metre, imitating the solemn pace of a funeral procession. Some such marches are often considered appropriate for use during funerals and other sombre occasions.

Examples in classical music

• The funeral march for piano written by Frédéric Chopin in 1837, which became the 3rd movement of his Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, op. 35 and the theme for his Marche funèbre in C minor, Op. 72 No. 2. (This is probably the best-known and most famous funeral march with many appearances in popular culture, such as cartoons and/or computer games).
• The Dead March from Saul by George Frideric Handel
• The Funeral March in Memory of Rikard Nordraak by Edvard Grieg
• The second movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 (Eroica)
• The third movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 12 (written in the key of A-flat minor with a middle section in A-flat major).
• The "Funeral March" from the incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream by Felix Mendelssohn
• The Funeral March for the Final Scene of Hamlet by Hector Berlioz
• The Marche funèbre second movement of Charles-Valentin Alkan's Symphony for solo piano, Op. 39 No. 5
• Siegfried's Funeral March from Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner
• The fourth movement of Alexander Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 1
• The Trauermarsch opening movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 5.
• The song "Der Tamboursg'sell" from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, by Gustav Mahler
• The ninth variation from Benjamin Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10
• The third movement of Mahler's first symphony, based on the children's song Frère Jacques.
• The 2nd movement of Brahms' Deutsches Requiem has the characteristics of a Funeral March but is in a slow triple metre.
• The "Funeral March": Adagio Molto from Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 15
• The Trauermarsch written by Anton Diabelli in memory of Michael Haydn for solo classical guitar.
• The "Funeral Music" for Akhnaten's father in Act I of the opera Akhnaten, by Philip Glass.
• The funeral march for Lìu in the opera Turandot, by Giacomo Puccini
• A funeral march for Napoleon Bonaparte, in Háry János, by Zoltán Kodály (after Napoleon has been defeated by the hero Háry János)
• The funeral march from Fibich's opera "The Bride of Messina"
• The funeral march during Tybalt's death in Prokofiev's opera Romeo and Juliet

See also

• Funeral March for the Obsequies of a Deaf Man (1884) by Alphonse Allais
• Dirge