{"id":19439,"date":"2022-09-16T14:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=172117"},"modified":"2022-09-16T15:07:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T13:07:11","slug":"best-funeral-marches-for-state-funerals","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/best-funeral-marches-for-state-funerals\/","title":{"rendered":"Best funeral marches for state funerals"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Hannah Nepilova\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 16 September 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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What is a funeral march?<\/strong><\/h1>\n

A funeral march is a slow, stately piece of music, usually in a minor key, and duple or quadruple time, that imitates the feel and pace of a funeral procession. Designed to be used as part of a real procession, the earliest funeral marches were simple in character, accompanied by a steady beat on a large drum.<\/p>\n

Since then the genre has evolved in terms of both harmonic and rhythmic complexity, with many funeral marches forming part of a large-scale work written to be performed in the concert hall. But these, too, often make their way into funerals. Here are some of the most famous examples.<\/p>\n

Mendelssohn\u2019s Funeral March<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mendelssohn<\/a><\/strong> wrote this piece in May 1836 for the funeral of his friend, the German composer Norbert Burgm\u00fcller who, earlier that month, had been found drowned in a bathtub \u2013 probably as the result of an epileptic fit. Written for wind ensemble, it is a grandiose piece that builds to a towering climax.<\/p>\n

Beethoven\u2019s Symphony No. 3 \u2013 Marcia funebre:\u00a0Adagio assai<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Moments of sunshine and hope mingle with intense solemnity in the second movement of the\u00a0Eroica<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, which features a majestic threnody, juxtaposed with imitation drum rolls in the strings.\u00a0Inspired by the grand funeral marches composed for public occasions during the French Revolution, this piece is one of Beethoven<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s most imposing musical statements.<\/p>\n

Chopin\u2019s Piano Sonata No. 2 \u2013 Marche funebre<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Composed at least two years before the rest of the work, the third movement of Chopin<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s Piano Sonata No.2 is one of the composer\u2019s most popular works. With its intensely elegiac atmosphere, it has become the go-to musical piece to accompany the subject of death, and has been played at numerous funerals, not least those of John F. Kennedy, Sir Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, as well as Chopin himself.<\/p>\n

Mahler\u2019s Symphony No. 1 \u2013 Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen<\/i><\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Inspired by a woodcut by Moritz von Schwind on which forest animals lead a funeral procession in honour of a fallen hunter, Mahler<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s funeral march is intended as a parody \u2013 but a desperately sad one.\u00a0 We hear a solemn march based on a minor-key version of the popular round \u2018Fr\u00e8re Jacques\u2019. Then, without warning, the mood changes, and Mahler uses cymbal, bass drum, oboes, clarinets and a trumpet duo to produce the sound of a small klezmer band, before returning, with equal suddenness to a mood of lamentation. It\u2019s all very typical of the composer who famously juxtaposed comedy and tragedy to shockingly abrupt effect.<\/p>\n

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