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Funeral march
A funeral march (marche funèbre in French, marcia funebre in Italian, Trauermarsch in German, marsz żałobny in Polish), as a musical genre, 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, the best-known example being the third movement of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2. Handel uses the name dead march, also used for marches played by a military band at military funerals.
The custom of accompanying the solemn funeral procession with instrumental music was already present in ancient civilizations in various forms. Both the Greeks and the Etruscans usually employed flute players or, the latter, zither players, as can be deduced for example from the Chiusi cippi illustrated in Pericle Ducati's work. Among the Romans, the traditional funeral (funus translaticium) involved the presence of musicians at the opening of the procession: two cornicini, four tibicini and a lituus, a special trumpet with a soft sound that was well suited to the circumstances. There is sculptural evidence of this ritual in a funerary bas-relief from Amiternum.
The genesis of the funeral march dates back to the seventeenth century. Originally it belongs to the group of solemn processional marches, military and non-military, and was intended only for practical use in the funerals of illustrious figures. However, already in 1674 Jean-Baptiste Lully used his Pompe funèbre in his opera Alceste.
Other ancient funeral marches, however intended for their own use, are the marches taken from Purcell 's Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary (1694), composed for the funeral of Mary II of England (5 March 1695), and the March to the Dauphin's Funeral Home written for Maria Anna of Bavaria and attributed to Philidor the Elder around 1690.
The eighteenth century was relatively scarce with funeral marches, both in military repertoires and in the works of great composers, but it still produced notable examples and, above all, freed the genre from its ceremonial function.
If in the early years of the century Philidor still composed a Marche funèbre pour le convoi du Roy (1715) for the solemn funeral of Louis XIV, twenty years later we remember the Dead marches written by Handel for the Saul oratorios (1738) and Samson (1742). The first is identified in England with the funeral march par excellence and remained in use in funerals until the twentieth century.
The rituals of Freemasonry contributed to the development of the genre at the end of the century. An early example is Giroust 's cantata Le déluge (1784), composed to commemorate a free-mason of the Paris lodge. Even Mozart 's Maurerische Trauermusik (1785), an original composition that combines the cantus firmus with a march and presents various characteristics similar to those of the funeral march, is dedicated to the memory of two Freemasons. This famous Trauermusik is preceded by a Kleiner Trauermarsch (1784) which seems to anticipate its content.
The French Revolution replaced the Requiem Mass with the funeral procession with its triumph being the procession to the Pantheon as for Rouseau in 1994, in what used to be the Roman Catholic church of Sainte-Genevieve in Paris. It is at this moment that the funeral march established itself to the detriment of the requiem as a secular model of funeral music, intended as much for witnesses of civil virtue as for military heroes. Civil celebrations become an essential moment of the new religion of reason, inspiring hymns and other compositions suitable for various occasions, including funerals.
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Funeral march
A funeral march (marche funèbre in French, marcia funebre in Italian, Trauermarsch in German, marsz żałobny in Polish), as a musical genre, 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, the best-known example being the third movement of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2. Handel uses the name dead march, also used for marches played by a military band at military funerals.
The custom of accompanying the solemn funeral procession with instrumental music was already present in ancient civilizations in various forms. Both the Greeks and the Etruscans usually employed flute players or, the latter, zither players, as can be deduced for example from the Chiusi cippi illustrated in Pericle Ducati's work. Among the Romans, the traditional funeral (funus translaticium) involved the presence of musicians at the opening of the procession: two cornicini, four tibicini and a lituus, a special trumpet with a soft sound that was well suited to the circumstances. There is sculptural evidence of this ritual in a funerary bas-relief from Amiternum.
The genesis of the funeral march dates back to the seventeenth century. Originally it belongs to the group of solemn processional marches, military and non-military, and was intended only for practical use in the funerals of illustrious figures. However, already in 1674 Jean-Baptiste Lully used his Pompe funèbre in his opera Alceste.
Other ancient funeral marches, however intended for their own use, are the marches taken from Purcell 's Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary (1694), composed for the funeral of Mary II of England (5 March 1695), and the March to the Dauphin's Funeral Home written for Maria Anna of Bavaria and attributed to Philidor the Elder around 1690.
The eighteenth century was relatively scarce with funeral marches, both in military repertoires and in the works of great composers, but it still produced notable examples and, above all, freed the genre from its ceremonial function.
If in the early years of the century Philidor still composed a Marche funèbre pour le convoi du Roy (1715) for the solemn funeral of Louis XIV, twenty years later we remember the Dead marches written by Handel for the Saul oratorios (1738) and Samson (1742). The first is identified in England with the funeral march par excellence and remained in use in funerals until the twentieth century.
The rituals of Freemasonry contributed to the development of the genre at the end of the century. An early example is Giroust 's cantata Le déluge (1784), composed to commemorate a free-mason of the Paris lodge. Even Mozart 's Maurerische Trauermusik (1785), an original composition that combines the cantus firmus with a march and presents various characteristics similar to those of the funeral march, is dedicated to the memory of two Freemasons. This famous Trauermusik is preceded by a Kleiner Trauermarsch (1784) which seems to anticipate its content.
The French Revolution replaced the Requiem Mass with the funeral procession with its triumph being the procession to the Pantheon as for Rouseau in 1994, in what used to be the Roman Catholic church of Sainte-Genevieve in Paris. It is at this moment that the funeral march established itself to the detriment of the requiem as a secular model of funeral music, intended as much for witnesses of civil virtue as for military heroes. Civil celebrations become an essential moment of the new religion of reason, inspiring hymns and other compositions suitable for various occasions, including funerals.