Funeral march = Marche funèbre : op. 35
March · in B♭ minor · Op. 35
Frédéric Chopin 1810–1849
B♭ minor
Key
March
Form
Lento
Tempo
Op. 35
Catalogue
Score
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Difficulty
Our estimate Intermediate
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Themes & character
Universally known·Written before its sonata·Consoling central trio·Played at his own funeral
At a glance
- Catalogue
- Op. 35
- Key
- B♭ minor
- Tempo / character
- Lento
- Form
- March
About the piece
The third movement of Chopin's Second Sonata, composed in 1837, two years before the sonata that surrounds it, and by far the most famous funeral march ever written. Its heavy, tolling tread has become musical shorthand for mourning across the world.
At its centre is a passage of extraordinary tenderness in the major, a moment of consolation before the march returns. It was played, in an orchestrated arrangement, at Chopin's own funeral in Paris in 1849.
The composer
Frédéric Chopin
1810–1849
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the early Romantic period who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading composer of his era whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation".
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