Funeral March

[PDG]

The Cenotaph broadcast this morning was the usual moving occasion, but what is that Beethoven march they always play (in B flat?) while the wreaths are being layed? I know I should know, but I don't.

[Peter]

Well I didn't watch it, but could it have been the Funeral March from the sonata in Ab Op.26?

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'Man know thyself'

[PDG]

Originally posted by Peter:
Well I didn't watch it, but could it have been the Funeral March from the sonata in Ab Op.26?

Negative. I do know that funeral march! This Cenotaph march is always played by the assembled brass band, so I guess it was written for such a group. The commentator always introduces it as "Beethoven's Funeral March in B flat".

[Rod]

Originally posted by PDG:
The Cenotaph broadcast this morning was the usual moving occasion, but what is that Beethoven march they always play (in B flat?) while the wreaths are being layed? I know I should know, but I don't.

Considering he only wrote two such marches the choice should not be a difficult one. But I do not recall hearing a Beethoven funeral march at such occasions.

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[PDG]

Originally posted by Rod:
Considering he only wrote two such marches the choice should not be a difficult one. But I do not recall hearing a Beethoven funeral march at such occasions.

Curiouser and curiouser. The march has been played every year for at least the last 15 (I always watch The Cenotaph). It has always been credited to Beethoven, and indeed, sounds very Beethovenian. It is played while the wreaths are being laid, immediately following the two minutes silence.

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by PDG:
Curiouser and curiouser. The march has been played every year for at least the last 15 (I always watch The Cenotaph). It has always been credited to Beethoven, and indeed, sounds very Beethovenian. It is played while the wreaths are being laid, immediately following the two minutes silence.

Is it possible that this is an instrumental (orchestral perhaps) of an arrangement of the Sonata Op. 26. I believe that such an arrangement was published as a Work without Opus Number--I've got it somewhere on an LP. But, essentially it is from the Sonata.

[PDG]

IT IS NOT, REPEAT NOT, FROM OPUS 26!!!!!

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by PDG:
IT IS NOT, REPEAT NOT, FROM OPUS 26!!!!!

Then I suppose if I were to suggest that it was the Funeral March from "Leonore Prohaska" (WoO 96)I would be absolutely wrong inasmuch as it is Beethoven's own orchestration of Opus 26. More seriously, though, does it have to be labeled as a Funeral March? You indicated initally that it was a march in b-flat. Perhaps WoO 2, Triumphal March from "Tarpeja".

[Michael]

Could it possibly be a brass band arrangement of one of the Equali for four trombones? I'm just shooting in the dark here as I haven't heard the Cenotaph piece.

M.

[Peter]

Originally posted by PDG:
Curiouser and curiouser. The march has been played every year for at least the last 15 (I always watch The Cenotaph). It has always been credited to Beethoven, and indeed, sounds very Beethovenian. It is played while the wreaths are being laid, immediately following the two minutes silence.

You should have warned us in advance and we would have been tuned in to the two minutes silence! Looks like we'll have to wait till next year - I bet they play something different!

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'Man know thyself'

[Peter7]

Originally posted by PDG:
The Cenotaph broadcast this morning was the usual moving occasion, but what is that Beethoven march they always play (in B flat?) while the wreaths are being layed? I know I should know, but I don't.

The "Beethoven" Funeral March in B flat is actually by Johann Heinrich Walch, an early 19th century Kappellmeister at Gotha. The arrangement for brass band played at the Cenotaph service is by Hartmann. Why it has come to be known as the 'Beethoven' Funeral March, I'm afraid I can't help on!

The RAF refer to is at Beethoven's Funeral March No 2, No 1 being the arrangement of slow movement from Op 26. They also occasionally play a 'Beethoven Funeral March No 3' (at Churchill's funeral, for example). No-one, not even they, seem to know who wrote that one!

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by Sorrano:
Then I suppose if I were to suggest that it was the Funeral March from "Leonore Prohaska" (WoO 96)I would be absolutely wrong inasmuch as it is Beethoven's own orchestration of Opus 26. More seriously, though, does it have to be labeled as a Funeral March? You indicated initally that it was a march in b-flat. Perhaps WoO 2, Triumphal March from "Tarpeja".

No, the Triumphmarch from "Tarpeja" (WoO 2a)is written in C-major. Even the transferring instruments (clarinets, horns, and trumpets) are in C-major. Besides, it is much too jaunting to be a funeral march with Beethoven's indicated tempo being "lebhalf und stolz."


Hofrat