dead march

plural dead marches

1. entertainmentA mournful, deliberately-paced musical work suitable for a funeral or remembrance ceremony.

   At the end, the orchestra played a somber dead march that was punctuated by harsh, chilling blows on the timpani.

   1983 November 22, Donal Henahan, “Musica: Sacra at Fisher Hall”, in New York Times, retrieved 10 Sep 2013

   3 more examples

   I see a sad procession, And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles, All the channels of the city streets they're flooding, As with voices and with tears. . . . Now nearer blow the bugles, And the drums strike more convulsive, And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded, And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

   1892, Walt Whitman, “Dirge for Two Veterans”, in Leaves of Grass

   A captain's guard marched before the corpse, the captain of it in the rear, the firelocks reversed, the drums beating the dead march.

   1859, Washington Irving, chapter 15, in Life of George Washington

   Lord Cramer . . . described the burying of his company's colonel after it—the open grave in a cleft of hills dark with pines, the solemn dead march, the noble words spoken as they left their leader forever.

   1914, Amelia E. Barr, chapter 2, in Playing With Fire

   Synonyms: death march, funeral march

2. capitalizedAny of several particular notable musical works of this kind, such as the Marche funèbre by Frédéric Chopin or the funeral anthem in George Frideric Handel's Saul.

   Conner's Band preceded the procession, playing the Dead March. The body was conveyed to Cypress Hill Cemetery.

   1865 March 3, “Funeral of a Policeman”, in New York Times, retrieved 10 Sep 2013

   2 more examples

   [W]hat divine ravishments may we not anticipate from this venerable, embrowned old organ, which might almost have played the Dead March in Saul, when King Saul himself was buried.

   1849, Herman Melville, chapter 49, in Redburn: His First Voyage

   It was 12:35 p.m. when the train pulled slowly out on its 21-mile journey to Windsor for the King's burial with his ancestors. As it left, the bands played their final farewell, Chopin's "Dead March."

   1952 February 15, “King George is Laid to Rest in Simple Service”, in Evening Times, UK, retrieved 10 Sep 2013, page 1