Editing Funeral march (section)

== History ==

=== Historical origins ===
The custom of accompanying the solemn [[funeral procession]] with instrumental music was already present in ancient civilizations in various forms. Both the [[Greek civilization|Greeks]] and the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]] usually employed flute players or, the latter, [[zither]] players, as can be deduced for example from the [[Cippus|''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 [[Relief|bas-relief]] from ''[[Amiternum]]''. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Pompa |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/pompa_(Enciclopedia-dell'-Arte-Antica)/,%20https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/pompa_(Enciclopedia-dell'-Arte-Antica)/ |access-date=2024-03-26 |website=Treccani |language=it}}</ref>

=== 17th century ===
<gallery mode="packed-hover">
File:Jean-Baptiste Lully.jpeg|Lully codified the military march form and used a funeral march in an opera or ''[[tragédie lyrique]]''.
File:Henry Purcell Closterman.jpg|[[Henry Purcell|Purcell]] composed one of the oldest known examples of a funeral march composed specifically for the funeral of a powerful person.
</gallery>

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,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Piccardi |first=Carlo |date=1990 |title=Marche funèbre et conception laïque de la mort |url=https://www.dissonance.ch/upload/pdf/023_04_hb_pic_trauermarsch.pdf |journal=Dissonance |language=fr |publisher=Basilea |issue=23 |pages=4–11}}</ref>  and was intended only for practical use in the funerals of illustrious figures.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heath |first=Charles V. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d3faCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 |title=The Inevitable Bandstand: The State Band of Oaxaca and the Politics of Sound |date=2015 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-8422-7 |pages=60–61 |language=en}}</ref>  However, already in 1674 [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]] used his ''Pompe funèbre'' in his opera ''[[Alceste (Lully)|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|Mary II of England]] (5 March 1695),<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Monelle |first=Raymond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jrF467sy4FkC&pg=PA127 |title=The Musical Topic: Hunt, Military and Pastoral |date=2006-09-21 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-11236-1 |pages=127–130 |language=en}}</ref>  and the ''March to the Dauphin's Funeral Home'' written for [[Maria Anna of Bavaria (1660-1690)|Maria Anna of Bavaria]] and attributed to [[André Danican Philidor the elder|Philidor the Elder]] around 1690.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dupont-Danican |first1=Jean François |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tRJBAAAAMAAJ |title=Les Philidor: une dynastie de musiciens |last2=Philidor |first2=Nicolas Dupont-Danican |date=1995 |publisher=Zurfluh |isbn=978-2-87750-068-5 |pages=31 |language=fr}}</ref> 

=== 18th century ===
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]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Labat |first=Maïté |date=2015-11-30 |title=Versailles - La mort du roi - 3 questions à Hugo Reyne, directeur artistique de La Simphonie du Marais |url=http://www.leroiestmort.com/fr/3-questions-a-hugo-reyne-directeur-artistique-de-la-simphonie-du-marais |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=Le Petit Journal du Grand Roi}}</ref>  twenty years later we remember the ''Dead marches'' written by [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]] for the ''[[Saul (Handel)|Saul]]'' oratorios (1738) and ''[[Samson (Handel)|Samson]]'' (1742).<ref name=":1" /> The first is identified in England with the funeral march par excellence and remained in use in funerals until the twentieth century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burke |first=Richard N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=78sXAQAAIAAJ |title=The Marche Funèbre from Beethoven to Mahler |date=1991 |publisher=City University of New York |pages=35 |language=en}}</ref> 

The [[Masonic ritual and symbolism|rituals of Freemasonry]] contributed to the development of the genre at the end of the century. An early example is [[François Giroust|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.<ref name=":0" /> 

The [[French Revolution]] replaced the [[Requiem|Requiem Mass]] with the funeral procession with its triumph being the procession to the [[Pantheon, Rome|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.<ref name=":0" /> 

The lacerating ''Lugubrious March'' composed by [[François-Joseph Gossec|Francois-Joseph Gossec]] to celebrate the victims of an anti-royalist uprising on 20 September 1790 known as the [[Nancy affair]] which marked a decisive turning point. Performed on the [[Champ de Mars]] in memory of the fallen soldiers, it aroused great emotion and sets the ''standard'' for the nineteenth-century funeral march.  The piece was repeated at [[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau|Mirabeau]] 's solemn funeral on 4 April 1791. On this occasion, the use of the large drum was particularly striking, appearing for the first time in a musical composition and marking the procession with a sense of fatality.  The Italians Cherubini and Paisiello also composed funeral marches for the death of General Hoche in 1797 after he had spilled a lot of blood during the Revolution.<ref name=":0" /> 

=== 19th century ===
==== Beethoven and the heroic funeral march ====
[[File:Beethoven-op26c.svg|440x440px|thumb]]
[[File:Klaviersonate_Nr._12_B-Dur,_op._26_-_III.Marcia_Funebre_-_Andante_maestoso.ogg|thumb]]
Beethoven's ''[[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|Eroica]]'' funeral march is one of the first great concert pieces of its kind.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Beethoven adhered to the ideals of the Revolution and borrowed the theme of heroic death from the composers of the revolutionary era,  from which he drew inspiration in several works destined to reverberate their influence on the work of romantic. The ''Funeral March on the Death of a Hero'' (1800-1801) which is the third movement of the [[Piano Sonata No. 12 (Beethoven)|''Piano Sonata no. 12'']], one of the most popular of the century,  would have a notable influence on Chopin in particular.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ward |first=Brendan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gQt5AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1846 |title=The Beethoven Obsession |date=2013-08-01 |publisher=NewSouth Publishing |isbn=978-1-74224-155-5 |language=en}}</ref> 

Beethoven was looking for the "new musical paths" (''Neue Bahnen)'' mentioned in one of his letters to Krumpholz of 1802.  In this period the maestro from Bonn frequented the funeral march genre several times: for example, the fifth of the ''Six Variations in F major for piano'' op. 34 (1799). 

But what is of greatest importance is the second movement of the ''Eroica'' (1802-1804) which, in addition to innovating the very way of conceiving the central slow tempo of the symphony form, definitively frees the funeral march from functionality to practical use, drawing from it a pure concert piece.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Burnham |first1=Scott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iIAexj-DFqYC&pg=PA41 |title=Beethoven and His World |last2=Steinberg |first2=Michael P. |date=2000-08-27 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-07073-5 |pages=25 |language=en}}</ref>  The funeral march of the ''Eroica'' was not very suitable for use in processions,  unlike that of the Sonata n. 12, which remains the only movement of his own sonata orchestrated by Beethoven and which was performed at the composer's funeral on 29 March 1827. 

However, alongside the Beethovenian epic genre, different other tendencies emerge. The funeral march that opens the finale of the second act in Rossini's ''[[La gazza ladra|Gazza ladra]]'' (1819) (''Infelice, unfortunate'') is renowned throughout the nineteenth century and heralds a new turning point in the evolution of the genre, introducing a previously unknown melodic lyricism.  The fifth of Schubert 's ''Six grandes marches en trio'' (1824) is in the same vein though it is not indicated by the author as a funeral march but so called in his obituaries and in a piano transcription by Liszt.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waeber |first=Jacqueline |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k_awc8N2YjYC&pg=PA15 |title=Frédéric Chopin: interprétations : symposium international, Université de Genève |date=2005 |publisher=Librairie Droz |isbn=978-2-600-00945-4 |pages=26–29 |language=fr}}</ref> 

In terms of instrumentation, after the first decades of the century the orchestral workforce expanded. [[Percussion instrument|Percussions]] other than [[timpani]], which had so much weight in band performances at the time of the Revolution, also made their debut in the orchestra: in the 1840s, those percussions were fully integrated in the compositions of [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]], [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]], [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Hilfiger |first=John Jay |date=1992 |title=Funeral marches, dirges, and wind bands in the nineteenth century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pG4JAQAAMAAJ |journal=Journal of Band Research |publisher=Troy State University Press |publication-place=Troy |volume=28 |pages=9}}</ref> 

[[Romanticism]], fascinated by funeral music, further deepened the significance of the composition,  using it in chamber music, in the symphony, in the sonata, in opera. At the same time, however, a vast literature of compositions for wind orchestra conceived as tribute and performed at funerals also flourished.

==== Chopin and the romantic funeral march ====
[[File:Chopin_II_Sonata_op._35_-_III._Marsz_pogrzebowy._Lento.jpg|thumb|Opening of the ''Marche funèbre'']]
{{Listen
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| filename     = Frederic Chopin Piano Sonata No.2 in B flat minor Op35 - III Marche Funebre.ogg
| title        = III. Marche funèbre, Lento
| description  = Andreas Xenopoulos, piano
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The attraction for funeral music was especially intense for [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Samson |first=Jim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=spdmAgb78xwC&pg=PA161 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Chopin |date=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-47752-9 |pages=161 |language=en}}</ref> who knew well the ''Sonata No. 12'' by Beethoven; as a matter of fact, he usually exploited its elements in other compositions. Many examples are certainly familiar to him when he sets out to compose the famous piece around which he would build the entire ''Sonata No. 2'' Op. 35 (1839).{{clarify|date=April 2024|reason=Awkward wording}} In addition to the works of Beethoven and Rossini, the Polish composer almost certainly knew the first movement of Berlioz's ''Great Funeral and Triumphal Symphony'' before its official debut in 1840,  but it possesses a very different character and in all likelihood represents a model negative.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kramer |first=Lawrence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCs927Mfe6sC&pg=PA121 |title=Interpreting Music |date=2011 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-26705-3 |pages=121 |language=en}}</ref> 

The funeral marches were performed only an official function, it had almost no theme, the melody was chaste and sinister, the whole structure was oriented towards the solemn celebration. In Chopin's funeral march, the central section in a major mode trio presents a theme that is not only complete, but that can be counted among the melodic peaks reached by the author in all of his production. 

In Chopin the funeral march abdicates public solemnity to include a moment of private meditation.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Waeber |first1=Jacqueline |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k_awc8N2YjYC&pg=PA15 |title=Frédéric Chopin: interprétations : symposium international, Université de Genève |last2=Kallberg |first2=Jeffrey |date=2005 |publisher=Librairie Droz |isbn=978-2-600-00945-4 |pages=26–29 |language=fr |chapter=La marche de Chopin}}</ref>  Compared to Beethoven, the heroic and glorious dimension has been completely lost: the Chopin trio rather expresses a defeat, for some a prayer, for others only profound sadness, in a humanization of death which has certainly contributed to the popularity of the song.  It is a difficult passage to interpret, not surprisingly criticized and even repudiated as "abominable" by Bülow, or instead considered a "touchstone" of the pianist 's sensitivity such as [[Wilhelm von Lenz]]. 

At Chopin's funeral on 30 October 1849, the piece was performed in an orchestral transcription, entrusted to Reber with Meyerbeer's regret. It is just one of the countless transcriptions for band or orchestra that have contributed to extending the composition's fame. 

Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century Chopin's funeral march has been the best-known in the world, and also the most famous of Chopin's works.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Belotti |first=Gastone |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c0qkNiQHp4MC&pg=PA155 |title=Chopin |date=1984 |publisher=EDT srl |isbn=978-88-7063-033-6 |pages=155 |language=it}}</ref>  It was orchestrated among others by [[Edward Elgar|Elgar]] (who transposes it from B♭ to D minor) and by [[Leopold Stokowski|Stokowski]], and is often performed at state funerals, for example those of [[John F. Kennedy]] (25 November 1963), [[Sir Winston Churchill]] (30 January 1965), [[Leonid Brezhnev]] (15 November 1982), [[Margaret, Baroness Thatcher]] (17 April 2013), and [[Elizabeth II]] ([[Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II|19 September 2022]]).  [[John Philip Sousa]] testifies that in Australia in 1910 his transcription for band thrilled the audience to the point that it was necessary to repeat it at the next concert.<ref name=":2" />

==== Liszt and the romantic funeral march ====
The fascination with death then emerged from Liszt 's theme and also took on a personal dimension in the ''Three Funeral Odes'', including ''The Night'' (1863-1864), a funeral march dedicated to the memory of his daughter Blandine.  Liszt in turn referred to Beethoven, whose funeral march from the ''Eroica'' he transcribed for the piano. 

The characteristics of the funeral march are found in various symphonic poems such as ''Tasso'' (1854), ''[[Die Ideale]]'' (1857), ''[[Hamlet (Liszt)|Hamlet]]'' (1858), ''[[Héroïde funèbre (Liszt)|Héroïde funèbre]]'' (1849-1850), ''[[Hungaria (Liszt)|Hungaria]]'' (1854), where the Hungarian composer deals with both death and mourning itself, and death as a prelude to rebirth.  In the last two poems cited the reference to the funeral march is explicit in the time indication .

Liszt's funeral marches or pseudomarches are characterized by their extreme slowness.  Liszt relies particularly on dark timbres and low registers, providing expressive indications such as ''expressive dolente'', ''feeble'', ''lachrymoso'', ''lamentative'', ''lugubrious'', ''crying''. In some cases ''Hamlet'' and ''Hungaria'') the one to the funeral march is a simple allusion conveyed by a theme in march time, while in others the composition receives a complete form and includes a trio.  Another passage from the ''[[Années de pèlerinage|Years of Pilgrimage]]'' (1867) is dedicated to [[Maximilian I of Mexico]], the emperor of the house of Habsburg executed by the republican troops of [[Benito Juárez|Benito Juarez]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arnold |first=Ben |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_jZs6zP6R6gC&pg=PA152 |title=The Liszt Companion |date=2002-06-30 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-313-30689-1 |pages=152–155 |language=en}}</ref> 

==== Mahler and the symphonic funeral march ====
Towards the end of the century, the funeral march played an important symbolic role in [[Gustav Mahler]]'s production, starting with the romance ''Die zwei blauen Augen'' (1884) taken from the ''[[Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen]]''. The composer uses it indifferently in the symphonies (third movement of the first and first of the fifth), in the ''Lieder'' and in the collections of the latter.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Donald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q17orLGVH_wC&pg=PA89 |title=Gustav Mahler: The Wunderhorn Years : Chronicles and Commentaries |date=1980-01-01 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-04220-9 |pages=125–126 |language=en}}</ref> 

In the second volume of the collection ''[[Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Mahler)|Des Knaben Wunderhorn]]'', which had a great influence on the first four symphonies and which stood out for the extreme nature of the emotions addressed,  the echo of ''Die zwei blauen Augen'' stands out, melodically recalled by ''Nicht wiedersehen!'' (1888-1891).<ref name=":3" /> 

The 1884 romance also returned in the most famous funeral march of the first symphony (1888-1894), in a mix of quotes that alludes to the author's autobiographical experience.  The fundamental quote is a gloomy parody of the ''Fra Martino'' canon, a childish song to which Mahler has always attributed a sense of tragedy, which obsesses him all the time just as he is looking for an ''incipit'' and which, finally accepted into the symphony, sustains a sarcastic and sinister atmosphere.<ref name=":3" /> 

Both the funeral march of the first symphony and that of the fifth are inspired by [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]] 's model. The first finds its precedent in the parodic funeral march of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1843), a short-lived piece which in turn hints at ''Fra Martino'' 's theme and furthermore retains the typical trait of dotted rhythm.  The second openly quotes the ''incipit'' of the ''Romanza senza parole'' op. 62 n. 3 (1842-1844).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hurwitz |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=11RMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |title=The Mahler Symphonies: Unlocking the Masters Series |date=2004-11-01 |publisher=Amadeus Press |isbn=978-1-57467-356-2 |pages=81 |language=en}}</ref> 

==== The revival of Lenten funeral marches ====
From the military and royal funeral marches, the religious funeral marches developed since the 17th century. It evolved as a more specific genre in the 19th century with this repertoire being formed over the course of several decades. In the archives of the ''Hermandad de la Amargura'' (Brotherhood of Bitterness) of [[Seville]], there is evidence of the Lenten funeral marches with the formation of the musical band known as the Banda del Asilo de San Fernando and today as the Municipal Symphonic Band of Seville through the artistic activity of Andrés Palatín Palma, who provided musical services for [[Holy Week in Seville|Holy Week]] since April 14, 1838.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-08-13 |title=La Banda Municipal, la más antigua del mundo |url=https://www.sevilla.org/ayuntamiento/alcaldia/comunicacion/noticias/la-banda-sinfonica-municipal-la-mas-antigua-del-mundo |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=Ayuntamiento de Sevilla |language=es}}</ref>

In Italy, the earliest record of a special repertoire for those bands dates from 1857, the year in which [[Vincenzo Valente]] (1830-1908) composed ''U Conzasiegge'', the oldest [[Molfetta]] Funeral March known today. It was another man with links to the Puglia, Vincenzo Alemanno, active as an organist in the 19th century in the main churches of Gallipoli who canonized the genre. A composition taken from his Requiem Mass and composed for the Solemn [[Pope Pius IX|Funeral of Pope Pius IX]], celebrated in the Cathedral Church of Sant'Agata, Saturday 16 March 1878 when Alemanno was organist at the same time at the Cathedral of Sant'Agata, the Chiesa del Carmine and the Chiesa delle Anime.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2021-03-26 |title=La trascrizione per pianoforte del M° Luigi Solidoro di una marcia funebre inedita del compositore Vincenzo Alemanno |url=https://www.ilpensieromediterraneo.it/pubblicata-la-trascrizione-per-pianoforte-del-m-luigi-solidoro-di-una-marcia-funebre-inedita-di-vincenzo-alemanno/ |access-date=2024-03-26 |website=Il Pensiero mediterraneo |language=it-IT}}</ref>

The genre crossed into [[Latin America]], and became particular in many countries. They often followed a similar trajectory, from military to religious, to classical marches. The oldest Latin American funeral march known is the ''Marcha Morán,'' a Peruvian funeral march that tradition claims was composed in Arequipa in homage to General Trinidad Morán, shot in 1854. Since the 1870s, this melody has accompanied the journey of the [[Our Lady of Sorrows|Virgin of Sorrows]], one of the most revered Catholic images of [[Arequipa]], whose procession takes place every Good Friday of Holy Week, from the church of Santo Domingo.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Malpartida Tabuchi |first=Jorge |date=2019-08-04 |title=Arequipa: el patriota venezolano que fue fusilado en la Plaza de Armas |url=https://elcomercio.pe/peru/arequipa/arequipa-patriota-venezolano-fusilado-plaza-mayor-ech1t-noticia-661648-noticia/ |access-date=2024-03-26 |work=El Comercio |language=es-PE |issn=1605-3052}}</ref> In [[Guatemala]] Lenten funeral marches have become a national treasure. ''La Fosa'', by Santiago Coronado, is one of the first documented guatemaltec funeral marches, dating from 1888. Among the pioneers of the genre are also Salvador Iriarte, author of ''Jesús de la Merced'', and Marcial Prem, creator of ''Funeral March n.3''. 

=== 20th century ===
After a golden age of funeral marches in the nineteenth century, the musical genre also thrived in the twentieth century: examples can be found among others in [[Benjamin Britten|Britten]], [[Zoltán Kodály|Kodály]] or [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]].  There are various rearrangements of older masterpieces and especially of Chopin's funeral march. [[Camille Saint-Saëns|Saint-Saëns]] drew from it, for example, an arrangement for two pianos (1907),  while [[Erik Satie|Satie]] in his ''[[Embryons desséchés]]'' (1913) joked about it with a series of trivializing melodic and harmonic devices.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Moretti |first1=Monique Streiff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ttIbAQAAIAAJ |title=La forma breve nella cultura del Novecento: scritture ironiche |last2=Pavese |first2=Renzo |last3=Simčić |first3=Olga |date=2000 |publisher=Edizioni scientifiche italiane |isbn=978-88-495-0140-7 |pages=43 |language=it}}</ref> 

==== Shostakovich and the Russian funeral march ====
In particular, the funeral marches stand out in the production of [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]], whose entire work is permeated by death, of which he is a constant witness in the collective tragedies of Russian history of the 20th century. The composer made his debut in the genre at the age of eleven with a piano piece dedicated to the fallen of the [[October Revolution]] (1917), transcribed a work by Schubert (1920) and then left numerous other examples, including the adagio ''In memoriam'' of the [[Symphony No. 15 (Shostakovich)|''Symphony no. 15'']] (1957).<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Pulcini |first=Franco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2vim5XnmcDUC&pg=PA114 |title=Šostakovič |date=1988 |publisher=EDT srl |isbn=978-88-7063-060-2 |pages=114–115 |language=it}}</ref> 

The obsessive theme of death deepens and is placed in special relief in his late production.  Heartbreaking given the circumstances of his composition is the funeral march included in [[String Quartet No. 15 (Shostakovich)|''String Quartet No. 15'']] (1974), completed in hospital and entirely permeated by the idea of death, in «a disconsolate and tragic farewell to life» of the author now at the end of his existence.<ref name=":4" /> 

==== Epic Lenten marches ====
In many places until the 20th century, the processions of Holy Week did not tolerate bands as instruments were banned from liturgy during Len, there these processions were made in silence as it is still the case in many places, such as in the [[Procession of Silence in San Luis Potosi]]. However, with the continuous attraction of crowds, bands have been helpful to cover the noise and keep a pious atmosphere around the solemn moments. Thus, during Holy Week in [[León, Spain|Leon]] in 1959, a great novelty occurs: for the first time, a band of bugles and drums belonging entirely to a brotherhood and parades in a tunic accompanying the images of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-03-31 |title=¿Cuál es la mejor banda de música de la Semana Santa de León? |url=https://ileon.eldiario.es/actualidad/cual-mejor-banda-musica-semana-santa-leon_1_9483951.html |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=iLeón |language=es}}</ref> 

The composition of the funeral march ''La Madrugá'' on Holy Tuesday 1987, April 14, marks a before and after processional music for the specific genre of Lenten funeral marches.It has since been performed in all the concert programs of [[Holy Week in Seville]]. Likewise, the Music Bands incorporate it into their processional routes, spreading it throughout Andalusia. With Abel Moreno moved to Madrid, its nationwide dissemination became unstoppable, becoming a reference not only for Spanish Holy Week, but for the entire world. The mutual enrichment and recognition between classical and popular "band" funeral marches was reached with this composition which go "in crescendo" until the explosion of the final ''tutti,'' allowing it to share programs with the "Passion" Symphony by J. Haydn and the ''Requiem'' by W. A. Mozart. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Academia de las ciencias y artes militares |title=14 abril 1987: La Madrugá |url=https://www.acami.es/efemerides/14-de-abril-de-1987la-madruga/ |access-date=2024-03-26 |website=Acami |language=es}}</ref>

In Guatemala, it was not until 1988 that the procession known as the “Penitential Procession of the First Thursday of Lent” in Guatemala, has incorporated the presence of a musical band with the authorization of archbishop Monsignor Barrios Sánchez. The official marches that are performed are “Ramito de Olivo”, “King of the Universe” and “Jesús de San José”.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ministero de Cultura y Deportes de Guatemala |date=2017-03-02 |title=Procesión del Primer Jueves de Cuaresma recorre las calles del Centro Histórico |url=https://mcd.gob.gt/procesion-del-primer-jueves-de-cuaresma-recorre-las-calles-del-centro-historico/ |access-date=2024-03-26 |language=es}}</ref>