Sonata: composition for an instrumental soloist, often with a piano accompaniment, typically in several movements with one or more in sonata form
Frédéric Chopin composed his dirge in 1839 while living with George Sand in Nohant, France, 160 miles south of Paris.
Fittingly, Chopin's Funeral March was performed at his own funeral in 1849.
The initial chord's a repeated B flat for three measures that then accompanied with an alternating B flat and G flat major chords to resemble a funeral bell. Ironically this melody was also utilised for the prior Scherzo movement.
Napoléon Reber arranged the first orchestrial performance at Chopin's own burial in Paris's Père Lachaise Cemetery in 1849, fittingly just one day before Halloween.
Later, English conductor Henry Wood arranged two orchestrial performances, the first played at The Proms four times 1895 and 1905. On August 17, 1907, he conducted a new rendition he composed for the recent death of famed violinist Joseph Joachim.
Eight-nine minutes long and the third movement in Chopin's Sonata #2, Funeral March is performed in B flat minor and 4/4 time with the trio performed in D flat major, however its tempo designation, Lento, wasn't added until after the sonata's 1840 publication.
Transcribed= arrange a piece of music for a different instrument, voice, or group of these
Lento=slowly
Following the repetive B flat, the melody's a strict retrograde of the first movement's theme, Retrograde=
nocturne= short composition of a romantic or dreamy character suggestive of night, typically for piano
quaver=note having the time value of an eighth of a whole note or half a quarter note, represented by a large dot with a hooked stem
Then, in 1933 Edward Elger arranged Marche funèbre for a full orchestra, its first performance at his memorial concert the following year.
fortissimo: played very loudly.
played very loudly.
coda= concluding passage of a piece or movement, typically forming an addition to the basic structure
Marche funèbre: [ Marsh-shah ]
monophonic: consisting of a single musical line, without accompaniment.