Marche funèbre op. 26

By introducing the civil concept of the burial service, the French Revolution had favoured the composition of funeral marches written for burial ceremonies and commemorations. This genre was cultivated by the Romantic musicians to extol their heroes, whose identity was either openly declared (Berlioz’s Marche funèbre pour la dernière scène d’Hamlet) or kept anonymous for a more idealised notion of heroism (Marcia Funebre from Beethoven’s Symphony no. 3). In 1844, Alkan composed two contrasting, yet complementary, piano marches, dedicated to his pupil, the Duchess of Montebello: the Marche funèbre, op. 26 and the Marche triomphale, op. 27. The former, in the unusual key of E flat minor, is based on three elements: the stylised representation of a muffled drum in the lower register; a hymnic melody full of unusual harmonic progressions; and an evocation of the tolling of the funeral bell, in E flat major, at the centre of the work (repeated tonic in the bass, ostinato of four descending notes in the middle register). This Marche funèbre was met with great enthusiasm by Fétis, who devoted a substantial review to it in the Revue et Gazette musicale of 25 July 1847, in which he concluded: “This compact piece is as remarkable for its intuitive understanding of the subject as for its emotion; since it is precisely the alternative to religious terror and regret for human affections which stir the heart in this last solemn act which follows death. These feelings are so well expressed by Monsieur Alkan, and the episode of the funeral bell completes this melancholy scene so well, that I consider this composition to be a perfect example of its genre.”