dead march

Noun

dead march (plural dead marches)

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

   Synonyms:

   death march, funeral march

2. (capitalized) Any 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.
   • [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
   • 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