dead marches

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

   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