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Piano Sonata No. 2 (Chopin)
Frédéric Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 was written mainly in 1839 at Nohant, near Châteauroux in France, though the third movement, the funeral march, had been composed as early as 1837.
Funeral march
As noted above, the third movement is structured as a funeral march played with a Lento interlude. While the term "funeral march" is perhaps a fitting description of the 3rd movement, complete with the Lento Interlude in D flat major, "Chopin's Funeral March" is used commonly to describe only the funeral march proper (in B flat minor). The "funeral march" has become well known in popular culture. It was also used at the state funerals of John F. Kennedy and those of Soviet leaders, including Leonid Brezhnev. It was transcribed for full orchestra by the English composer Sir Edward Elgar in 1933 (in D minor) and its first performance was at his own memorial concert the next year. It was played at the graveside during Chopin's own burial at Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
Influences
The sonata's opening bars allude to Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 32, Op. 111, Beethoven's last. The basic sequence of scherzo, funeral march with trio, and animated, resolving finale, repeats that of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 12 A-flat major; however, Chopin's first movement is written in sonata form while Beethoven's first movement is a set of variations on an original theme. Chopin was known to have admired these two Beethoven sonatas.
Satie
Erik Satie, in the second movement of his "Embryons desséchés" - of an Edriophthalma - uses a variation on the Funeral March's theme.
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