Funeral March

From Wind Repertory Project
Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg (re-scored Geoffrey Emerson)


General Info

Year: 1866
Duration: c. 7:15
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Piano
Publisher: Robert King Music
Cost: Score & Parts - $35.75


Instrumentation

Full Score
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Percussion I-II, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Cymbals
  • Snare Drum


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Edvard Grieg met Richard Nordraak, a fellow Norwegian, in 1863. Together they championed nationalism in their musical activities, a cause that had lain dormant in Grieg's thoughts up until this time. Nordraak already had the Norwegian National Anthem to his credit, composed four years earlier when he was seventeen. From the time of their meeting the two young composers worked closely together until Nordraak's health began to fail three years later. In October of 1865, Nordraak suffered a "violent attack of inflammation of the lungs that developed into galloping consumption". Because Grieg was on his way to Rome, Nordraak did not have the solace of his friend's company during the lonely months of his illness. He died on March 26, 1866, in Berlin. Grieg, then in Rome, was ignorant of his death. The very day he heard of it, April 6, 1866, he wrote The Funeral March in A minor for Richard Nordraak for piano, as a monument to the memory of his dear friend.

One year later, Grieg arranged the work for military band, transposing it to g minor. He included the piece in a Philarmonic Society concert in Christiania (Oslo) later that year. In 1878, Grieg made yet another version of the work, this time for brass choir. The existence of this third score went unnoticed until Geoffrey Emerson obtained a microfilm of it from Oslo University.

Program Note from score


Grieg valued this work so greatly that he asked that it be performed at his own funeral.

- Program Note from California State University, Long Beach, Wind Symphony concert program, 5 October 2017


Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • University of Utah (Salt Lake City) Wind Ensemble (Rebekah Daniel, conductor) - 7 December 2021
  • University of Colorado Boulder Symphonic Band (Matthew Dockendorf, conductor) - 7 December 2020
  • Ball State University (Muncie, Ind.) Wind Ensemble (Brent Echols, conductor) - 13 November 2020
  • Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro) Symphonic Band (Reed Thomas, conductor) – 21 November 2019
  • California State University, Long Beach, Wind Symphony (Jermie S. Arnold, conductor) – 5 October 2017
  • University of Oklahoma Wind Symphony (Ryan Lipscomb, conductor) - 20 February 2017
  • Georgia State University (Atlanta) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Robert J. Ambrose, conductor) – 24 February 2006 (CBDNA 2006 Southern Division Conference, Nashville, Tenn.)
  • Penn State University (University Park) Symphonic Band (Brett Penshorn, conductor) - 6 August 1988


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Grieg, E.; Emerson, G. (1971). Funeral Music for Brass Choir [score]. Robert King Music: North Easton, Mass.
  • Hilfiger, John Jay. "Edvard Grieg’s Funeral March in Memory of Rikard Nordraak for Military Band." Journal of Band Research vol. 24, no. 2, Spring 1989, pp. 12-16.
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