I've heard the spooky tune, The Death March, several times tonight for
Halloween.  There are not words, just music.  I've also heard the tune
used in B-rated movies or cartoons to signify that someone or
something has died.  What is the origin of this tune?  Who wrote it,
when, and for what reason?

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Request for Question Clarification by secret901-ga on 31 Oct 2002 21:13 PST

Is it this tune you're referring to?

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Request for Question Clarification by secret901-ga on 31 Oct 2002 21:13 PST

http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Opera/3844/Dthmarch.mid

Hello, Alicia.

I believe you're referring to Frédéric Chopin's Funeral March, from
Sonata Op.35, No. 2. The Funeral March is one of the best-known
classical melodies in the world. The great pianist Anton Rubinstein
described it as sounding like "Night winds sweeping over churchyard
graves."
  
The sonata was completed in 1839, although the funeral march was
composed two years earlier. You can hear an audio clip here:

The Great Kat: Frederic Chopin Funeral March
http://www.greatkat.com/54/compose/chopin.html

"Virtually from the day of its publication, the march has had a career
independent of the Piano Sonata in B Minor, Op. 35, into which Chopin
inserted it. It quickly became Western music's paramount anthem of
public mourning, a role it played at funerals from Chopin's own to
John F. Kennedy's."

University of Chicago Journal: Chopin at the Funeral: Episodes in the
History of Modern Death
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JAMS/abstracts/541kra.html

Here is an interesting article discussing this powerful, yet simple
piece of music:

Richard Reid: Frederick Chopin (1810-1849) - Funeral March Sonata
(cached)
http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:R4h_0fvOhpgC:home.att.net/~richardreid/Chopin_Sonata_notes.htm

Regarding the background of the Funeral March, here is an excerpt from
an essay which examines the origins of Chopin's haunting composition:

"In the summer of 1839, Chopin wrote to his friend Julian Fontana: 'I
am currently composing a sonata in B fiat minor in which you will find
the march you already know. This sonata is comprised of an allegro, a
scherzo in E fiat minor, the march and a short finale; three pages,
perhaps, in manuscript. After the march, the left hand babbles in
unison with the right.' ...His bleak, almost indifferent description
of the tumultuously dark vision he had created in four movements,
which tears at the emotions with terrifying intensity, is stunningly
inadequate and yet quite typical. For Chopin, the Polish artist in
exile, lived within his music; it was his universe, his refuge, his
confessional, his outlet, and nowhere are his inner passions and
hallucinatory fears more on display than in this work. ...Chopin had
composed the actual Funeral March in 1837 and whether he had the idea
at that time of including it within the framework of a sonata is
unsure. What we do know is that of all the Beethoven sonatas, the one
he preferred was opus 26 which contains a Funeral March in the third
movement. ...in the Funeral March sonata ...we are actually hearing a
progression of the innermost fears, morbid imaginings and defiant
passions of dying genius, ending not in surrender or in any exalted
serene state (as in Beethoven's extraordinary opus 111 sonata which
also follows a progression of a tormented genius' inner struggle) but
with bat's wings and ice-cold skeletal fingers, and thoughts too
frightening to be described by mere words."

Opening Day: Chopin, Book Two
http://www.openingday.com/9318-.htm

My Google search strategy:

"chopin" + "funeral march"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=chopin+%22funeral+march

I hope this information has been helpful. If any of the links do not
function, if something is not clear, or if you need further
assistance, please request clarification before rating my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

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Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 01 Nov 2002 15:22 PST

Alicia,

Thank you *very* much for the five-star rating and the $5 tip! This
was definitely the best Halloween 'treat' of the day!

~Pink

Amazing.  I did not expect to learn so much, to get a sample of the
music, to receive an answer so quickly.  Thank you.

I complement the answer in general, but there is one important error
regarding Anton Rubenstein's comment-that refers to the LAST movement
of the Sonata, NOT the funeral march, which is the next to last
movement.  The last movement is very fast and soft, with the
same notes in each hand.  

Also, one of the quoted sources says "Sonata in B minor, Opus 35." 
Perhaps that is simply wrong in the source,
but there should be a distinction made between the Sonata in B-flat
minor, opus 35, and the 3rd sonata in B minor, Opus 58.

Zim is correct regarding the Rubenstein quotation, which does refer to
the movement immediately following the "Funeral March." My apologies.
My memory played tricks on me regarding this quote.

In the matter of a quoted source mistaking B minor for B flat minor,
it is my belief that an error in one portion of a reference source
does not invalidate the remainder of the text nor make it unworthy of
citation.