Charles Gounod was born in Paris, the son of a pianist mother and an artist father. His mother was his first piano teacher. Under her tutelage, Gounod first showed his musical talents. He entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied under Fromental Halévy and Pierre Zimmermann.

Gounod wrote "Funeral march of a marionette" as a light-hearted piece of musical grotesquerie, a mock funeral procession with a jaunty beat and a carefree tune over a humorously not-slow-enough funeral march. The music in the beginning is supposed to tell the listener that two of the members of the Marionette troupe have had a duel and one of them has been killed. A party of pallbearers is organized and the procession sets out for the cemetery in march time. The music soon takes on a more cheerful spirit, for some of the troupe, wearied with the march, seek consolation at a wayside inn, where they refresh themselves and also descant upon the many virtues of their late companion. At last they get into place again and the procession enters the cemetery to the march rhythm -- the whole closing with the bars intended to reflect upon the briefness and weariness of life, even for marionettes.

The "Funeral March of a Marionette", received a new and unexpected lease of life from 1955 when it was first used as the theme for the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The "Funeral March of a Marionette," slight as it is, has never lost its charm. It was originally written as one of the movements of a Suite Burlesque, which was never completed.

Although originally written for Piano, this arrangement for Wind & String Ensemble (Flute, Violin, Bb Clarinet, Cello & Bass).

Made with MuseScore 4 Sounds.