The funeral march is a staple of classical music, at least from Beethoven on. His own Third Symphony’s march is magnificent. Chopin’s march from his piano sonata is unforgettable. But surely the greatest funeral march ever composed was by Hector Berlioz.

Berlioz’s first symphony contains a march of a different kind, the celebrated “March to the Scaffold.” But his funeral march is quite a bit different. It is long, it is wondrous. And it is mainly for winds and percussion.

it is the first movement of his Symphonie funèbre et triomphale. It is as amazing as the whole of Schubert’s Great Symphony in C Major. It is astounding how long he can keep the music going, and with it our interest.

Alas, the rest of the symphony cannot match its power.

And I say this not just because I have funerals on my mind.

Actually, I have the lack of a funeral on my mind. My friend’s son, Patrick, will apparently leave this world without having a memorial rite of any kind . . . at least one attended by his father and his little sister. They leave for Nevada on Saturday. We have planned for them to visit me first, on July 4. Perhaps we will view fireworks that day with an unusual sense of loss, not victory.

The idea of triumph, now, seems besides any human point.

Search for Charles Dutoit’s conducting of the Berlioz piece on Amazon. I greatly enjoy his interpretation of the Marche funèbre.