Hitchcock Theme (Funeral March Of A Marionette), C. Gonoud (1874)

[Martin Jonas]

Charles Gounod (1818-1893):
Funeral March Of A Marionette (Marche funèbre d'une marionnette)

This short piece was written in 1874 for piano, but is best known as the theme music to the TV series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents...". My recording is based on an arrangement for contra dance band by Cafe member Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni aka "harper" (thanks, Evelyn!) which I have adapted for classical mandolin quartet.

1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin
1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin
Ozark tenor guitar
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello



Martin

[JeffD]

Wow. Wonderful.

[Paul Kotapish]

The tune is composed in the Italian tarantella style in 6/8 and a natural for the mandolin.

At a little faster tempo it makes a dandy jig, and we've played for some Halloween contradances over the years. As Martin noted above, a lot of folks (of my vintage, anyway) associate it Hitchcock's often macabre TV program, so it's nice to pull out whenever you want something with an eerie edge. Makes a nice, spooky medley with "Jump at the Sun."

[JEStanek]

Excellent!

Jamie

[davidtoc]

Really nicely done!

dave

[Martin Jonas]

Thanks for the kind words -- it's a fun tune and pretty straightforward to play.

At a little faster tempo it makes a dandy jig, and we've played for some Halloween contradances over the years. As Martin noted above, a lot of folks (of my vintage, anyway) associate it Hitchcock's often macabre TV program, so it's nice to pull out whenever you want something with an eerie edge. Makes a nice, spooky medley with "Jump at the Sun."

Paul: Yes, that is where Evelyn's arrangement comes from -- to be played as a jig at contra dance tempo by her band. I've restored the dance arrangement to Gounod's original tempo marking on the 1874 piano score, to get the intended feel of the original piece. It's only the main melody, of course, minus the introduction etc.

Martin

[Bill Clements]

Good evening.

Thanks for the history of this well-known TV theme, Martin.
Fun to hear this arrangement--and particularly done so well!