Many people have heard the "Marche Funebre" of Chopin, but few are aware
that it had its origin in a rather ghastly after-dinner frolic.
The painter Ziem, still living in hale old age, relates how, about
fifty-six years ago, he had given a little Bohemian dinner in his studio,
which was divided by hangings into three sections. In one section was a
skeleton sometimes used by Ziem for "draping" and an old piano covered
with a sheet.
During the after-dinner fun Ziem and the painter Ricard crept into this
section, and, wrapping the old sheet like a pall around the skeleton,
carried it among their comrades, where Polignac seized it, and, wrapping
himself with the skeleton in the sheet, sat down to play a queer dance of
death at the wheezy old piano.
In the midst of it all, Chopin, who was of the party, was seized with an
inspiration, and, seating himself at the piano with an exclamation that
brought the roisterers to their senses, extemporized then and there the
famous "Marche Funebre," while his Bohemian auditory applauded in frantic
delight.--_London Globe._