Marche funèbre d'une marionnette in D minor

While residing in London, England, between 1871 and 1872, Gounod started to write a suite for piano called Suite burlesque. It was a satirical character piece that was intended to be a parody of the personality of Henry Chorley, a music critic. It greatly amused Gounod's English patron, Georgina Weldon, who described Chorley as having a "thin, sour, high-pitched sopranish voice" and moving like a "stuffed red-haired monkey." Gounod intended to publish the piece with a dedication to Chorley, but the latter died before this was possible. Weldon then invented a new program for the piece, which was re-titled Funeral March of a Marionette. After completing this piece, Gounod abandoned the rest of the suite and had the single movement published by Goddard & Co. [not in citation given] The piece was dedicated to Madame Viguier, a pianist and the wife of Alfred Viguier, the first violin in the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire.