Carl Latann was born in 1840 and died in 1888. He was a musician and later, in 1871, he became conductor of the first German Marine Band. As a composer he received high acclaim for amongst others the marches "Frei Weg" and "Admiral Stosch Marsch", both published at Tierolff Muziekcentrale. Also he composed this very famous mourning march, that was arranged for wind and fanfare bands by A. Maas.