Do you cry when listening to music?

[Toonces]

I think it was 1995, when Michael Tilson Thomas first started directing the SF Symphony Orchestra, the last work was Beethoven's 9th Symphony.  By the second movement I already had tears in my eyes.  At the very end with the full SF Chorus behind the orchestra, the music was so overwhelming, so emotional that I think half the audience was moved to tears.  Normally, when there's a standing ovation, there is first applause, then a few people at a time rise to their feet, then a few more, then many more.  At the end of this symphony, when the last note was struck, virtually the whole Davies music hall was immediately on their feet and the noise was deafening.  I was probably never more moved than that night.  Tears were literally streaming down my face. 

[Bruckner is God]

I cry quite often while listening to music. I guess I am more emotional than most people.  It can be a bit embarrasing when it happens at a concert 

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Yes! I do, it's the musics most successfull moments - if it's overwhelming, if I'm in the mood. Nut like a waterfall, but hey.

And preferably at obvious passages:
Bruckner 7/2, Bruckner 8/4mvmt ending - at the big pause, what a holy moment! Beethoven 3/Marcia Funebre, Fauré Requiem Introitus, Purcell Dido&Aeneas @Didos Lament, Pettersson 6 ending, Shosta 5 ending of 1st mvmt and Largo, ...

[marvinbrown]

  Do I cry when listening to music? Well that depends on how bad it is  !! 


  Seriously no, I have been moved by music but it is usually melancholia, sadness etc, it has never brought me to tears though 

  marvin

[Bulldog]

Sometimes after listening to heroic music, I feel like hitting the streets and smashing a few heads.  For better or worse, my fear of prison deters me.

[k-k-k-kenny]

I think it was 1995, when Michael Tilson Thomas first started directing the SF Symphony Orchestra, the last work was Beethoven's 9th Symphony.  By the second movement I already had tears in my eyes.  At the very end with the full SF Chorus behind the orchestra, the music was so overwhelming, so emotional that I think half the audience was moved to tears.  Normally, when there's a standing ovation, there is first applause, then a few people at a time rise to their feet, then a few more, then many more.  At the end of this symphony, when the last note was struck, virtually the whole Davies music hall was immediately on their feet and the noise was deafening.  I was probably never more moved than that night.  Tears were literally streaming down my face.

Why is it that audiences feel impelled to begin applauding before the last note has died away? Sure, there are occasions where the material and the performance whips us up to hoot and holler, but I'd reckon they're the exception rather than the rule. When a great performance of great music ends, it would be nice as a listener to allow it to sit quietly with you for a bit. Or be allowed to have it sit with you.

Were I a member of that orchestra, I'd have found this "spontaneous" reaction really dispiriting: I'd have far preferred the audience to give me 10 seconds of silence. That way, I could even delude myself that I'd been part of something which moved them in some way, rather than prompting this response.  O course, it would be nice to have the deafening applause in its own good time ...

But to our tale: two things which never fail to make me weep -

Emil Gilels' December 1977 recording of Rachmaninoff G minor prelude Op. 23/5. I find something incredibly noble and stoic in this performance - it's as though the entirety of Russian history has been compressed into 4 minutes. The effect is even stronger on video.

Parry's setting of "Jerusalem", with or without Elgar's orchestration.  But I suspect that this has more to do with entirely personal quirks. And I'm neither Pom nor Anglican.

[Satzaroo]

Sometimes after listening to heroic music, I feel like hitting the streets and smashing a few heads.  For better or worse, my fear of prison deters me.

Do I detect an allusion to "A Clockwork Orange"? Skipping over the auto-eroticism, of course.

[Sergeant Rock]

Sometimes after listening to heroic music, I feel like hitting the streets and smashing a few heads.

"Everytime I hear Wagner I feel like invading Poland." --Woody Allen

[The new erato]

Bette Midler: "I married a German. Every night I dress up as Poland and he invades me."

[Scarpia]

I almost teared up when my cd player died in the middle of Ravel's Menuet Antique, Cluytens, Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire.  Does that count?

[Jared]

no... have never cried when listening to music...

films however are another matter... ever seen the ending to 'The Bicycle Theives'?  not that really brought a lump to my throat... 

[Bulldog]

Do I detect an allusion to "A Clockwork Orange"?

No.

[Bulldog]

"Everytime I hear Wagner I feel like invading Poland." --Woody Allen

That's very funny - makes mine look like crap (that's okay).

[knight66]

Woody Allen used to be funny, one forgets.

Mike

[vandermolen]

no... have never cried when listening to music...

films however are another matter... ever seen the ending to 'The Bicycle Theives'?  not that really brought a lump to my throat... 

Yes, that's a wonderful film. I find the Simpleton's lament very moving at the end of Boris Gudonov by Mussorgsky and certainly had tears in my eyes when I saw it staged in London.  Otherwise it depends what's in my mind when I listen to the music. Today I was very moved listening to the dreamy slow movement of Respighi's Concerto in Modo Misolidio - a lovely and very underrated work I think.

[madaboutmahler]

Certainly, quite often! Whether at home, or in concert, whenever it is an emotionally powerful and beautiful, I really normally weep a little!
The main pieces that make me do so are....
Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet, especially the Death of Romeo, and the Death of Juliet.
Ravel Daphnis et Chloe, various parts!
Elgar symphonies, enigma variations.
Strauss Alpine Symphony/Ein Heldenleben/Tod und Verklarung
Mahler 3, 6, 8, 9, 10
Tchaikovsky Symphony 6

this list could go on for a very long time....

Daniel

[TheGSMoeller]

I get very emotional at live performances, never with recordings...I've never reached the crying level, but emotional enough to get a lump in the throat, maybe one or two irregular inhales of air, and this leads to teary eyes, but all for the sake of the beautiful art that is music. 

[Mirror Image]

I'm trying to remember the last time I cried to music. I think it was the first time I heard Mahler's 5th, in particular the Adagietto movement. This, for me, came as a big surprise, because it's not the typical Mahler I was used to hearing. Here was somebody pouring his heart out detailing every tear he shed. It's as if he was directly communicating with the listener. This movement may seem cliche by now to Mahlerians or whatever, but I honestly think it's one of the most heartbreaking moments in music I've ever heard.

http://www.youtube.com/v/BlplXRiAlLM

The very ending climax of this movement is what gets me. When I found this video, I skipped to the very end and my eyes started to tear up just in that short amount of time.

[madaboutmahler]

I'm trying to remember the last time I cried to music. I think it was the first time I heard Mahler's 5th, in particular the Adagietto movement. This, for me, came as a big surprise, because it's not the typical Mahler I was used to hearing. Here was somebody pouring his heart out detailing every tear he shed. It's as if he was directly communicating with the listener. This movement may seem cliche by now to Mahlerians or whatever, but I honestly think it's one of the most heartbreaking moments in music I've ever heard.

http://www.youtube.com/v/BlplXRiAlLM

The very ending climax of this movement is what gets me. When I found this video, I skipped to the very end and my eyes started to tear up just in that short amount of time.

Well, it certainly is a very beautiful piece...

Other pieces that make me weep or very emotional:
Nielsen: 4th symphony ending
Wagner: Gotterdammerung, Immolation Scene.
Rachmaninov: symphony no.2 adagio, 3rd piano concerto various parts
Liszt: Orpheus, various other piano pieces...
I'm sure I'll come back and list many more soon!

Daniel

[Brahmsian]

On occasion, I have been so swept away and overwhelmed by the power and beauty of the music and my eyes start to water.

Some of these moments have occurred during:

*Schubert's String Quintet (Scherzo, trio portion of the movement).

*Bruckner - 5th Symphony - Adagio

There are others, but it doesn't occur frequently.  It is the combination of the music and simply being in an emotional state, or needing a good cry. 

I'll add to thiis list:

*Mozart - Kyrie from the Great Mass in C minor

*Mozart - Clarinet Concerto (Adagio movement)

*Mahler - Symphony No. 6 (coda of the Andante movement)