Favourite Kind of Ending

[Maestro267]

I love the peaceful and content ending of Elgar 2, but I also love the huge organ-enhanced endings such as Mahler 2 & 8.

[some guy]

None of the terms used are musical terms.

Angry, sad, happy and so forth are all responses, so are at least one step removed from the music itself, are interpretations of possible emotional responses, responses that will not be the same for every listener.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I like a piece to end with a repetitive melody that just keeps growing in texture or dynamic or something like that before a coda which may either be very loud or very soft and draws upon the main melodic motif of the work or movement.

[some guy]

 

[amw]

I forgot I made this thread, hmm. Fave endings include: Tippett 1 & 2 (especially 1) both of which end with a repeated "call to dispersal". Beethoven 130/133 which doesn't have any particular emotional quality (I suppose "triumphal") more salient than its perfect inevitability. Brahms 3. Shostakovich 15, with the most perfect single note in the musical literature. (Ok, it's an octave unison, not a "single note" blah blah) Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2 as well with that long-held solo note, and on a similar but different (ha) note, Britten Violin Concerto. Traditional triumphant ending that always seems to raise chills is Bruckner 8, with its surprise leap onto an F major chord where the music almost founders before making the almost-unmakeable step to reach the very (!) final 23 bars of C major triads. ("A tad long" compared to the 58 [or whatever] bars of pure C major of Beethoven 5 because the tempo is "Nicht schnell" rather than "Prestissimo".) The absolute repudiation of the "sublime" in Beethoven's Op. 109 and, especially, 111. The Wild Hunt riding off into the distance of Schumann's Kreisleriana. Prokofiev 6, where the carnival masks come off to reveal demons, and they eat everyone in E-flat major. And, of course, Nielsen 6. And quite a lot of Ligeti, who had a special talent for them. (Chamber Concerto is one of the best) The lamp going out in Bartók's Miraculous Mandarin.

(Ok, there are a lot! I could go on at greater length, stopping here just to demonstrate.... For favourite kinds of endings I still defer to the OP)

As far as tacked-on happy endings go, the most incongruous one for me is the ending of Mozart's K466. (And there's the one in Beethoven's Egmont Overture though at least that is because of the story of the play.) I might have appreciated a stern, dramatic G minor finale to the K516 quintet as well, but the feathery pre-Mendelssohn fairy music works well as a sort of inner emigration, if one doesn't attempt too much force. Tacked-on sad endings like Shostakovich 4 for some reason work much better (that one in particular since it follows an attempt at a tacked-on happy ending), not to forget the really tacked-on "tag" of Mahler 6—the music is strictly over, but Mahler's not going to let it die with dignity and humanity and finishes it off with a fate-motive to the head.

[EigenUser]

And quite a lot of Ligeti, who had a special talent for them. (Chamber Concerto is one of the best) For favourite kinds of endings I still defer to the OP

I love Ligeti's WTF endings. The Violin Concerto is another good example. You expect a nice, big recapitulation after the cadenza, but instead when the orchestra re-enters it just sort of fizzles out. My friend said that the orchestra's re-entrance sounds like a cartoon soundtrack (like a bunch of anvils falling on Daffy Duck).

[Brian]

Shostakovich 15, with the most perfect single note in the musical literature. (Ok, it's an octave unison, not a "single note" blah blah)

Sounds like the next big poll thread to me! I immediately thought of the dissonant note (which many pianists smooth over) in the opening theme of Schubert D. 960. Or no, second-to-last unison in D. 956. Or no...

Prokofiev 6, where the carnival masks come off to reveal demons, and they eat everyone in E-flat major.

post of the year

I love Ligeti's WTF endings. The Violin Concerto is another good example. You expect a nice, big recapitulation after the cadenza, but instead when the orchestra re-enters it just sort of fizzles out. My friend said that the orchestra's re-entrance sounds like a cartoon soundtrack (like a bunch of anvils falling on Daffy Duck).

New rule: everybody posting here has to one-up amw and Nate's awesome analogies!

[(poco) Sforzando]

I will say that I love the convergency of these two ideas, Humorous and What The Hell, in the finale of Charles Ives' Symphony No. 2!

Does that depend on whether you hear it as written - a sharp staccato chord - or as Bernstein plays it, prolonging the chord with a fermata?

[(poco) Sforzando]

None of the terms used are musical terms.

Angry, sad, happy and so forth are all responses, so are at least one step removed from the music itself, are interpretations of possible emotional responses, responses that will not be the same for every listener.

Spoilsport.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I love Ligeti's WTF endings. The Violin Concerto is another good example. You expect a nice, big recapitulation after the cadenza, but instead when the orchestra re-enters it just sort of fizzles out. My friend said that the orchestra's re-entrance sounds like a cartoon soundtrack (like a bunch of anvils falling on Daffy Duck).

Or the Piano Concerto, where after 3 minutes (that's how long Ligeti explicitly says the last movement should take), you get a single whip crack and it's all over.

I love too the ending to Nielsen VI, a fart on the lowest note of two solo bassoons.

[Brahmsian]

None of the terms used are musical terms.

Angry, sad, happy and so forth are all responses, so are at least one step removed from the music itself, are interpretations of possible emotional responses, responses that will not be the same for every listener.

Non vehicular endings. 

[mc ukrneal]

My favorites are...hmmm...the ones that come at the end.

[(poco) Sforzando]

"Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

- Alice in Wonderland

[Brian]

Does that depend on whether you hear it as written - a sharp staccato chord - or as Bernstein plays it, prolonging the chord with a fermata?

Much, much prefer the former to the latter.

[EigenUser]

New rule: everybody posting here has to one-up amw and Nate's awesome analogies!

That one was from a friend of mine.

(and sorry, I just realized that you are the one getting hit with said anvils, based on your avatar...)

Or the Piano Concerto, where after 3 minutes (that's how long Ligeti explicitly says the last movement should take), you get a single whip crack and it's all over.

That's a really good one, too. Even more dramatic is the ending of San Francisco Polyphony.

[Brian]

That one was from a friend of mine.

(and sorry, I just realized that you are the one getting hit with said anvils, based on your avatar...)

Indethpthtpicable!

[amw]

That's a really good one, too. Even more dramatic is the ending of San Francisco Polyphony.

And on the other hand are the endings of unexpected and extreme tenderness and love such as the Horn Trio, String Quartet No. 2 & the Etudes (taking them as a single work—the end of No. 18 is a fitting conclusion)

My favorites are...hmmm...the ones that come at the end.

No love for Haydn's 90th, I guess

[EigenUser]

Indethpthtpicable!

I might have said this already, but your stern Daffy Duck avatar really does add a lot of authority to your posts.

And on the other hand are the endings of unexpected and extreme tenderness and love such as the Horn Trio, String Quartet No. 2 & the Etudes (taking them as a single work—the end of No. 18 is a fitting conclusion)

Ha! The ending of Ligeti's 2nd SQ sounds like the players just evaporate from the stage.

Melodien has a very beautiful ending, I think.

[springrite]

I'm always up for a good Philip Glass ending...

Wait, I thought this was the beginning!

[vandermolen]

Wait, I thought this was the beginning!