Favorite Tone Poems...of DEATH!

[Cato]

     Okay, so...

Today on the radio I heard a fairly good performance of Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin.

I began to think of other tone-poems where Death is a major idea: Tod und Verklaerung and Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss came to mind of course, as did Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande.

Then there were several by Liszt: Héroïde funèbre, Tasso, and From the Cradle to the Grave.

I suppose Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini which depicts the murder and entry into Hell of the adulterous lovers, and Romeo and Juliet could be included.  And Hamlet by both Tchaikovsky and Liszt would fit as well.  The Swan of Tuonela by Sibelius must be on the favorite list.  A possible stretch is Schumann's (and Tchaikovsky's?) Manfred works.

Le Chasseur Maudit by Cesar Franck does not deal specifically with Death, but is not far away from it!  0:)

I am sure YOU have many others!   

[Fagotterdämmerung]

   Is Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre too obvious a choice? 

   Richard Strauss's Tod und Verklärung comes to mind too, though I realize he's not too popular around here.

   It's easier for me to think of death scenes within tone poems:

  ...Marche au Supplice from Symphonie Fantastique...
  ...Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age from The Planets...
  ...a couple other times in other Strauss tone poems: Till Eulenspiegel and Don Juan ...

[Cato]

   Is Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre too obvious a choice? 

   Richard Strauss's Tod und Verklärung comes to mind too, though I realize he's not too popular around here.

   It's easier for me to think of death scenes within tone poems:

  ...Marche au Supplice from Symphonie Fantastique...
  ...Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age from The Planets...
  ...a couple other times in other Strauss tone poems: Till Eulenspiegel and Don Juan ...

No, in fact I had thought of those in passing.

Richard Wagner, Siegfried's Death & Funeral March
Richard Wagner, Tristan & Isolde Prelude And Love-Death
Charles Gounod, Funeral March of a Marionette
Modest Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain
Gustav Mahler, Totenfeier
Maurice Ravel, Pavane for a Dead Princess
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Lucifer's Dance
Pierre Boulez, Rituel

Great choices: the Mahler was another one that flitted through the mind.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

No, in fact I had thought of those in passing.

You funny!

[Cato]

You funny!

Wocka Wocka!   

[Jo498]

Suk: Asrael
Janaceks Taras Bulba ends with the deaths of the protagonist, but it's probably not "of/about death"

[The new erato]

Reger's Toteninsel deserves a mention alongside those already mentioned. Liszt's Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe perhaps also, depsite not being one of his strongest.

[pjme]

can I add Chostakovitch' Stenka Razin! A great cantata....

P.

[Cato]

can I add Chostakovitch' Stenka Razin! A great cantata....

P.

Another good choice!

Janaceks Taras Bulba ends with the deaths of the protagonist, but it's probably not "of/about death"

Close enough!  Similarly, Gliere's Third Symphony ends with the death of the hero Ilya Murometz.

[The new erato]

Shostakovich 14th symphony concerns itself exclusively on aspects of death.

Frank Martin's Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets very much the same, and the Orfeo version under Zagrosek is pretty much my favorite disc of anything ever.

[Karl Henning]

   It's easier for me to think of death scenes within tone poems:

  ...Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age from The Planets...

Hang on;  you consider that there is representation of Death (rather than Old Age) in that movement?

[Cato]

Shostakovich 14th symphony concerns itself exclusively on aspects of death.

Frank Martin's Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets very much the same, and the Orfeo version under Zagrosek is pretty much my favorite disc of anything ever.

Wow!  I will need to look into that work, after such a great recommendation!

[pjme]

Do listen also to Martin's last (major) work, the short cantata ( a "cantate de chambre")  " Et la vie l'emporta" , for alto, baritone, small chorus and small orchestra.

Imploration (aus Maurice Zundels "La Complainte du Malade"); Combat (Martin Luthers Übersetzung der 4. Strophe von "Christ lag in Todes Banden"); Offrande (Übersetzung eines Briefes, irrtümlich dem Maler Fra Angelico zugeschrieben)

Deeply moving, in my humble opinion, and written literaly "facing death".


Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg,
Da Tod und Leben rungen,
Das Leben behielt den Sieg,
Es hat den Tod verschlungen.
Die Schrift hat verkündigt das,
Wie ein Tod den andern fraß,
Ein Spott aus dem Tod ist worden.
Halleluja!


P.

[Rinaldo]

Busoni!

https://www.youtube.com/v/etyXF_gaNaI

Supposedly one of the last things Mahler conducted.

[springrite]

Mahler 9, if you agree that it is a farewell to life.

If not, then Suk's Asrael would be my choice.

[Jo498]

The stanza from the Luther chorale (probably also the most impressive stanza in the Bach cantata BVW 4, I do not know the Frank Martin piece) makes me wonder whether Donne's sonnet "Death be not proud" has been set to music.

Of course if we start with vocal music concerning death there are many more pieces to consider...

[Abuelo Igor]

I began to think of other tone-poems where Death is a major idea: Tod und Verklaerung and Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss

I have no problem with the first, but I fail to see the connection with the second. Maybe you could explain a little.

[jochanaan]

To be precise, some of the aforementioned works, notably Danse macabre, are not concerned with death but with undeath.

And there are any number of funeral marches that qualify, notably Beethoven's Marcia funebre from Symphony #3, and Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music.

[North Star]

Dvořák's late ones, based on the folk poems of Kytice z pověstí národních are certainly connected with death - The Wild Dove, The Golden Spinning Wheel, The Noon Witch, The Water Goblin.

[Fagotterdämmerung]

Hang on;  you consider that there is representation of Death (rather than Old Age) in that movement?

One leading to the other, certainly. At least that's the impression the music always left me with.
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