Despair in music?

Started by relm1, May 25, 2019, 04:36:18 PM

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Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: Florestan on May 30, 2019, 07:51:30 AM
A detached despair, or a despairing detachment... Quite the oxymoron, honestly.  :)

I see no contradiction. The definition of dispair is a "complete loss or absence of hope." That would naturally manifest itself as a detachment from the world.

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Florestan

Quote from: Ghost of Baron Scarpia on May 30, 2019, 10:05:08 AM
I see no contradiction. The definition of dispair is a "complete loss or absence of hope." That would naturally manifest itself as a detachment from the world.

Naturally? Hmmmm.... Have you ever felt a complete loss or absence of hope?
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: Florestan on May 30, 2019, 10:26:18 AM
Naturally? Hmmmm.... Have you ever felt a complete loss or absence of hope?

Yes, but that is not a topic for this web site.

Florestan

Quote from: Ghost of Baron Scarpia on May 30, 2019, 10:58:42 AM
Yes, but that is not a topic for this web site.

Agreed, it's too personal and intimate a matter toi be discussed publicly. I might have overstepped a red line, in which case I sincerely apologize.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: Florestan on May 30, 2019, 11:04:25 AM
Agreed, it's too personal and intimate a matter toi be discussed publicly. I might have overstepped a red line, in which case I sincerely apologize.

Not a problem.

Florestan

Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Ten thumbs

I have recently been playing once more a piano piece that seems to epitomise despair (and also loneliness). Do not complain of overblown romanticism, this is bare bones music: Heller, Op.128 no.4, Einsame Blume. It is marked 'Sehr langsam' and begins with a bare melody, continually rising only to fall again; this is repeated with variation and is followed by rising phrases, each higher than the previous and each terminating in a dissonance. The music then drops to a repeat of the melody, now with minimal accompaniments after which the rising phrases re-occur, this time dropping from a high climactic note and a return is made almost reluctantly (despair indeed) to the opening bare melody leading to two bleak final chords.
A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.