The Most Bittersweet Composer?

Started by Florestan, January 27, 2022, 09:04:15 AM

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Florestan

What do you think, who qualifies?

For me it's Schubert. Most of his major works and lots of the lesser known ones display such an ambiguous mixture of cheerfulness and melancholy that it is impossible to decide, when all is said played and done, which is the prevalent mood. There's only one thing I know for sure: no other composer, not even Mozart, leaves me as completely baffled: did I cry for joy or for sorrow? And if I were to pick three of Schubert's works which encapsulate this ineffable bittersweetnes, they are the Arpeggione Sonata, the Piano Sonata D960 and the Great C Major Symphony. They are really the only pieces of music I know whose every note in every bar, from the first to the last, touches the innermost strings of my soul, leaving me with an undescribable feeling of simultaneous joy and sadness. No, really, they give me both physical and soul-like goosebumps each and every time I listen to them.

How 'bout you? Is there one single composer about whose music you feel the same?
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

vandermolen

Finzi's 'Dies Natalis' with its mixture of joy and sadness.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

kyjo

Schubert, Rachmaninov, and Finzi are the three who most immediately come to mind.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Mandryka

#3
Strauss. That bit where the marchelin looks in the mirror in and realises that she's getting older, she'll have to let her young lover go, time passes.

Or Puccini  -- the humming chorus. This always totally slays me -- I need some Ben and Jerrys and a pack of tissues FAST!

https://www.youtube.com/v/gWOIrF6o3ao&ab_channel=WienerStaatsopernchor-Topic
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen


Mirror Image

#5
I'm not sure about "most bittersweet" as this is an emotion that many composers seem to have conveyed in many of their works, but two that come to mind immediately are Barber and Fauré.

Like, for example, Must the winter come so soon? from Barber's Vanessa:

https://www.youtube.com/v/XDZxeq61ZNs

springrite

Aren't they all?




If I must name one, then Schubert.
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

Irons

More bitter then sweet but my vote would be for Rawsthorne.
You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

71 dB

Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

AaronSF

Quote from: Mandryka on January 27, 2022, 11:33:26 AM
Strauss. That bit where the marchelin looks in the mirror in and realises that she's getting older, she'll have to let her young lover go, time passes.

Or Puccini  -- the humming chorus. This always totally slays me -- I need some Ben and Jerrys and a pack of tissues FAST!

[flash=200,200]https://www.youtube.com/v/gWOIrF6o3ao&ab_channel=WienerStaatsopernchor-Topic[/flash

"Ja, ja," as the Marchelin sings with a world-weary sigh.  And how old was the Marchelin?  An ancient 32!

Symphonic Addict

Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Mirror Image


Symphonic Addict

Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Mirror Image

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on March 08, 2022, 08:20:31 PM
Or this guy, to me too:



I don't really get the "bittersweet" vibe from Arnie, but would love to read your reasoning behind this choice.

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: Mirror Image on March 08, 2022, 08:44:36 PM
I don't really get the "bittersweet" vibe from Arnie, but would love to read your reasoning behind this choice.

I understand "bittersweet" in this context more like music that apparently sounds sweet, but it turns out to be somewhat more thorny or bitter, rather than sad o depressing.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Mirror Image

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on March 08, 2022, 08:50:42 PM
I understand "bittersweet" in this context more like music that apparently sounds sweet, but it turns out to be somewhat more thorny or bitter, rather than sad o depressing.

I think some of Schoenberg's music could apply here, but one of the more remarkable aspects of Schoenberg's music, for me, especially in his "Free Atonal" and 12-tone periods is how it is devoid of such sweetness. The music plays to other sides of the human experience like hysteria, paranoia, but also anguish.

71 dB

Quote from: Mirror Image on March 08, 2022, 07:43:48 PM
Bingo! A great choice, Poju. 8)

I'm a bit slow with my response, but thanks!  ;)
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

(poco) Sforzando

Quote from: Florestan on January 27, 2022, 09:04:15 AM
What do you think, who qualifies?

For me it's Schubert. Most of his major works and lots of the lesser known ones display such an ambiguous mixture of cheerfulness and melancholy that it is impossible to decide, when all is said played and done, which is the prevalent mood. There's only one thing I know for sure: no other composer, not even Mozart, leaves me as completely baffled: did I cry for joy or for sorrow? And if I were to pick three of Schubert's works which encapsulate this ineffable bittersweetnes, they are the Arpeggione Sonata, the Piano Sonata D960 and the Great C Major Symphony. They are really the only pieces of music I know whose every note in every bar, from the first to the last, touches the innermost strings of my soul, leaving me with an undescribable feeling of simultaneous joy and sadness. No, really, they give me both physical and soul-like goosebumps each and every time I listen to them.

How 'bout you? Is there one single composer about whose music you feel the same?

Without getting so rhapsodic: Schumann, Chopin, Mozart. (The Mozart of the A minor Rondo, K 511, for example.)

Florestan, your inbox is again full.
"I don't know what sforzando means, though it clearly means something."

Mirror Image

Quote from: 71 dB on March 09, 2022, 01:54:00 AM
I'm a bit slow with my response, but thanks!  ;)

No problem, Poju. Take your time. :)

(poco) Sforzando

"I don't know what sforzando means, though it clearly means something."