Uncontrollable Overwhelming Emotions

[Philo]

I am trying to figure out if there is something inherent in certain music that makes me feel uncontrollable overwhelming emotions. Currently, I have two instances where it happens without fail:

Maher's Symphony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKdn49T9I40 (at shall bring you to god, around 1:37:56)

Parry's Jerusalem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sERiPuOQyvo (at chariot of fire, around 1:30)

Without fail, and upon repeat listenings, even back-to-back-to-back, I cannot control my emotional reaction, which usually ends up being an ugly cry/weeping.

Is it the chords? The harmony? All of it? Something I am missing altogether?

I hope some of you who are far more compositionally-minded can lend me some insight.

Thanks.

[Todd]

I am not a composer, so I will posit that it is "all of it".  There are some pieces that have predictable, though variable emotional impacts on me.  (Performance quality matters.)  The opening C major chords of the final movement of Beethoven's Fifth evokes a sense of triumph and optimism.  Haydn's The Creation when the C Major chords emerge out of chaos create a sense of awe - and even more so when heard in person; it's awesome in the true sense of the word.  Morales' Officium Defunctorum, especially the Invitatorium, overwhelms me with its beauty and profundity and I cannot adequately describe the emotional impact in words.  Indeed, Morales is the composer who most reliably evokes an emotional response in me.  In his case, it's basically down to harmony.  Some of Debussy's music, especially much of the piano music, but some of the orchestral music, too, evokes wistfulness.  The third act of Tristan, both when Tristan deliriously sings/bellows and the Liebestod can hit the emotional sweet spot in some recordings, too.  Perhaps if I attempted a note-by-note analysis I could arrive at a satisfactory musicological explanation, but I am content to listen and emote.

[Mandryka]

Reminds me of this at 3:11



 

...Holmes plucks away at his violin, observing the reaction of some flies trapped in a brandy snifter as he plays a scale...Avuncular, Watson saunters in to find the great Detective busy fiddling with his flies... Holmes is observing the effects of the chromatic scale on the common housefly. Scathingly, Watson calls it a 'brilliant experiment', but Holmes insists such will be the case; if he can find the note to disperse the flies. This time, Watson is genuinely amazed. No, no, no... Elementary, my dear Watson... purely elementary.

[maticevska]

I think the most overwhelming emotion I have ever felt was when listening to Ligeti's Atmosphères. Couldn't tell you the emotion exactly, but that piece is intense!

[Mandryka]

For me the most overwhelming is Feldman's For Samuel Backett. In truth, it's so overwhelming I can hardly listen to it, I don't think I've ever managed to get to the end of it.

[relm1]

I think it isn't just the moment but the craft of how the composer arrived at it.  Delayed transcendence.  Another way of saying dramaturgy.  They are withholding the finale for maximum transcendence.  Mahler 2 and 8 ending always get me at the end especially if I listened to the whole thing through.  I feel the same with Shostakovich 7.

Compositionally, they are using every element at their disposal for this transformation.  For example, the harmony throughout might have been complex but at the end it is a very radiant c major in solid voicing.  Additionally, orchestrationally, they've withheld a lot till these final moments, like extra brass or the organ kicks in for additional sense of awe.  This is again part of dramaturgy - holding off on the big guns till the end.  Instruments also have a range of timbres (textures).  A low trumpet is gravelly for example.  At these grand moments every instrument is in their blazing, brilliant register. 

I am curious, do you know the words that are being sung?  I raise that because I recently saw Mahler 2 live and the words were projected.  I'll be honest, never cared much about the words because I imagined what they were saying based on what the music was doing.  But for some reason, I teared up in the soft part before the climax having a different/new understanding of the purity of the message.  It was directly impactful in a completely different way when a new layer of detail was added.  Additionally, I recently saw Prometheus Poem of Fire using the colors that Scriabin intended the work to be using.  It started out in near total darkness like the music.  The end with the choir, organ, huge orchestra and this very long sustained climax, the room was full lit like the sun and I'll tell you, I almost had a heart attack it was so overwhelming in a way I'd never experienced.  I know reading this doesn't do it justice, but this was a communal reaction - I heard gasps all around me.  It wasn't just bright, it was blazing and the work sounded completely different by adding a new sense.

The composers are using every compositional trick up their sleeve to make these delayed transcendences most impactful, and it can be emotionally overwhelming for those attuned to music.

[Philo]

I think it isn't just the moment but the craft of how the composer arrived at it.  Delayed transcendence.  Another way of saying dramaturgy.  They are withholding the finale for maximum transcendence.  Mahler 2 and 8 ending always get me at the end especially if I listened to the whole thing through.  I feel the same with Shostakovich 7.

Compositionally, they are using every element at their disposal for this transformation.  For example, the harmony throughout might have been complex but at the end it is a very radiant c major in solid voicing.  Additionally, orchestrationally, they've withheld a lot till these final moments, like extra brass or the organ kicks in for additional sense of awe.  This is again part of dramaturgy - holding off on the big guns till the end.  Instruments also have a range of timbres (textures).  A low trumpet is gravelly for example.  At these grand moments every instrument is in their blazing, brilliant register. 

I am curious, do you know the words that are being sung?  I raise that because I recently saw Mahler 2 live and the words were projected.  I'll be honest, never cared much about the words because I imagined what they were saying based on what the music was doing.  But for some reason, I teared up in the soft part before the climax having a different/new understanding of the purity of the message.  It was directly impactful in a completely different way when a new layer of detail was added.  Additionally, I recently saw Prometheus Poem of Fire using the colors that Scriabin intended the work to be using.  It started out in near total darkness like the music.  The end with the choir, organ, huge orchestra and this very long sustained climax, the room was full lit like the sun and I'll tell you, I almost had a heart attack it was so overwhelming in a way I'd never experienced.  I know reading this doesn't do it justice, but this was a communal reaction - I heard gasps all around me.  It wasn't just bright, it was blazing and the work sounded completely different by adding a new sense.

The composers are using every compositional trick up their sleeve to make these delayed transcendences most impactful, and it can be emotionally overwhelming for those attuned to music.

I love all of this. This both feels right and makes sense.

Your description of Scriabin is breathtaking.

I don't believe in anything beyond this earth, so I waver a bit over the use of the word transcendence (or sublime or anything Kantian really), but I also don't know how to express the idea otherwise.

[pjme]

....certain music that makes me feel uncontrollable overwhelming emotions..... I also don't know how to express the idea otherwise.....

Fortunately you're not alone. 

Baudelaire / Les fleurs du mal:

La musique souvent me prend comme une mer !
Vers ma pâle étoile,
Sous un plafond de brume ou dans un vaste éther,
Je mets à la voile ;

La poitrine en avant et les poumons gonflés.....etc.(many translations)




And then there is Pelle, dancing... !!! Try dancing.

....I am content to listen and emote.....

[Philo]

....I am content to listen and emote.....

I would love to be this free, but I am a rationalist through and through, and it is simply against my character - I cannot even pretend to be otherwise at this point, lol (but I also suspect you are right).

[Jeff_Gerke]

Two thoughts on this, Philo.

First, I had a similar experience years ago in a Blockbuster Music store (remember those?). I walked up to my wife, who was at the listening station with headphones on. She was listening to Handel's Messiah and happened to be about halfway through "And He Shall Purify the Sons of Levi," which I'd never heard. She passed the headphones to me, and after listening to about ten seconds of that chorus, I was weeping uncontrollably. Needless to say, we bought that CD!

So, yes, I agree with those above who have commented on the artistry of the music and the craft of the composers. And I know we are wired to resonate (pun intended) to music.

My second thought is that both of the pieces you mentioned have a theological component. In one, you are brought to God, and in the other, God is taking up His servant in a fiery chariot. The same was true of me as I listened to Messiah. I speculate (and I'm speaking as a Christian man, so I hope I don't offend) that a part of you is longing for connection with the divine--and perhaps He is calling you into a deeper relationship with Him.

I know this isn't a theological forum, and I've probably "gone from preachin' to meddlin'." But I hope the topic will allow my thoughts.

In any case, how wonderful that you had that beautiful "ugly" experience!

[Szykneij]

So, yes, I agree with those above who have commented on the artistry of the music and the craft of the composers. And I know we are wired to resonate (pun intended) to music.

I agree, but we are all wired differently. Barber's Adagio For Strings is what does it for (to?) me.

[Kalevala]

Two thoughts on this, Philo.

First, I had a similar experience years ago in a Blockbuster Music store (remember those?). I walked up to my wife, who was at the listening station with headphones on. She was listening to Handel's Messiah and happened to be about halfway through "And He Shall Purify the Sons of Levi," which I'd never heard. She passed the headphones to me, and after listening to about ten seconds of that chorus, I was weeping uncontrollably. Needless to say, we bought that CD!

So, yes, I agree with those above who have commented on the artistry of the music and the craft of the composers. And I know we are wired to resonate (pun intended) to music.

My second thought is that both of the pieces you mentioned have a theological component. In one, you are brought to God, and in the other, God is taking up His servant in a fiery chariot. The same was true of me as I listened to Messiah. I speculate (and I'm speaking as a Christian man, so I hope I don't offend) that a part of you is longing for connection with the divine--and perhaps He is calling you into a deeper relationship with Him.

I know this isn't a theological forum, and I've probably "gone from preachin' to meddlin'." But I hope the topic will allow my thoughts.

In any case, how wonderful that you had that beautiful "ugly" experience!

You sound like a kind and thoughtful person.  And welcome to the forum!

One of the pieces of music which hit hard when I first heard it (also was a video online) was of Dame Janet Baker singing Purcell's "When I am laid in earth".  Also, various renditions of Bach's "Ich habe genug" [I can tell @Philo if you're curious].  Mozart's music also can effect me this way.  And others.  I think that it's a combination of brilliant musicianship, performance, and my *mood at the time; that and just being open and present in the moment...hard not to get distracted by everything going on around in the world, what's going on in ones life, chores, etc.

*And what's going on in ones own life can effect how one reacts to things too.

K

[Philo]

Two thoughts on this, Philo.

First, I had a similar experience years ago in a Blockbuster Music store (remember those?). I walked up to my wife, who was at the listening station with headphones on. She was listening to Handel's Messiah and happened to be about halfway through "And He Shall Purify the Sons of Levi," which I'd never heard. She passed the headphones to me, and after listening to about ten seconds of that chorus, I was weeping uncontrollably. Needless to say, we bought that CD!

So, yes, I agree with those above who have commented on the artistry of the music and the craft of the composers. And I know we are wired to resonate (pun intended) to music.

My second thought is that both of the pieces you mentioned have a theological component. In one, you are brought to God, and in the other, God is taking up His servant in a fiery chariot. The same was true of me as I listened to Messiah. I speculate (and I'm speaking as a Christian man, so I hope I don't offend) that a part of you is longing for connection with the divine--and perhaps He is calling you into a deeper relationship with Him.

I know this isn't a theological forum, and I've probably "gone from preachin' to meddlin'." But I hope the topic will allow my thoughts.

In any case, how wonderful that you had that beautiful "ugly" experience!

Thank you for this very thoughtful post, and I have considered, and am still considering, your Christian theological viewpoint because it was not lost on me which pieces have affected me so - I don't know if that is exactly it, but I also know better than to throw out a reasonable assumption.

I want to say that it is something about the sound that emerges when all those forces coalesce, but also recognize that the sound, on its own, is not sufficient, but I also don't need the entire score to achieve the effect. For example, in both the cases I listed I need minimal context - normally a few seconds before and a few seconds after.

I also don't mind it. I am largely an unfeeling person, naturally, so getting to feel is something I value, especially  a feeling of such depth.

@Kalevala I am most definitely curious.

[Kalevala]

@Kalevala I am most definitely curious.

My top 3 performances of that Bach cantata are by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Gérard Souzay. 

K