the saddest music

[not edward]

Really?? That is the saddest work I've ever heard. Are you joking or being serious?! Not that I'm implying that you are wrong, but I'm just amazed at how different our responses are!

For me, the really sad part of the 9th is the first movement. The finale is more about acceptance. But I know that's not necessarily the most common view.

[Mandryka]

Lekeu quartet for orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/v/gdOMn468FN8

+ Goreki 3rd symphony, but that seems to obvious to be worth mentioning (I haven't read the thread to see if it was mentioned.)

[North Star]

Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2.
Berg Violin Concerto
Janácek: On an Overgrown Path

[Mirror Image]

I was telling my buddy, Karlo (North Star), the other day that the opening movement of Copland's The Tender Land Suite is steeped in sadness. It's like a farmer from Nebraska wakes up each morning only to find his crops withering away due to a drought and his thoughts on how he will provide for his family through upcoming months.

[TheGSMoeller]

I was telling my buddy, Karlo (North Star), the other day that the opening movement of Copland's The Tender Land Suite is steeped in sadness. It's like a farmer from Nebraska wakes up each morning only to find his crops withering away due to a drought and his thoughts on how he will provide for his family through upcoming months.

Ok, It's been a while since I've heard it, but I've got to listen to this piece with a description like that....

[Mirror Image]

Ok, It's been a while since I've heard it, but I've got to listen to this piece with a description like that....

Ha! Yeah, Greg, give it a listen.

[TheGSMoeller]

For me, the really sad part of the 9th is the first movement. The finale is more about acceptance. But I know that's not necessarily the most common view.

I agree with edward on this. I don't feel sadness at all when I hear the finale.

Works that I find to be sad are mostly operas or pieces with a specific program or story that lead to sadness, like the final scene of Britten's Death in Venice, or Strauss' Metamorphosen.
One non-program piece that always gives me that sad vibe is the 3rd Movement from Philip Glass' Symphony no. 8. The whole three movement piece is a little on the darker-toned side, but listen to entire piece for the full effect, mainly how the 2nd ends and the mood that the final-3rd movement introduces immediately. This "sadness" carries on for the 7 minute duration leaving little hope for salvation in this story. 

[kishnevi]

Found a candidate from Haydn, courtesy of Gurn.
http://www.fjhaydn.com/my-blog/2014/10/1779-the-music-part-1-.html

[TheGSMoeller]

Found a candidate from Haydn, courtesy of Gurn.
http://www.fjhaydn.com/my-blog/2014/10/1779-the-music-part-1-.html

Which one? 63, 70 or 75?

[kishnevi]

Which one? 63, 70 or 75?

75 "the Banshee"

[TheGSMoeller]

75 "the Banshee"

[Mandryka]

The final movement of Tchaikowsky's Pathetique - in a way that is almost unbearable because it's so personal somehow. I just dug out a bootleg I have of a performance by Gergiev in Paris in 1999, a very good performance, and really it is astonishingly moving music.

As a Brit - stiff upper lip - I find it really hard to listen to. Uncomfortable, like hearing someone weeping. It made me feel helpless.

[Jo498]

-Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 3, 2nd movement -- heart-wrenching, especially with the gong crashes near the end. I even find the 1st movement sad in a way. On the other hand, the slow (2nd) movements of the other piano concertos are just creepy as hell - especially the PC1, which could pass as a bona-fide horror movie score.

Of off the top of my head, three composers that I enjoy that I've yet to hear significant sadness from are Haydn, Stravinsky, and Messiaen. These are my "joyous" composers and respectively fall into the categories of controlled cheerfulness, quirky playfulness, and blinding glory.

I found the 3rd Bartok concerto overall rather serene, including the slow movement. Agree with the creepiness of the ones from the other concertos (also the 3rd mvmt. from Musik für Saiteninstrumente etc.). The Elegia from the Concerto for Orchestra and the central movement of the divertimento are sadder for me.

For Haydn it is more often wistful melancholia than desperate sadness: The 2nd movement (largo) from the quartet op.76/5, several movements from the "7 last words" or the slow movements from the symphonies 44 "Mourning" and 49 "La Passione"

otherwise I nominate lots of Schubert: first two movements of the last piano sonata, the slow movements from the D 959 sonata, the D 887 quartet, dozens of songs (e.g. "Am Meer", "Ihr Bild", "Die Stadt" from "Schwanengesang", the last half dozen of "Die Schoene Muellerin", most of Winterreise).

[EigenUser]

I found the 3rd Bartok concerto overall rather serene, including the slow movement. Agree with the creepiness of the ones from the other concertos (also the 3rd mvmt. from Musik für Saiteninstrumente etc.). The Elegia from the Concerto for Orchestra and the central movement of the divertimento are sadder for me.

I find it serene, too, but in a sad way. Not the finale, but the 1st and 2nd movements. The 1st movement sounds so pure -- the opening is like being underwater. I have no idea why I think that, but I do. I probably find it sad because of the circumstances under which he was writing it -- for his wife to have a source of income (performance rights and royalties) after he died. I'm sure that kind of financial planning is common among people in his situation, but the fact that it was a composition (as opposed to stocks, a family business, etc.) just makes it all the more personal.

Most of the 2nd movement isn't too sad, but I always find the ending (last minute or so) heart-wrenching. The part with the "Tristan chord" played by the orchestra, the piano arpeggios, and ultimately the gong crash.

I do think that my favorite slow movement from the Bartok PCs is the one in the 1st PC. It is really Bartok's night music at its best. It has everything -- the things-that-go-bump-in-the-night, distant echos, lonely introspective piano melodies, and a terrifying buildup midway through. Such a great piece. Hard to imagine why it was received so poorly. Some of the reviews were borderline insulting. Ungrateful audience!!

I haven't heard it in a while, either (over a few months!). I will change that later today!

(Sorry for derailing the thread, guys!)

The slow movement from the Divertimento is definitely sad, as is the 3rd movement from the CFO (a great piece that no one here seems to talk about!). And, yes, creepy definitely applies to the 3rd movement of the MSPC. It was used in Kubrick's The Shining for a few scenes, to great effect.

Does anyone find Ligeti's Lontano to be sad? I've found it to be one of the more personal works of his from his 1960's style.

[Marc]

From the music I know, I think I would pick (like many other) the Finale of Tchaikovsky 6, because it leaves no hope and/or comfort anymore. Well, of course, a desperate human being might think "at least Pjotr understands my despair ...", but Pjotr certainly doesn't make your despair disappear.

I.c. the Finale of Mahler 9, this thread already shows that some people consider it as a peaceful resignation (I don't btw), so, if Mahler was trying to create the same hopeless ending as Tchaikovsky, he apparently failed.

Purcell's Dido's Lament is very sad and emotional, but Dido's death is a sacrifice for love, which, to me, can be considered a gesture of beauty. The final chorus gives that kind of a comfort, too.

Pieces like Mozart/Süßmayr's Lacrimosa end, like many Requiem pieces, with the peaceful thought of eternal rest, so it moves me, but I don't feel completely lost like in the finale of Tchaikovsky 6.

The final scene of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites was mentioned (I love it, too) and of course it's heartbreaking, but at least those women are true heroines and keep their faith until the end, which is shown by their singing of the Salve Regina.

A few very sad examples in pop music that popped up in my mind: How Can We Hang On To A Dream of Tim Hardin and Passover of Joy Divison. The last verse of that song, with a freezing cold guitar and monotone rhythm section, doesn't leave much room for hope.

This is the crisis I knew had to come,
Destroying the balance I'd kept,
Turning around to the next set of lies,
Wondering what will come next.

[North Star]

Ah, popular music...

"Gloomy Sunday", also known as the "Hungarian Suicide Song", is a song composed by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress and published in 1933.
Urban legends

The original lyrics were titled Vége a világnak (The world is ending) and were a set of lyrics about despair caused by war, and ending in a quiet prayer about the people's sins. Poet László Jávor wrote his own lyrics to the song, titled Szomorú vasárnap (Sad Sunday), in which the protagonist wants to commit suicide following his lover's death.[1] The latter lyrics ended up becoming more popular while the former were essentially forgotten. The song was first recorded in Hungarian by Pál Kalmár in 1935.

The song was composed by Rezső Seress while living in Paris, in an attempt to become established as a songwriter in late 1932.[4] The original musical composition was a piano melody in C-minor, with the lyrics being sung over it.[5] Seress wrote the song at the time of the Great Depression and increasing fascist influence in the writer's native Hungary, although sources differ as to the degree to which his song was motivated by personal melancholy rather than concerns about the future of the world. The basis of Seress' lyrics is a reproach to the injustices of man, with a prayer to God to have mercy on the modern world and the people who perpetrate evil.[6] There are some suggestions[7] that the words of "Vége a világnak" were in fact not written until World War II itself and not copyrighted until 1946.

Seress initially had difficulty finding a publisher, mainly due to the unusually melancholy nature of the song. One potential publisher stated:"   It is not that the song is sad, there is a sort of terrible compelling despair about it. I don't think it would do anyone any good to hear a song like that.[8]   "


The song was published as sheet music in late 1933,[9] with lyrics by poet László Jávor, who was inspired by a recent break-up with his fiancée.[4] According to most sources, Jávor rewrote the lyrics after the song's first publication, although he is sometimes described as the original writer of its words.[10] His lyrics contained no political sentiments, but rather were a lament for the death of a beloved and a pledge to meet with the lover again in the afterlife.[8][11][12] This version of the song became the best known, and most later rewritings are based around the idea of lost love.[13]

There have been several urban legends regarding the song over the years, mostly involving it being allegedly connected with various numbers of suicides, and radio networks reacting by purportedly banning the song.[14] However, most of these claims are unsubstantiated.[15]

Press reports in the 1930s associated at least nineteen suicides, both in Hungary and America, with "Gloomy Sunday",[3][4][16] but most of the deaths supposedly linked to it are difficult to verify. The urban legend appears to be, for the most part, simply an embellishment of the high number of Hungarian suicides that occurred in the decade when the song was composed due to other factors such as famine and poverty. No studies have drawn a clear link between the song and suicide.[15]

In January 1968, some thirty-five years after writing the song, its composer Rezső Seress did commit suicide. He survived jumping out of a window in Budapest, but later in the hospital choked himself to death with a wire.[17]

The BBC banned Billie Holiday's version of the song from being broadcast, as being detrimental to wartime morale, but allowed performances of instrumental versions.[3] However, there is little evidence of any other radio bans; the BBC's ban was lifted by 2002.[15]

[ibanezmonster]

Really?? That is the saddest work I've ever heard. Are you joking or being serious?! Not that I'm implying that you are wrong, but I'm just amazed at how different our responses are!

lol, I agree...

[Marc]

-Mahler's Symphony No. 9, 4th movement
[...]

Sad? I thought it's one of the most peaceful piece of music I have ever heard.

Really?? That is the saddest work I've ever heard. Are you joking or being serious?! Not that I'm implying that you are wrong, but I'm just amazed at how different our responses are!

Henry-Louis de la Grange, renowned Mahler connoisseur, about the Finale of Mahler 9 (published on the once famous classical music site Andante.com):

Like that of Das Lied von der Erde, this ending is in no way pessimistic or tinged with despair. Whether one discovers here a message of hope, a farewell of heartrending tenderness or the serene acceptance of fate, few listeners will deny that this final Adagio brings with it a sense supreme fulfillment, an ideal catharsis. Fervent in its meditation, it crowns and completes the huge 'novel' in nine chapters, 'full of sound and fury', that constitutes Mahler's oeuvre. Audiences are not mistaken when they feel an exceptional emotional charge as the music fragments and grows ever more rarefied. The work invariably carries the audience with it. It seems to compel its performers to outdo themselves and invites its listeners to feel at one with each other.

So, springrite isn't alone in his experience.
Personally, I always feel that there is a huge difference between the final bars of Das Lied von der Erde and the Ninth, the first being far more relaxed and peaceful in its farewell with a longing for eternity, whilst the Ninth offers a tension in which I almost hear its creator scream "I don't want this farewell ... please ... I want to live ...".

[Jo498]

For me, the really sad part of the 9th is the first movement. The finale is more about acceptance. But I know that's not necessarily the most common view.

I agree, and though maybe not the most common view, it is certainly a distinct minority view. The first movement is more about longing, about reminiscences, desire for life, the last one is almost a transfiguration or even dissolution. And in the last movement of "Das Lied von der Erde" one gets both!

[Justin Ignaz Franz Bieber]

http://www.youtube.com/v/_oP6XazatCc

on his dvd recording of bach's cello suites, rostropovich described suite #2 as sorrow & intensity, and said he plays it a lot for people who feel sad, especially the sarabande

http://www.youtube.com/v/fbIvO0EyTUs