Sunny & Funny, or Doom & Gloom?

[Florestan]

I've noticed that as I grow older my interest in, and tolerance for, music which is depressing, gloomy, neurotic, pessimistic, dark, disturbing etc decreases. Not that I've ever been a fan of this kind of music but really I can't remember the last time I felt the need to hear something along these lines. Even when it comes to Requiem I prefer it to be joyous, ecstatic and uplifting rather than austere, menacing and sorrowful --- I'd rather have de Victoria's, Schumann's or Faure's played at my funeral than Verdi's or Berlioz's. 

In short, I tend to gravitate more and more around music which is either downright sunny & funny, or bittersweet. Melancholy, longing, nostalgia, yes, by all means; depression, neurosis, despondency, thanks but no thanks.

How 'bout you? What do you prefer, sunny & funny, or doom & gloom?

[Karl Henning]

How 'bout you? What do you prefer, sunny & funny, or doom & gloom?

Yes  0:)

[Florestan]

Yes  0:)

So typical of you, Karl!   

(I mean it in a positive way, of course.  )

[Karl Henning]

I know it, old dear!

[Florestan]

I know it, old dear!

I know you knew it, but others might not. 

[Jo498]

For a Requiem I prefer "doom & gloom" (I care neither for Fauré's nor Gilles? or some other mild French Baroque ones). Otherwise, I also like sunny and funny music

[Florestan]

For a Requiem I prefer "doom & gloom"

Why?

[Cato]

Interesting: I was just playing the Kyrie from "Orphanage Mass" by the 12-year old Mozart for my 12-year old students.

The Kyrie starts off in the darkest and gloomiest way with a C minor chord, but then becomes rather "bright" and ends in C major.

Yes, both!

[Jo498]

Why?

Not in principle but I tend to find the Requiem settings mentioned above boring. I like at least partly "serene" protestant settings of funeral music, though. There is certainly a lot of funeral music I do not know but I probably prefer Brahms' "German Requiem" and Schütz' "Musikalische Exequien" to most real (=Latin) Requiem settings.

[Mirror Image]

I love both. Mahler's music, for me, encapsulates both sunny/funny and doom/gloom almost better than any other composer before or after him.

[Florestan]

Interesting: I was just playing the Kyrie from "Orphanage Mass" by the 12-year old Mozart for my 12-year old students.

The Kyrie starts off in the darkest and gloomiest way with a C minor chord, but then becomes rather "bright" and ends in C major.

Yes, both!

The most joyous, uplifting and plainly childish --- in the most positive, Orthodox / Catholic way of looking at mankind (children) / God (father) relationship is Mozart's Kyrie in F major KV 33

https://www.youtube.com/v/3ee0rwFaSsE

The Harnoncourt version in this box is much better. Exhilarating. Probably my favorite (short) piece of sacred music.

[Florestan]

Not in principle but I tend to find the Requiem settings mentioned above boring. I like at least partly "serene" protestant settings of funeral music, though. There is certainly a lot of funeral music I do not know but I probably prefer Brahms' "German Requiem" and Schütz' "Musikalische Exequien" to most real (=Latin) Requiem settings.

I might be biased, but I find Protestant sacred music more doom&gloom-ish than the Catholic one. The exhilarating joy of Vivaldi, Haydn and Mozart is hardly matched even by Schütz and JS Bach.

I love both. Mahler's music, for me, encapsulates both sunny/funny and doom/gloom almost better than any other composer before or after him.

Agreed.

[North Star]

https://www.youtube.com/v/AQcmBUc0OQc

I might be biased, but I find Protestant sacred music more doom&gloom-ish than the Catholic one. The exhilarating joy of Vivaldi, Haydn and Mozart is hardly matched even by Schütz and JS Bach.

This is only logical, of course - the Catholics had a much more exhilarating view of things in general.


The most interesting music has shades of both. I don't know which of them I tolerate better, really. There's no Pettersson on my shelves, and just one disc of Rossini overtures.  0:)

[Florestan]

https://www.youtube.com/v/AQcmBUc0OQc

Yes, hilariously funny. 

This is only logical, of course - the Catholics had a much more exhilarating view of things in general.

True. For instance, there was never any Prohibition in a Catholic (or Orthodox) country. 

[Mahlerian]

Well, I do prefer Prokofiev to Shostakovich in general, so maybe that's an answer.

Seriously, though, I don't listen to music primarily based on the mood it expresses or evokes, but rather based on its content.  A dark and serious piece handled poorly is more laughable than depressing.  All I ask is for fine craftsmanship and memorable musical ideas.

[Monsieur Croche]

As apposite on composing as it is on choosing / preferring music by mood...

In some seminar, Stravinsky was asked by a student:
~~~Student: "Do you need to be in a particular mood to compose?"
~~~Stravinsky: "Moods are for girls."

Ergo, while it is simultaneously vague and specific, I enthusiastically second Karl's answer to the OP.

Yes  0:)

I'm also with Mahlerian here, i.e. I too,

...don't listen to music primarily based on the mood it expresses or evokes.

...and my aesthetic, generally (not written in stone) is Classical, more "Tension in Repose," vs. the all-out unbuttoned mama-drama vein.  The latter can be / is captivating, while it does not seem to me to wear nearly so well as the former.

[some guy]

Yeah, well-made or well-presented music always has a positive effect on me.

And, since Pettersson's been brought up, I should add that Allan's music has never struck me as doomy or gloomy. Or sunny and funny, either one, come to think of it. It has a sort of relentless feel to it, which comes, I think, from it's consisting largely of second level, accompaniment-type music, with little or none of the kind of thing from the top level, tunes or melodies or such. But all that means is that the focus is on the types of energies associated with support presented without the stuff that that level of music usually supports.

[North Star]

Yeah, well-made or well-presented music always has a positive effect on me.

And, since Pettersson's been brought up, I should add that Alan's music has never struck me as doomy or gloomy. Or sunny and funny, either one, come to think of it. It has a sort of relentless feel to it, which comes, I think, from it's consisting largely of second level, accompaniment-type music, with little or none of the kind of thing from the top level, tunes or melodies or such. But all that means is that the focus is on the types of energies associated with support presented without the stuff that that level of music usually supports.

My mention of Allan's music was mostly in jest, as he seems to get a mention each time these kinds of descriptions are thrown about. Relentlessness is indeed a better word for the music.

[some guy]

I corrected my misspelling.

Thanks for pointing that out.

I'm very lax about spelling, generally, but try to be scrupulous about the spelling of names.

[Rinaldo]

Depends. One thing I've always loved about baroque music is how a lot of it seems to be 'superimposed' between joy and melancholy – and can shift its mood in an instant.