Top Classical Music Tear Jerkers

[Ten thumbs]

How anyone can conceive of a top ten without including Schubert beats me. So, as it is so well known, it should include the slow movement from the C major Quintet.

Another strong contender: When I am Laid to Earth from Purcell's Dido.

[Sergeant Rock]

Jacques Brel is my favourite chansonnier. I like Le moribond, even though I agree he's written better songs, my fave being Pourquoi faut-il que les hommes ennuient?.

I like "Le moribond" too, but wow, Pourquoi is a great song. I don't have it in my CD collection. Will have to rectify that. My favorite Brel song is "Marieke." But in keeping with the topic of this thread (even if we've gone slightly off-topic) my next favorite is undoubtedly "Ne me quitte pas." A real tear-jerker. In the 60s this song seemed to accompany my romantic disasters 

http://www.youtube.com/v/5N0KLu4vfkE

Sarge

[scarlattiglenross]

Tallis Fantasia.

[Mandryka]

I like "Le moribond" too, but wow, Pourquoi is a great song. I don't have it in my CD collection. Will have to rectify that. My favorite Brel song is "Marieke." But in keeping with the topic of this thread (even if we've gone slightly off-topic) my next favorite is undoubtedly "Ne me quitte pas." A real tear-jerker. In the 60s this song seemed to accompany my romantic disasters 


Sarge

Brel's too sentimental for me. The one which makes me cry is  Barbara singing Pauvre MArtin

http://www.youtube.com/v/Tuy5cpoX1xk, just the sad but dignified  reaity  of a peasant's life.

Also Brassens's La Prière . When he sings "Par le gosse battu par l'ivrogne qui rentre . . ."

http://www.youtube.com/v/PsL5htYViWM

[Marc]

How anyone can conceive of a top ten without including Schubert beats me. So, as it is so well known, it should include the slow movement from the C major Quintet.

Another strong contender: When I am Laid to Earth from Purcell's Dido.

Schubert. Yeah.
There's also about a million of songs by him that can jerk one's tears.
A personal fave: 'Die Nebensonnen' in the Winterreise cycle. Poor metaphors, but .... Ach, meine Sonnen seid ihr nicht .... .

Concerning Purcell's When I Get Laid In Earth: this one was already part of the 'original' Classic FM Top 10. That's why I didn't mention it.

Brel's too sentimental for me.
[....]

Really?
Not in all his songs, I hope.

Apart from that: Barbara and Brassens are fine choices!
Moustaki did some great things, too.
And what about Mon amie la rose by Françoise Hardy?

http://www.youtube.com/v/2ICFtXx546A

(Apologies to the thread starter for all the French off-topic stuff.)

[TheGSMoeller]

(Apologies to the thread starter for all the French off-topic stuff.)

No need, I'm quite enjoying this. Reminds me of Carla Bruni, whom I've become quite find of...

http://www.youtube.com/v/XvyMG0z0FZY

[Parsifal]

Aside from the maudlin pop songs, most of what is listed here doesn't strike me as particularly sad.  Tallis Fantasia?  People cry when they hear the Tallis Fantasia? 

[Pat B]

Concerning Purcell's When I Get Laid In Earth

That title sounds more like a Van Halen song than a classical tear-jerker.

sorry, couldn't resist.

[Marc]

No need, I'm quite enjoying this. Reminds me of Carla Bruni, whom I've become quite find of...

http://www.youtube.com/v/XvyMG0z0FZY

Yeah. I have that album, too.

But you know what?

[OFF-TOPIC OFF-TOPIC OFF-TOPIC]

The one and only woman (well .... more or less) who can really bring me to tears is Carla's elder sister Valeria. She doesn't sing, but she's probably my favourite actress of the last two decades:

That title sounds more like a Van Halen song than a classical tear-jerker.

sorry, couldn't resist.

No apologies needed. I asked for it.

[jochanaan]

How anyone can conceive of a top ten without including Schubert beats me. So, as it is so well known, it should include the slow movement from the C major Quintet...

Thanks for the reminder of Der Doppelgänger!

[Sergeant Rock]

Fauré Pavane (especially the choral version)
Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Pas de deux
Havergal Brian Gothic Symphony Vivace


Sarge

[RebLem]

Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites.

Handel: Messiah, especially the aria "He was despised" as sung by Janet Baker, and the opening of Section 3, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," a calm, serene, and truly moving expression of religious faith, coming as it does, right after the spectacular Hallelujah Chorus at the end of Section 2.

Shostakovich: Symphony #7, first movement.  It begins with a jaunty, hopeful march as Russians, leery of Stalin, greet German troops as liberators.  Then, it gradually, in the best interpretations, or suddenly in the lesser interpretations, morphs into a realization of the unspeakable horrors that the Nazis bring with them.

Shostakovich: String Quartet # 15.

Shostakovich: Symphony # 15--last movement--but you have to have listened to the preceding movements, from which certain themes are recapitulated in the last movement, to fully appreciate it.

Schoenberg: A Survivor of Warsaw.

Hindemith: When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd, subtitled "A Requiem for those we love."

Copland: Lincoln Portrait, esp. my memory of it being conducted by Copland himself in a free public concert in Grant Park, Chicago, with Coretta Scott King as narrator about two years after the assassination of her husband.

Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time.

[Mirror Image]

I didn't shed a tear but Schumann's Piano Quartet contains one of the most heartbreaking movements I know:

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

[kyjo]

Ooooooh, I love this topic! Off the top of my head:

-Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto no. 2, 2nd movement; Symphony no. 2, 3rd movement
-Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte
-Faure: Pavane from Masques et bergamasques
-Tchaikovsky: Pas de deux from The Nutcracker; Symphony no. 5, 2nd movement; Symphony no. 6, 2nd and 4th movements
-Mahler: Symphony no. 2, 5th movement; Symphony no. 9, 4th movement
-Bruckner: Symphony no. 7, 2nd movement; Symphony no. 9, 3rd movement
-Brahms: Symphony no. 3, 3rd movement
-Dvorak: Cello Concerto, 3rd movement (the slow passage right before the end)
-Barber: Adagio for Strings
-Sibelius: Symphony no. 2, 4th movement; Symphony no. 5, 3rd movement
-Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia; Symphony no. 5, 3rd movement
-Atterberg: Symphony no. 3, 3rd movement
-Braga Santos: Symphony no. 2, 2nd movement; Symphony no. 4, 4th movement
-Alwyn: Lyra Angelica for harp and strings

Better stop there-don't want anyone sobbing

[eumyang]

Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Pas de deux

+1

Shostakovich: String Quartet # 15.

+1

My list (not counting the ones from Classic FM):
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 11 (1st mvt.)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 (2nd mvt.)
Chopin: Ballade No. 4
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8

Also, does John Williams' theme from Schindler's List count?