Liszt--Après une lecture du Dante. A musical representation of Dante's Divine Comedy, particularly the Inferno. The music is appropriately diabolical and threatening. Many biting dissonances and declamatory outbursts. There are only a few fleeting moments of hope and bliss, which perhaps represent Heaven...and then the music rapidly plunges back into Hell!
Tchaikovsky- Pathetique Symphony. And not just the last movement. Tchaikovsky said that "The ultimate essence ... of the symphony is Life. First part – all impulse, passion, confidence, thirst for activity. Must be short (the finale death – result of collapse). Second part love: third disappointments; fourth ends dying away (also short)." What I find most interesting that he calls the third movement disappointments. If you would interpret it that way, it almost sounds ironic- something Mahler was great at.
Also, Mahler- Tragic Symphony.
Barber- Adagio for Strings.
First movement of Beethoven's string quartet in c sharp minor op 131. Incredibly sad and painful... also the amazing 3rd movement of the Hammerklavier.
I definitely agree with this. That movement, for the time it was written, is extraordinarily heartbreaking. There is a ***** of light when the C major section appears but it is soon drowned out by the shadows in Beethoven's neurons. I think that it is the most sombre of movements amongst his symphonies. I put it on par with Moonlight Sonata (1st mov) 'Ghost' Trio (2nd mov) and String Quartet No.14 (1st mov).
How about Schumann Piano concerto? don't know I'm currently listening to it and it gives me sort of feeling of despair.
Something from Rachmaninoff too, some of his preludes ( in c sharp minor for example) or Etudes-tableaux ?
Chopin Preludes, in minor keys, as an example in d minor the 24th would be quite good for this topic and his second sonata as well, first movement, let alone the slow one...or 2nd scherzo?
mmm.....don't know a lot of piano music comes to mind
Maybe the first movement of the Schumann- but the last movement ends triumphantly- so I wouldn't consider it a piece of "despair" overall. But if you meant just the first movement I would agree.
There can be a kind of wistful pleasure in a touch of melancholy, but I don't understand why anyone would want a musical piece of even moderate length to be pure emotional agony from beginning to end. The shared tragedy of Poe's famous poems "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee" is that the narrators have not only experienced the death of a beloved (made somewhat worse because she was beautiful and young), but cannot or will not move beyond that moment and get back on with the business of life. That choice makes the grief perpetual, a fate accepted perhaps, because the grief comes with holding on to as much of their memories as they can, and moving on means letting go of at least a part of that.
I think Transfigured Night is one of the most emotional works I have ever heard. Also, Barber's Adagio for Strings. Wow! Like sunlight streaming through an open window.
2nd movement from String quintet by Schubert, one great example for those feelings.
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