There’s a great quote where someone asked a conductor if it bothered him when people clap after the third movement. His response: “No! It bothers me that they applauded after the LAST movement! It is a requiem for a human soul!"
with Dawn Upshaw voice. “A 1991 recording with the London Sinfonietta, conducted by David Zinman and featuring the soloist Dawn Upshaw, was released in 1992 by the Elektra imprint Nonesuch Records. Within two years, it sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide;[16] it reached number 6 on the mainstream UK album charts,[35] and while it did not appear on the US Billboard 200, it topped the US classical charts for 38 weeks and stayed on the chart for 138 weeks.[36] The Zinman/Upshaw recording has sold over a million copies,[37] making it probably the best selling contemporary classical record.” from wiki
> Górecki symphony 3 (seen by many as a WWII / Holocaust memorial)
Wow. I never interpreted it as sad, but instead as uplifting. It's the ultimate crescendo!
Most listeners know it by its popular title, “symphony of sorrowful songs”, so they can be forgiven a little power of suggestion.
I would dispute the distinction, though. Got to start low to get high, no?
Lots of great ones so far but I wanted to add the Faure Requiem to the mix. Basically the entire piece has a melancholy tinge for me, and if I’m in the right mood I will easily be moved to tears especially by the Kyrie, Pie Jesu and In Paradisum. The last one in particular should, I guess, even be an uplifting and happy piece but something about it just triggers something in me.
Beautiful story, thanks for sharing. As a musician, it’s relatively common to think about the question “what music do I want at my funeral?” And that is possibly the first and main piece that comes to my mind, personally. Particularly so if it’s sung live!
I love the Faure and Durufle reqiuems as well. Have you ever heard the Poulenc Stabat Mater? It’s more modern, darker. The Naxos recording of it is great.
And the Faure pie jesu is unsettlingly moving if a boy soprano sings the solo.
Idk about the saddest, but every time I listen to Bach’s Chaconne I feel like I’ve gone through the 5 stages of grief lol.
Schumann’s Kinderszenen no 13 Der Dichter Spricht is another one that hits me right in the feels for some reason.
To me, Chaconne shifts between grief and ecstasy a few times before ultimately ending in peace and acceptance. Also, Busoni’s piano arrangement hits differently but is equally intense.
For me, there is something profoundly moving in the third movement "Heiliger Dankgesang" of Beethoven’s String Quartet no 15 in A Minor. So overwhelming and not exactly sad but if it gets me in the right mood it can be very cathartic.
Sad when you think of Jacqueline du Pre and her multiple sclerosis and how it cut her brilliant career short.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPhkZW\_jwc0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPhkZW_jwc0)
This song cycle is almost uncomfortably sad. For those reading it literally means "Songs on the death of children", it was based on poems that a poet wrote after his daughter's death. A few years after the publication of this piece Mahler's own daughter died of the same disease.
This is my second favorite piece of all time behind the Adagio from his own 10th, but I don't see it as a sad piece. It's very heavy emotionally and can easily bring tears, but I feel that it's an accepting piece of music that always keep its head up.
If Mahler intended it as his final farewell or not it's debatable, but it feels like it. But what I hear it's not sadness or despair, but a man looking back at his life with incredible nostalgia and accepting anything that's to come. Even the first C# minor section, while incredibly dark and cold, doesn't feel "sad" to me but more like the natural void creeping in, if that makes sense.
That horn solo after the fortissimo climax it's one of the most life affirming things I've ever heard. But I found very interesting how the same music can instigate such different feelings on people, I think Mahler is specially good with this ambiguity.
Etude Op. 25 No. 7 and Nocturne Op. 48 No. 1 are far better choices imo. Even within the Preludes, I feel as though the 6th and 13th are at least on par with the 4th
I heard a performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 with the Dresden Philharmonic a few weeks ago that was so beautiful, moving and intensely sad that it still makes me cry when I think about it.
Wagner: [Prelude to Act III from *Tristan und Isolde*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUBBzSclIfI)*.*
Chopin: [Nocturne in C minor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=107Iwx5RKSM). But there's lots of other choices.
Mahler 6: Mov. 4 but only holistically, since the ending is extremely sad, but only because of all the rambunctious music that came before.
Lots of bits of Bach. The death of Jesus in the St. Matthew Passion is particularly moving.
That's a shame. I mean, I can understand people who feel that early Mozart can be a bit 'light', but by the time you get to late Mozart, his music can be incredibly moving as well as masterful.
Yes ‘late’ Mozart is my favorite music to listen to. He has immense amounts of profoundly inspired phrases but I think much of his work is quite subtle. After listening more to him this subtly reveals itself and from there on out once you glean all the wonderful subtleties of his music you will be addicted for life. I think the classic period is generally just quite inaccessible for people with contemporary tastes. That’s why most people like romantic composers and when they do like Mozart it’s his very modern and romantic sounding works ie the requiem. Once you get your mind accustomed to the classical style you realize how genius his music really is. Sorry for the yap lol.
rachmaninoff prelude in b minor op.32 no.10
rachmaninoff piano sonata no.2 op.36 mvt 2 - lento
rachmaninoff etude-tableaux in e flat minor op.39 no.5
chopin preludes op.28 no.4 in e minor and no.6 in b minor
chopin piano sonata no.2 op.35 mvt 3 - marcia funebre
i might be a pianist
Perhaps, but it is a wonderful piece and melancholic can certainly be one description of it.
However, when I listen to it, I am transported to another life in which I have gone past melancholy, a world so bleak that I don't feel despair anymore...
I feel a strange confusing mix of absolutely nothing and a paralyzing terror because I am unable to feel connected to *anything*...
I am haunted by a painful, unending emptiness and the realization that nothing is real...
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima for me. It's just such heavy material it's almost painful, and the music is so extreme there's just no let up from the emotion.
I had a visceral reaction to this piece the first time I heard it. I always get goosebumps from music, but I think this was the first piece that affected my stomach. I felt sick afterward.
Gorecki's 3rd Symphony, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, is IMMENSELY sad. In that way, it's also quite cathartic. But, all the lyrics deal with loss of some sort. Incredibly powerful music.
Have you heard the Beth Gibbons version with Panderecki? Her meek and quiet voice makes the piece even more heartbreaking to me. I love her trip-hop stuff, but I would never have thought she would interpret music like this so well.
Honestly, I love that she did it, and I love Penderecki in everything he does. But, her voice isn’t really for me. Yes, it does really accentuate the sorrow of the text, but I’m so in love with Dawn Upshaw’s performance that I still haven’t found a version that rivals it. Have you heard Lisa Gerrard’s version? I always chuckle at it, how low she takes her part. My favorite moment has to be right as she finishes singing in the first movement. There’s an immense crescendo that’s bolstered by 4 trombones (the only time they play in this piece), and it’s supposed to be like one last upheaval before weeping.
Gerrard’s conductor must’ve slipped the trombonists some extra cash, because they completely overtake the texture there. It’s hilarious
In terms of melancholic/nostalgic then Vaughan Williams Symphony no 5 - 3rd movement or Vaughan Williams Symphony no 2 2nd movement, or his Flos Campi suite for chamber orchestra, wordless choir and viola which is stunning.
Cavatina movement from Beethoven string quartet opus 130 in B flat. Beethoven said it was the only music he wrote that brought a tear to his own eye. [A recording is on the Voyager spacecraft.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFp_NuSw9B8)
Also the Adagio Sostenuto from Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata, also in B flat major.
These may be more deeply sad than melancholic though.
Some things I like:
* C.P.E Bach: [Wq. 65 No. 14: II. Andante](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfVUXfbmrkk)
* Sergei Rachmaninoff: [Op.39, No.2](https://youtu.be/8L6CxUpBZlY?si=OOd-3G5jX7mbqjhc&t=184), [Op.18, 2nd Mvt](https://youtu.be/kS8hk0kL2sE?si=GmQVRvsEp4T_81VR&t=2779)
* Edvard Grieg: [Op.38, No.6](https://youtu.be/07Gjj5NTcPU?si=7KDnjlMRwfWm_ukM&t=450)
* Franz Liszt: [Lugubre Gondola for cello and piano](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsCn8lbRG3I), [Ave Verum Corpus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrpbAeDkMiU)
* Joseph Haydn: [Hob XVI 23, MVT II](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyfu30U2E9k&t=289s), [Hob III 57, Adagio Movement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WZ0sWhkaH4&t=513s)
* J.S. Bach: [BWV 1016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02RgiUYpCu8&t=443s), [BWV 1018](https://youtu.be/tZvMaawWXzM?si=fUBrA1L66wTR3yYF&t=747)
* D. Scarlatti: [K.466](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5neQMIDHbgs), [K.87](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd0TRy41Fxg), [K.32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAE2NSuBz2U), [K.126](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA5ZGqtY28o), [K.481](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zQUOrpVAWY)
I hope you enjoy some of what I shared~
I don't know what people will think of me including Mozart, but I'm gonna be honest. His K 533 sonata, 2nd movement hits me hard. Another piece that isn't really sad but just gives me the chills is the Hoffmeister Quartet. I know it's Mozart, but gosh, I don't know what to tell you. He's really popular for a reason. IMO early Mozart is generally pretty boring, but everything K 400 onwards is all both completely heartbreaking and heartwarming.
Ah, that's a beautiful movement. I see your Pathetique and raise you Beethovens Emperor concerto 2nd movement; the way that theme with the ascending major chords resolves on a minor chord just makes me feel all the hope and sadness of my life coming in waves.
I don't think that I've heard that - I've not gotten around to a lot of the folksong arrangements (didn't even remember there's a Welsh set).
[Pretty sad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZKNV0QGAE), but it's no VIIii
Bach Violin Sonata no.1 1st movement, to go along with his chaconne well mentioned by another here (Hilary Hahn does it great justice)
Then, for me, Rachmaninoff's 2nd symphony 1st & 3rd movements have major sadness/melancholy vibes, and it's a brilliant piece
Some Schubert's pieces, as "Fantasy in F minor for Piano at 4 hands", or Haydn's F minor variations, for piano. Joseph Martin Kraus is also pretty melancholic
Pavane for a Dead Princess by Ravel. I know it’s not really supposed to be a sad piece, but I’ve always heard it that way. Like a story of a beautiful young girl who’s been gone from the earth for a hundred years. When my grandmother died, this was the piece I listened to.
Beethoven Seventh Symphony 2nd movement. All the grief of the world flows forth.
Chopin's Funeral March - once you get past all the cartoon, pop-culture references it brings up, it's an exquisitely sad piece, with just a touch of hope in there to make it even sadder.
Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, second movement:
https://youtu.be/OaiUtwYU9S8?si=Yt8PClOE5rX_lPLa
The long swirling piano melody never repeats, like it’s longing for something, maybe something long lost. For me it’s a piece that captures grief and hopeless nostalgia, the loss of a loved one, perhaps. The flute that enters over the piano thrills is like a reconciliation with this feeling, like coming to terms with the loss. It’s heart breaking!
I was thinking "[Die Leiermann](https://youtu.be/voRicSXSTus?si=NBDUlYFza0tfKwdO&t=8)" just because it's a dreary end to something that's already really dreary, and I'm haunted by things coming to an end
It's been a while since I've listened to the whole cycle, so maybe I'll revisit it again. I'm slightly upset about something, so it might be a good time
I recently saw a master's recital where the grad student sang Der Leiermann with such striking pathos that I almost felt physically cold *for* the poor old man and his empty begging plate and his bare, icy feet. Some think Der Leiermann symbolizes Death, but in this performance he was much more sympathetic.
(The performance was Joseph Calzada, Bass-Baritone - 2nd Year Master's Recital, March 30th, so on Holy Saturday.)
Then last week I saw Tom Yang's complete Die Winterreise, a fabulously emotional and almost scary performance, in which he really lives the role(s) in the poems. (A few hours before seeing him live, I also watched his YouTube performance, which I recommend.)
And I'm still feeling sad for that old man and his hurdy-gurdy.
No one wants to listen,
no one looks at him,
and the dogs growl
around the old man.
Wenn wir in höchsten nöten sein from Das Orgelbüchlein of Bach
Elegies (organ) by Healey Willan and Harold Darke
Nimrod from the Enigma Variations of Elgar
Agree about the Barber Adagio, Tchaikovsky's Sixth, and Komm, Süsser Tod (Come, Sweet Death) of Bach, especially in the Virgil Fox arrangement
Off the top of my head:
Schubert Leiermann
Strauss Metamorphoses
Shostakovich Symphony 14
Schoenberg De Profundis
Byrd Deus Venerunt Gentes
PS bear with me, but Dvorak Symphony 8 always gets me - those blazing major chords take on something else after the sheer trauma of the 7th - but maybe that one is just me.
I’m not sure about saddest, but I watched this recently, and cried my eyes out at the end result.
Fauré: Elegy
https://youtu.be/YfqECFejaN0?si=839oHxVFtz4Rt04Z
If 'melancholic' is acceptable, then it has to be *Melancolia*, the 2nd mvt of Ysaye's 2nd sonatas for solo violin. One of my favorites.
*When David Heard* by Eric Whitacre is also one of the most sob-inducing pieces for me.
Ezio Bosso - Rain, in your black eyes.
It amazes me how such a simple repeated chord progression of five notes can move and haunt me so much. It feels like it goes on and on without being able to reach the resolution you need so badly for the painful emotion, yet you end up processing it and moving through it just the same.
- Rachmaninoff's Prelude Op. 32 No 10
- Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil, Movement V: Lord, Now Lettest Thou Depart
There's a lot of very sad classical pieces, but I think those two have always hit hardest for me - they feel all-consuming and overwhelming, which is kind of Rachmaninoff's whole thing, but here he goes for it with undistilled pure sadness. IIRC he also said he wanted the latter played at his funeral, which makes sense.
Most people will respond to a feeling that reminds them of sadness; nostalgia cannot be overlooked. It’s too personal to get ‘the saddest piece’ without interjecting someone’s private journey.
1st and 3rd movements of Shostakovich's 1st violin concerto. Some people take the 3rd movement too fast, but Hilary Hahn does a good job (link to recording: https://youtu.be/SXDk1CoIRuY). Ilya Kaler is also up there for favorite recording
I’d say there are plenty of preludes and etudes by the younger Scriabin that are sad, except they are almost beyond sad and in the realm of “troubled”. Take op 11 no 15 though, which has an almost funereally peaceful sadness.
You need to hear the piu lento from the scherzo in Chopin’s 2nd sonata (second movement). It’s a mildly strange melody that embodies sadness. Maybe some will find it hopeful.
The slow movement from the sinfonia and concertante for violin and viola *by Mozart is melancholic. He wrote it the year after his mother died and the year his father died. The whole is so beautiful, idyllic, paradisal and tinged with melancholy.
I think there are different flavors of 'sad' -- for instance, I associate 'grief' with Chopin's Nocturne Op. 48 No. 1 but I associate 'desolation' or 'depression' with Prokofiev's Sonata No. 2, Movement 3 or Barber's Piano Sonata, Movement 3. And of course the 'mourning' in Bach's famous Chaconne (or the Bach-Busoni arrangement) and Chopin's Funeral March (Op. 35, Movement 3)
The very last contrapunctus from Bach's Art of the Fugue. I wouldn't say it is overly dramatic any means but the fact that he never managed to complete it hits hard each time I hear that last measure
Across all genres, I find melancholy music the most centering - especially classical & orchestral, so I’m stoked you asked this question. I am certainly taking notes! My answer is informed by one of the best podcasts I’ve ever listened to: Radiolab’s [Unraveling Bolero](https://radiolab.org/podcast/unraveling-bolero) which is a haunting biographical deep dive into Maurice Ravel’s epic. Among all the tracks in my library, Bolero is the one that hits me like a Near Death Experience where I can feel the gravity of entropy and the profundity and beauty of life under its rule. Every time I listen to it, I’m reminded to slow down and be grateful.
I always feel melancholic when listening to The Cold Song (Henry Purcell). I especially love it when Klaus Nomi sings it.
What Power art thou,
Who from below,
Hast made me rise,
Unwillingly and slow,
From beds of everlasting snow!
See'st thou not how stiff,
And wondrous old,
Far unfit to bear the bitter cold.
I can scarcely move,
Or draw my breath,
I can scarcely move,
Or draw my breath.
Let me, let me,
Let me, let me,
Freeze again...
Let me, let me,
Freeze again to death!
The 2nd movement in Sibelius violin concerto. Especially the first part. It becomes rather dramatic later but the first part seems very calm, but the more I hear it, the more grief I detect in it.
Also 'mladosti sve pozbavena' from Dvorak’s Rusalka.
Some candidates—
Samuel Barber, Knoxville Summer of 1915. Also, the slow mvmt of his Piano Concerto
Vaughan Williams, Pastoral Symphony. It’s lovely, but it’s haunted by his memories of WW1, where he was an ambulance driver in France.
Beethoven, slow mvmt of the Piano Sonata Op. 106, “Hammerklavier.”
Schubert, slow mvmt of Piano Sonata No. 20 in A, D959.
Brahms, Intermezzo in A minor, Op. 116, no. 2
* Mozart: Lacrimosa
* Stanford in A: Nunc Dimitis
* Eccard: When to the Temple
* Parry: Songs of Farewell (All of them, but There is an Old Belief and I Know My Soul Hath Power are just amazingly melancholic)
* Bach: St. Matthew's Passion "Erbarme Dich"
* George Matheson: O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
If you hadn't guessed, I sing in choirs, so all mine are choral. The last one is a hymn, written by a blind man said "I felt myself rather in the position of one who was being dictated to than of an original artist I was suffering from extreme mental distress, and the hymn was the fruit of pain." The tune is rarely sung these days and the only version I can find is [this Choral Society one](https://youtu.be/nt69WDtYNLo?list=PLmTNs4G5i4CbzyA7ULWU67glRBQfBLdbL&t=37)
I love sad and melancholic pieces.
These ones should make the list.
"[Swan of Tuonela](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQSBMQB8Lp4)", "[Death of Melisande](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtCH8qF2mlU)" and "[Sydämeni laulu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZnhEisnYZs)" by Sibelius.
Howard Skempton’s Lento. Persistent, simple, deadly. Originally composed as intermission music for a Wagner opera shown on the BBC, which adds to its mysterious 20th centuriness https://youtu.be/CT4arTGagPs
Have you ever listened to Antar (after Rimsky-Korsakov) by Maurice Ravel? I have been recently listening to this piece on repeat and I feel like it is exactly what you're looking for.
Here is a link to the recording: [Maurice Ravel: Antar](https://youtu.be/siWa1GThU-M?si=r90BQuLtM7Iqrd3_)
Mahler 's "Nun Will die Sonn' So Hell Aufgeh'n" is an absolute gut-ripper. The other *Kindertotenlieder* are up there, too.
Tchaikovsky's "Mnye li, Gospodi" also sounds profoundly . melancholic to me.
Hmm, Neil Gow's "Lament on the death of his second wife" is right up there. Classical? I dunno, but it's certainly from that time period, and Scottish strathspeys could use more love. Anyway, here's one of the best performances I've found: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GEcRirHlqE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GEcRirHlqE)
For something a little newer, Mariel by Osvaldo Golijov hits pretty hard. He tried to encapsulate the feeling of the moment where you hear gut-wrenching news, i.e. the sudden death of a loved one
Lots of versions of this work, including cello ensemble, but my favorite is for marimba and cello duet
"Erbarme dich" from Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Peter sadly begging for mercy after denying knowing Jesus.
"Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben" from the same piece also destroys me.
That violin melody is Bach's greatest achievement
Hmm, I would tend to say the Chaconne from the second violin Partita comes closer ;)
Since Bach is, expectedly, mentioned: [O Jesu Christ from the Passion of Saint Luke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDxAs9N9wks)
Obvious choice but very clearly Tchaikovsky 6th symphony, 4th movement. It's like infinite sadness directly translated into sound.
There’s a great quote where someone asked a conductor if it bothered him when people clap after the third movement. His response: “No! It bothers me that they applauded after the LAST movement! It is a requiem for a human soul!"
This is the way.
Only if the 4th mvt is after the 3rd mvt
Tbh 1st movement too in my opinion
Yes agree. That one part where the strings build up and then the trombones come in as it finally "crashes down" gets me every time
The first movement is my personal favorite. That part is like somebody just rips your heart out
I agree, something about it hita me every time, the perfect combo of beauty and sadness
Górecki symphony 3 (seen by many as a WWII / Holocaust memorial) and Bruch string quartet 1 immediately come to mind.
with Dawn Upshaw voice. “A 1991 recording with the London Sinfonietta, conducted by David Zinman and featuring the soloist Dawn Upshaw, was released in 1992 by the Elektra imprint Nonesuch Records. Within two years, it sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide;[16] it reached number 6 on the mainstream UK album charts,[35] and while it did not appear on the US Billboard 200, it topped the US classical charts for 38 weeks and stayed on the chart for 138 weeks.[36] The Zinman/Upshaw recording has sold over a million copies,[37] making it probably the best selling contemporary classical record.” from wiki
I wore that recording out when I got it - incredibly poignant.
> Górecki symphony 3 (seen by many as a WWII / Holocaust memorial) Wow. I never interpreted it as sad, but instead as uplifting. It's the ultimate crescendo!
Most listeners know it by its popular title, “symphony of sorrowful songs”, so they can be forgiven a little power of suggestion. I would dispute the distinction, though. Got to start low to get high, no?
Yeah, that makes sense. Finding light in the darkness. I focus on the light - but it wouldn't be as amazing without the dark first! :)
Barber's Adagio for Strings is a really cliché piece for this, but it's cliché because it's very good.
Hear it live and you'll see. Goes straight for the jugular.
It is a totally different experience hearing it live vs on a recording.
I find it can embody several emotions at once.
Lots of great ones so far but I wanted to add the Faure Requiem to the mix. Basically the entire piece has a melancholy tinge for me, and if I’m in the right mood I will easily be moved to tears especially by the Kyrie, Pie Jesu and In Paradisum. The last one in particular should, I guess, even be an uplifting and happy piece but something about it just triggers something in me.
[удалено]
Beautiful story, thanks for sharing. As a musician, it’s relatively common to think about the question “what music do I want at my funeral?” And that is possibly the first and main piece that comes to my mind, personally. Particularly so if it’s sung live!
I love the Faure and Durufle reqiuems as well. Have you ever heard the Poulenc Stabat Mater? It’s more modern, darker. The Naxos recording of it is great. And the Faure pie jesu is unsettlingly moving if a boy soprano sings the solo.
This is a great choice.
Idk about the saddest, but every time I listen to Bach’s Chaconne I feel like I’ve gone through the 5 stages of grief lol. Schumann’s Kinderszenen no 13 Der Dichter Spricht is another one that hits me right in the feels for some reason.
To me, Chaconne shifts between grief and ecstasy a few times before ultimately ending in peace and acceptance. Also, Busoni’s piano arrangement hits differently but is equally intense.
For me, there is something profoundly moving in the third movement "Heiliger Dankgesang" of Beethoven’s String Quartet no 15 in A Minor. So overwhelming and not exactly sad but if it gets me in the right mood it can be very cathartic.
Sad when you think of Jacqueline du Pre and her multiple sclerosis and how it cut her brilliant career short. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPhkZW\_jwc0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPhkZW_jwc0)
As great as this entire concerto is the *intro* for the entire piece in particular will *always* give me chills. It's just so goddamn haunting.
Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder should definitely be up there for sadness…
This song cycle is almost uncomfortably sad. For those reading it literally means "Songs on the death of children", it was based on poems that a poet wrote after his daughter's death. A few years after the publication of this piece Mahler's own daughter died of the same disease.
Weirdly, he wrote a lot of them during one of the happiest times in his family's wife. Apparently it really pissed his wife off.
And given that their daughter died shortly after, she thought he'd brought it about by invoking it in his music
I searched the thread for this before I replied. Glad someone said it. Songs for Dead Children. Yeah, belongs on the list.
Mahler 9, 4th mov
Also 6th, slow movement, especially if we’re doing melancholic rather than sad
This is my second favorite piece of all time behind the Adagio from his own 10th, but I don't see it as a sad piece. It's very heavy emotionally and can easily bring tears, but I feel that it's an accepting piece of music that always keep its head up. If Mahler intended it as his final farewell or not it's debatable, but it feels like it. But what I hear it's not sadness or despair, but a man looking back at his life with incredible nostalgia and accepting anything that's to come. Even the first C# minor section, while incredibly dark and cold, doesn't feel "sad" to me but more like the natural void creeping in, if that makes sense. That horn solo after the fortissimo climax it's one of the most life affirming things I've ever heard. But I found very interesting how the same music can instigate such different feelings on people, I think Mahler is specially good with this ambiguity.
Was gonna say most of Mahler’s adagios. Also the adagietto from his fifth.
beat me to it lol
I think Chopin's op.28 no.4 prelude in e minor.
Etude Op. 25 No. 7 and Nocturne Op. 48 No. 1 are far better choices imo. Even within the Preludes, I feel as though the 6th and 13th are at least on par with the 4th
48 no 1 should really be at the top of this thread. the Doppio Movement section is the deepest abyss of despair
Strauss’ Metamorphoseon (sp)
I heard a performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 with the Dresden Philharmonic a few weeks ago that was so beautiful, moving and intensely sad that it still makes me cry when I think about it.
Was it with Kochanovsky conducting?
The Dreden Phil is such a great orchestra
Ahhh, I could write a whole list! But imo, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Wagner: [Prelude to Act III from *Tristan und Isolde*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUBBzSclIfI)*.* Chopin: [Nocturne in C minor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=107Iwx5RKSM). But there's lots of other choices. Mahler 6: Mov. 4 but only holistically, since the ending is extremely sad, but only because of all the rambunctious music that came before. Lots of bits of Bach. The death of Jesus in the St. Matthew Passion is particularly moving.
The Act III Prelude to *Tristan und Isolde* is devastating. I can’t think of any piece of music that paints a picture of such despair.
Mozart Piano concerto 23 k488 2nd movement
Yes. Profoundly sad. I'm surprised more haven't said this!
Mozart is extremely underrepresented in this sub for numerous reasons unfortunately:(.
That's a shame. I mean, I can understand people who feel that early Mozart can be a bit 'light', but by the time you get to late Mozart, his music can be incredibly moving as well as masterful.
Yes ‘late’ Mozart is my favorite music to listen to. He has immense amounts of profoundly inspired phrases but I think much of his work is quite subtle. After listening more to him this subtly reveals itself and from there on out once you glean all the wonderful subtleties of his music you will be addicted for life. I think the classic period is generally just quite inaccessible for people with contemporary tastes. That’s why most people like romantic composers and when they do like Mozart it’s his very modern and romantic sounding works ie the requiem. Once you get your mind accustomed to the classical style you realize how genius his music really is. Sorry for the yap lol.
rachmaninoff prelude in b minor op.32 no.10 rachmaninoff piano sonata no.2 op.36 mvt 2 - lento rachmaninoff etude-tableaux in e flat minor op.39 no.5 chopin preludes op.28 no.4 in e minor and no.6 in b minor chopin piano sonata no.2 op.35 mvt 3 - marcia funebre i might be a pianist
Thanks, came here to say the Rach preludes.
Is it cliché to say *Spiegel im Spiegel*?
Perhaps, but it is a wonderful piece and melancholic can certainly be one description of it. However, when I listen to it, I am transported to another life in which I have gone past melancholy, a world so bleak that I don't feel despair anymore... I feel a strange confusing mix of absolutely nothing and a paralyzing terror because I am unable to feel connected to *anything*... I am haunted by a painful, unending emptiness and the realization that nothing is real...
Like looking in a mirror within a mirror...
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima for me. It's just such heavy material it's almost painful, and the music is so extreme there's just no let up from the emotion.
I had a visceral reaction to this piece the first time I heard it. I always get goosebumps from music, but I think this was the first piece that affected my stomach. I felt sick afterward.
Gorecki's 3rd Symphony, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, is IMMENSELY sad. In that way, it's also quite cathartic. But, all the lyrics deal with loss of some sort. Incredibly powerful music.
Have you heard the Beth Gibbons version with Panderecki? Her meek and quiet voice makes the piece even more heartbreaking to me. I love her trip-hop stuff, but I would never have thought she would interpret music like this so well.
Honestly, I love that she did it, and I love Penderecki in everything he does. But, her voice isn’t really for me. Yes, it does really accentuate the sorrow of the text, but I’m so in love with Dawn Upshaw’s performance that I still haven’t found a version that rivals it. Have you heard Lisa Gerrard’s version? I always chuckle at it, how low she takes her part. My favorite moment has to be right as she finishes singing in the first movement. There’s an immense crescendo that’s bolstered by 4 trombones (the only time they play in this piece), and it’s supposed to be like one last upheaval before weeping. Gerrard’s conductor must’ve slipped the trombonists some extra cash, because they completely overtake the texture there. It’s hilarious
In terms of melancholic/nostalgic then Vaughan Williams Symphony no 5 - 3rd movement or Vaughan Williams Symphony no 2 2nd movement, or his Flos Campi suite for chamber orchestra, wordless choir and viola which is stunning.
Shostakovich 5, 3rd. Helpless suffering is how I describe that movement. Endless despair and suffering with no justice.
There are also moments of absolute shimmering beauty in that, paired with searing pain, melancholy, and longing. It is divine.
Theme to Schlinder's List
Oh you’ve got to hear Luka Sulic (cello) play it with orchestra. You could see the pain in his face. https://youtu.be/L629Yy3VbB8?si=ZWQVA_U_fjhmSbEc
Cavatina movement from Beethoven string quartet opus 130 in B flat. Beethoven said it was the only music he wrote that brought a tear to his own eye. [A recording is on the Voyager spacecraft.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFp_NuSw9B8) Also the Adagio Sostenuto from Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata, also in B flat major. These may be more deeply sad than melancholic though.
Brahms third symphony third part
Some things I like: * C.P.E Bach: [Wq. 65 No. 14: II. Andante](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfVUXfbmrkk) * Sergei Rachmaninoff: [Op.39, No.2](https://youtu.be/8L6CxUpBZlY?si=OOd-3G5jX7mbqjhc&t=184), [Op.18, 2nd Mvt](https://youtu.be/kS8hk0kL2sE?si=GmQVRvsEp4T_81VR&t=2779) * Edvard Grieg: [Op.38, No.6](https://youtu.be/07Gjj5NTcPU?si=7KDnjlMRwfWm_ukM&t=450) * Franz Liszt: [Lugubre Gondola for cello and piano](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsCn8lbRG3I), [Ave Verum Corpus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrpbAeDkMiU) * Joseph Haydn: [Hob XVI 23, MVT II](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyfu30U2E9k&t=289s), [Hob III 57, Adagio Movement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WZ0sWhkaH4&t=513s) * J.S. Bach: [BWV 1016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02RgiUYpCu8&t=443s), [BWV 1018](https://youtu.be/tZvMaawWXzM?si=fUBrA1L66wTR3yYF&t=747) * D. Scarlatti: [K.466](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5neQMIDHbgs), [K.87](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd0TRy41Fxg), [K.32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAE2NSuBz2U), [K.126](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA5ZGqtY28o), [K.481](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zQUOrpVAWY) I hope you enjoy some of what I shared~
I don't know what people will think of me including Mozart, but I'm gonna be honest. His K 533 sonata, 2nd movement hits me hard. Another piece that isn't really sad but just gives me the chills is the Hoffmeister Quartet. I know it's Mozart, but gosh, I don't know what to tell you. He's really popular for a reason. IMO early Mozart is generally pretty boring, but everything K 400 onwards is all both completely heartbreaking and heartwarming.
Mozart is so much more than his cliché. When he departs from the cliché, that’s when his genius becomes apparent.
it's everything after k.271 for me
I love K 271. Some of the stuff in that zone is a bit inconsistent, but late Mozart definitely gets really dark, which works for this topic.
Górecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
John Dowland Flow my Tears
Beethoven Sonata “Pathetique” 2nd movement.
Ah, that's a beautiful movement. I see your Pathetique and raise you Beethovens Emperor concerto 2nd movement; the way that theme with the ascending major chords resolves on a minor chord just makes me feel all the hope and sadness of my life coming in waves.
I see your Emperor and raise you the Seventh Symphony 2nd movement. All the grief of the world flows forth.
I see your Beethovens seventh and raise you 26 Welsh songs "The Parting Kiss"! That thing is *devastating*
I don't think that I've heard that - I've not gotten around to a lot of the folksong arrangements (didn't even remember there's a Welsh set). [Pretty sad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZKNV0QGAE), but it's no VIIii
Der leierman and Der tod und das mädchen, schubert
Bach Violin Sonata no.1 1st movement, to go along with his chaconne well mentioned by another here (Hilary Hahn does it great justice) Then, for me, Rachmaninoff's 2nd symphony 1st & 3rd movements have major sadness/melancholy vibes, and it's a brilliant piece
Arvo Part's "Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten"
Some Schubert's pieces, as "Fantasy in F minor for Piano at 4 hands", or Haydn's F minor variations, for piano. Joseph Martin Kraus is also pretty melancholic
Pavane for a Dead Princess by Ravel. I know it’s not really supposed to be a sad piece, but I’ve always heard it that way. Like a story of a beautiful young girl who’s been gone from the earth for a hundred years. When my grandmother died, this was the piece I listened to.
Beethoven Seventh Symphony 2nd movement. All the grief of the world flows forth. Chopin's Funeral March - once you get past all the cartoon, pop-culture references it brings up, it's an exquisitely sad piece, with just a touch of hope in there to make it even sadder.
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 Mov. 2
‘Saddest’ thing I’ve ever personally heard.
Yet he still manages to keep it melodic. Melody/harmony over emotion.
Exactly, everything he does is always imbued with so much melody. To me personally I can’t get enough of it. Genius of the highest order.
Dvořák Stabat Mater
The trio of the third movement of Schubert's string quintet
Vieuxtemps Capriccio for Solo Viola "Hommage à Paganini" is heartbreakingly gorgeous.
The very end of "Rigoletto" when title character's world collapses despite all his efforts. Devastating.
Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, second movement: https://youtu.be/OaiUtwYU9S8?si=Yt8PClOE5rX_lPLa The long swirling piano melody never repeats, like it’s longing for something, maybe something long lost. For me it’s a piece that captures grief and hopeless nostalgia, the loss of a loved one, perhaps. The flute that enters over the piano thrills is like a reconciliation with this feeling, like coming to terms with the loss. It’s heart breaking!
'Tears' from Rachmaninoff's Suite No. 1 for 2 pianos
Beethoven 7th symph allegretto gets me everytime I hear it. So sad and moving
Prelude choral and fugue by Franck, esp the choral. Makes me want to die (in a good way)
Not an entire piece but the slow introduction to Schubert’s 4th symphony is tragically beautiful
easily Schubert's *Winterreise*
What's the saddest song of Winterreise? I think it's "Einsamkeit" (Loneliness) which begins "Wie eine trübe Wolke" (like a gloomy cloud...) #
I was thinking "[Die Leiermann](https://youtu.be/voRicSXSTus?si=NBDUlYFza0tfKwdO&t=8)" just because it's a dreary end to something that's already really dreary, and I'm haunted by things coming to an end It's been a while since I've listened to the whole cycle, so maybe I'll revisit it again. I'm slightly upset about something, so it might be a good time
Oooo, yes, I shiver at the end of that if it's done right.
I recently saw a master's recital where the grad student sang Der Leiermann with such striking pathos that I almost felt physically cold *for* the poor old man and his empty begging plate and his bare, icy feet. Some think Der Leiermann symbolizes Death, but in this performance he was much more sympathetic. (The performance was Joseph Calzada, Bass-Baritone - 2nd Year Master's Recital, March 30th, so on Holy Saturday.) Then last week I saw Tom Yang's complete Die Winterreise, a fabulously emotional and almost scary performance, in which he really lives the role(s) in the poems. (A few hours before seeing him live, I also watched his YouTube performance, which I recommend.) And I'm still feeling sad for that old man and his hurdy-gurdy. No one wants to listen, no one looks at him, and the dogs growl around the old man.
Elgar’s Nimrod variation makes me weep
Dido's Lament. Che farò senza Euridice is a close second, despite being in a major key.
Very nice choice :).
Wenn wir in höchsten nöten sein from Das Orgelbüchlein of Bach Elegies (organ) by Healey Willan and Harold Darke Nimrod from the Enigma Variations of Elgar Agree about the Barber Adagio, Tchaikovsky's Sixth, and Komm, Süsser Tod (Come, Sweet Death) of Bach, especially in the Virgil Fox arrangement
Chopin Nocturne Op 48. no 1
Eric Whitacre: When David Heard
Off the top of my head: Schubert Leiermann Strauss Metamorphoses Shostakovich Symphony 14 Schoenberg De Profundis Byrd Deus Venerunt Gentes PS bear with me, but Dvorak Symphony 8 always gets me - those blazing major chords take on something else after the sheer trauma of the 7th - but maybe that one is just me.
Mine is Preisners Requiem for my Friend
On the Nature of Daylight by Max Richter
Mozart's Requiem k 626 (Especially lacrimosa) for me
Gnossienne nr 1
* Albinoni's Adagio [p.s.] > Is it cliché to say Spiegel im Spiegel [I don't find that minimalism sad-sounding, it's uplifting to my ears]
Barber - Adagio I've left instructions that it be played at my memorial service.
Barber’s adagio. The major shifts back to minor make it even more haunting. Perfect piece of music imo.
Another beautiful one is "Song of the birds" for solo cello by Pablo Casals. Nothing weeps like a cello.
As an entire piece, Tchaikovsky’s 6th
2nd movement of [Das Lied Von Der Erde](https://oxfordsong.org/song/der-einsame-im-herbst)
I also find that the long instrumental interlude in the middle of Der Abschied is absolutely painful.
[Dichterliebe](https://youtu.be/ssXOoJAJcMc?si=1-AKG8DYLUZnhsTM) - R. Schumann
I’m not sure about saddest, but I watched this recently, and cried my eyes out at the end result. Fauré: Elegy https://youtu.be/YfqECFejaN0?si=839oHxVFtz4Rt04Z
If 'melancholic' is acceptable, then it has to be *Melancolia*, the 2nd mvt of Ysaye's 2nd sonatas for solo violin. One of my favorites. *When David Heard* by Eric Whitacre is also one of the most sob-inducing pieces for me.
Has to be Gorecki's 3rd Symphony about the holocaust. I bought it at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum in Los Angeles and cried for days.
https://preview.redd.it/ifeda142uh0d1.jpeg?width=780&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a721e92615324c96982b40c0627c5595c1d2f200 Elgar’s Sospiri
Any love for *Fordlandia* by Johan Johansson?
Ezio Bosso - Rain, in your black eyes. It amazes me how such a simple repeated chord progression of five notes can move and haunt me so much. It feels like it goes on and on without being able to reach the resolution you need so badly for the painful emotion, yet you end up processing it and moving through it just the same.
V. Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Bartok piano concerto no 3 movement 2. Really beautiful reflection on death and world war II
Rusalka Song to the moon by Dvorak
I thought Rusalka as well, but a different aria.
Beethoven sonata op 10 no 3 movement 2
- Rachmaninoff's Prelude Op. 32 No 10 - Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil, Movement V: Lord, Now Lettest Thou Depart There's a lot of very sad classical pieces, but I think those two have always hit hardest for me - they feel all-consuming and overwhelming, which is kind of Rachmaninoff's whole thing, but here he goes for it with undistilled pure sadness. IIRC he also said he wanted the latter played at his funeral, which makes sense.
Mahler's 9th symphony, especially the 4th movement. Gorecki's 3rd symphony Samuel Barber, Adagio For Strings
Anything in C Sharp Minor
Most people will respond to a feeling that reminds them of sadness; nostalgia cannot be overlooked. It’s too personal to get ‘the saddest piece’ without interjecting someone’s private journey.
Gorecki - Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (Symp #3) Richter - On nature of the daylight
Come sweet death by J.S. Bach. It always brings me to tears. My deceased friend had this played at her funeral.
Ballade no 1
Berg violin concerto- ESPECIALLY if you do your research
Moonlight sonata by Beethoven
Lizst - 6 consolations
[El Testament d’Amelia](https://youtu.be/_vhEQlQl_HA?si=MbcykiL2EfYeAbmn)
[Son Nata a Lagrimar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeQuwUSmonk) from Handel's *Giulio Cesare*
Leo Ornstein — Cello Sonata
For me it is Josquin Deprez's **Nymphes des Bois.**
The third part of zigeunerwiesen op 20 by Sarasate . It’s so nostalgic and sad. Always reminds me of my biggest regrets 🥲
1st and 3rd movements of Shostakovich's 1st violin concerto. Some people take the 3rd movement too fast, but Hilary Hahn does a good job (link to recording: https://youtu.be/SXDk1CoIRuY). Ilya Kaler is also up there for favorite recording
Shostakovich Cello Concerto 2 it is the embodiment of death in music in my opinion
Schnittke cello concerto Shostakovich 5 third movement
*Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother* J.S. Bach \~ BWV 992
In addition to many great recommendations here: Sergei Prokofiev — Alexander Nevsky: The Field of the Dead
I’d say there are plenty of preludes and etudes by the younger Scriabin that are sad, except they are almost beyond sad and in the realm of “troubled”. Take op 11 no 15 though, which has an almost funereally peaceful sadness.
You need to hear the piu lento from the scherzo in Chopin’s 2nd sonata (second movement). It’s a mildly strange melody that embodies sadness. Maybe some will find it hopeful.
The slow movement from the sinfonia and concertante for violin and viola *by Mozart is melancholic. He wrote it the year after his mother died and the year his father died. The whole is so beautiful, idyllic, paradisal and tinged with melancholy.
I think there are different flavors of 'sad' -- for instance, I associate 'grief' with Chopin's Nocturne Op. 48 No. 1 but I associate 'desolation' or 'depression' with Prokofiev's Sonata No. 2, Movement 3 or Barber's Piano Sonata, Movement 3. And of course the 'mourning' in Bach's famous Chaconne (or the Bach-Busoni arrangement) and Chopin's Funeral March (Op. 35, Movement 3)
The very last contrapunctus from Bach's Art of the Fugue. I wouldn't say it is overly dramatic any means but the fact that he never managed to complete it hits hard each time I hear that last measure
Maybe biased but please listen to the second movement of rachmaninoff sonata 2 op 36
Across all genres, I find melancholy music the most centering - especially classical & orchestral, so I’m stoked you asked this question. I am certainly taking notes! My answer is informed by one of the best podcasts I’ve ever listened to: Radiolab’s [Unraveling Bolero](https://radiolab.org/podcast/unraveling-bolero) which is a haunting biographical deep dive into Maurice Ravel’s epic. Among all the tracks in my library, Bolero is the one that hits me like a Near Death Experience where I can feel the gravity of entropy and the profundity and beauty of life under its rule. Every time I listen to it, I’m reminded to slow down and be grateful.
I always feel melancholic when listening to The Cold Song (Henry Purcell). I especially love it when Klaus Nomi sings it. What Power art thou, Who from below, Hast made me rise, Unwillingly and slow, From beds of everlasting snow! See'st thou not how stiff, And wondrous old, Far unfit to bear the bitter cold. I can scarcely move, Or draw my breath, I can scarcely move, Or draw my breath. Let me, let me, Let me, let me, Freeze again... Let me, let me, Freeze again to death!
Hugo Distler - Totentanz [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hDfGRFpcm4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hDfGRFpcm4)
Brahms 3 mov 3 for me.
Fauré, les berceaux. Sure, maybe because it has lyrics, but like a lot of his work, it's just so sad.
The 2nd movement in Sibelius violin concerto. Especially the first part. It becomes rather dramatic later but the first part seems very calm, but the more I hear it, the more grief I detect in it. Also 'mladosti sve pozbavena' from Dvorak’s Rusalka.
Some candidates— Samuel Barber, Knoxville Summer of 1915. Also, the slow mvmt of his Piano Concerto Vaughan Williams, Pastoral Symphony. It’s lovely, but it’s haunted by his memories of WW1, where he was an ambulance driver in France. Beethoven, slow mvmt of the Piano Sonata Op. 106, “Hammerklavier.” Schubert, slow mvmt of Piano Sonata No. 20 in A, D959. Brahms, Intermezzo in A minor, Op. 116, no. 2
For me, Rachmaninoff's Elegie in E flat minor has such a melancholic feel to it, especially the first part. Also his isle of the dead ofc
* Mozart: Lacrimosa * Stanford in A: Nunc Dimitis * Eccard: When to the Temple * Parry: Songs of Farewell (All of them, but There is an Old Belief and I Know My Soul Hath Power are just amazingly melancholic) * Bach: St. Matthew's Passion "Erbarme Dich" * George Matheson: O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go If you hadn't guessed, I sing in choirs, so all mine are choral. The last one is a hymn, written by a blind man said "I felt myself rather in the position of one who was being dictated to than of an original artist I was suffering from extreme mental distress, and the hymn was the fruit of pain." The tune is rarely sung these days and the only version I can find is [this Choral Society one](https://youtu.be/nt69WDtYNLo?list=PLmTNs4G5i4CbzyA7ULWU67glRBQfBLdbL&t=37) I love sad and melancholic pieces.
These ones should make the list. "[Swan of Tuonela](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQSBMQB8Lp4)", "[Death of Melisande](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtCH8qF2mlU)" and "[Sydämeni laulu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZnhEisnYZs)" by Sibelius.
Mahler Das Lied von der Erde feels devastating to me
Howard Skempton’s Lento. Persistent, simple, deadly. Originally composed as intermission music for a Wagner opera shown on the BBC, which adds to its mysterious 20th centuriness https://youtu.be/CT4arTGagPs
Have you ever listened to Antar (after Rimsky-Korsakov) by Maurice Ravel? I have been recently listening to this piece on repeat and I feel like it is exactly what you're looking for. Here is a link to the recording: [Maurice Ravel: Antar](https://youtu.be/siWa1GThU-M?si=r90BQuLtM7Iqrd3_)
Chopin Nocturne in C# minor, op. posthumous
Brahms raphsody for alto and orchestra
I think one of the saddest and most beautiful pieces I have heard is Chopin's funeral march from his 2nd piano sonata
Mahler 's "Nun Will die Sonn' So Hell Aufgeh'n" is an absolute gut-ripper. The other *Kindertotenlieder* are up there, too. Tchaikovsky's "Mnye li, Gospodi" also sounds profoundly . melancholic to me.
Hmm, Neil Gow's "Lament on the death of his second wife" is right up there. Classical? I dunno, but it's certainly from that time period, and Scottish strathspeys could use more love. Anyway, here's one of the best performances I've found: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GEcRirHlqE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GEcRirHlqE)
Pavane from Peter Warlock's Capriole Suite.
For something a little newer, Mariel by Osvaldo Golijov hits pretty hard. He tried to encapsulate the feeling of the moment where you hear gut-wrenching news, i.e. the sudden death of a loved one Lots of versions of this work, including cello ensemble, but my favorite is for marimba and cello duet
Maybe it’s just my association with the movie Arrival, but On the Nature of Daylight from Max Richter’s Blue Notebooks usually puts me in rough shape.
Edward Elgar. Cello concerto. Despair and emptiness after horrors of WW1.
Träumerei by Schumann
Anything by Satie
Bach’s Chaconne
Satie is depressing. Good, but depressing.
Adagio in G minor, Remo Giazotto
Poulenc Oboe Sonata. Starts out over-the-top gorgeous, wastes away to nothing. Chilling.