# Sad Heartwrenching Music Recomendations Please



## Truckload (Feb 15, 2012)

I am feeling very sad as a friend and mentor has passed away. He was a wonderful musician, kind and patient. He is survived by his wife and adult son and several grandchildren. 

Please recommend your choices for sad music. This morning I have been listening to:

"The Death of Ase" by Grieg
"Adagio for Strings" by Barber
Symphony No. 5 "Adagietto" by Mahler
String Quartet No. 12 "Lento" by Dvorak
Violin Concerto in D "Canzonetta - Andante" by Tchaikovsky
Cello Concerto in Bmin "Adagio ma non troppo" by Dvorak

The Dvorak Cello Concerto was his favorite piece of music. For some reason he didn't like vocal music, he had rather strong opinions about how music should be pure sound without any words. It was one of his little pet theories that was sort of funny. But in respect for my friend I am not listening to any vocal music today, although I like it.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Kol Nidrei (Bruch):tiphat:


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## Truckload (Feb 15, 2012)

Pugg said:


> Kol Nidrei (Bruch):tiphat:


Thanks Pugg, That is a perfect suggestion. I have also added to my playlist for today,

Concierto de Aranjuez, "Adagio" by Rodrigo
Symphony No. 9 "Largo" by Dvorak


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

When my grandfather Richard died this last November, this was my first consolation:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Played at my Grandfathers funeral, was his favourite.






Sir Colin Davis - Edward Elgar - Enigma Variations - Variation IX (Adagio) "Nimrod"


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

[Sorry - double post]


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

The slow movement of Mozart's piano concerto no.22, K482, especially for that unspeakably poignant C major chord (where one would have expected its equivalent in the minor) which appears twice in the orchestra as the movement is closing.


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## Richard8655 (Feb 19, 2016)

Sorry to hear about your friend, Truckload. To the above recommendations, I'd add Handel Concerto Grosso op. 6 no. 6. Just about the entire work sounds fairly sad.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

*Try:*

Bach's Orchestral Suite no. III (second movement "Air"),
Bruckner's Eighth Symphony (Adagio),
Bax's Second Symphony (slow movement),
Myaskovsky's Twentieth Symphony (slow movement, graceful yet dignified).


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## Bstar (May 9, 2016)

Bach, St. Matthew Passion, last movement.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

I'm sorry for your loss, Truckload.

The slow movement of Mozart's piano concerto number 23 in A might fit the bill.
Also maybe Brahms' 4th symphony?


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

The funeral march of the Eroica expresses just about every state of mind (often conflicting) that accompanies grief.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Bstar said:


> Bach, St. Matthew Passion, last movement.


Very appropriate text and music.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Sympathy for the loss.

The geezerly decline of my capabilities in recollection causes the following incoherence:

I don't know how appropriate for the occasion - Martinu composed a piece mourning a Nazi massacre of the inhabitants of a village...

A composer, first name Benjamin, composed a symphony in memory of the Holocaust - his 2nd maybe.


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## chesapeake bay (Aug 3, 2015)

These Tombeau's are very good for this type of mood


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## Guest (May 9, 2016)

Sad music,..... to my ears,this is the first I think of. Sospiri,OP.70 (Sighs)


This is another recording than my Lp


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Truckload, I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. I have lost one more recently and I lost my younger brother a number of years ago. I also find great solace in music during times like these.

One of my go to pieces is the Brahms #1 Piano Concerto Adagio, my favorite interpretation being that of Helene Grimaud. For me, it covers the entire range of emotions of a loss:






This is not a classical piece, but it is one of the most beautiful and meaningful songs ever written specifically addressing loss, not of a friend or brother, but the meaning still resonated for me:


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Actually I understand what it is like to lose a close friend.

But it is interesting how each of us deal with such a loss. One of my closest and dearest friends passed away three years ago after a lengthy illness (he had heart problems) and I miss him dearly. He had a wild sense of humor. He actually wanted his friends to celebrate his life. He was overjoyed to have live long enough to see his granddaughter.

He was cremated and I swear he had the following plaques on his wooden cremation urn:

"Baked not fried."

"If you brought marshmallows you're too late."

He was very fond of the last movement of Beethoven's _Ninth_.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Something about this piece by Chabrier used to sooth me when I was first entering a difficult time in my life. You may notice that the pieces I suggest here all have similar properties, not necessarily of the same level of pathos as what people have been recommending but containing a stirring sadness that comforts the soft and teary side, without darkening it. It's bothersome to me that I can't put into words exactly what these pieces have in common; maybe sad but deeply soothing? An innocent sad feeling in these pieces that is not intensified by anything else. Music for a lonely child(maybe that's what I am at heart)?

I'm sorry for your loss and hope these are relatable.

Here is Chabrier's Larghetto for Horn and Orchestra: 



Something about that line really hits my soft a sad spot.

Another piece with a similar effect is 2nd movement of Mozart's 39th symphony. 




Brahms Symphony 4 movement 2 also has something like this going on.:


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Here's a thing I just discovered, it's a masterpiece in very very sad:

Tchaikovsky string quartet 3, movement 3.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

This is a fascinating thread, started for sad reasons. Quite a few of the pieces already mentioned would be on my list. Nobody has picked the 2nd mvmnt of Shostakovich' s 2nd Piano Concerto. That's an instant lump in the throat for me, but maybe it doesn't affect others in the same way?


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Tchaikovsky's Pathetique goes without saying. For me, at least, it's the most grief laden symphony.


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## Autocrat (Nov 14, 2014)

Gorecki, Sympony No. 3. Bring a hanky.


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

IMHO, some of those listed are not quite sad, such as mahler's fifth


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## Euterpe (Apr 3, 2016)

I always feel uncomfortable from the despair in Tchaikovshy Symphonie No. 6, a music of which is too grief to listen frequently.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

In 1905, Josef Suk started writing a major symphonic work to commemorate the memory of his father-in-law, Antonin Dvorak who had died 8 months before. In July of that year while he was in the middle of working on it, Suk's wife, Otilie died very unexpectedly. Suk managed to finished the _Asrael Symphony_ In October of the following year and dedicated the last two movements to his wife's memory.


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## kanishknishar (Aug 10, 2015)

Truckload said:


> I am feeling very sad as a friend and mentor has passed away. He was a wonderful musician, kind and patient. He is survived by his wife and adult son and several grandchildren.
> 
> Please recommend your choices for sad music. This morning I have been listening to:
> 
> ...


Can you cite any sources? He wrote a lot of vocal music after all.

My suggestion is by Raff: Duo for Cello and Piano


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

First thought when I saw the title (although I feel the title quite simplistic for that)

Hammerklavier, III. Adagio sostenuto


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Herrenvolk said:


> Can you cite any sources? He wrote a lot of vocal music after all.


Truckload wrote that in reference to his friend, not Dvorak.


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## blahbityblah (May 20, 2016)

This kid composed a really emotional song when his pet died:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

blahbityblah said:


> This kid composed a really emotional song when his pet died:


If only he could play better


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

Doesn't any average person cry to any music written in a minor key? :lol:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Xenakiboy said:


> Doesn't any average person cry to any music written in a minor key? :lol:


Not always, depends who written it :devil:


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

I know this is late but sorrow lasts longer than a few days. Here are a few suggestions from my researches for this same reason.
Foster: Hard Times 
Moody Blues: Nights in White Satin
Handel: Saraband Suite #4 (the famous one)
Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela
Dowland: Flow My Tears
Purcell: Queen Anne Funeral Music
Purcell: When I am Laid in Earth
Bach: Komm sueser Tod 
Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in c minor
Bach: The Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 Prelude and Fugue #8 in Eb Minor (prelude especially)
Mozart: Masonic Funeral Music
Grieg: Varen aka The Last Spring (vocal)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony #6 Movement 4
Dvorak: Symphony #9 Movement 2
Beethoven: Symphony #7 Movement 2
Puccini: E Lucevan le Stelle
Puccini: Crisantemi
Rachmaninoff: Vocalise (vocal)
Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C# minor
Wagner: Siegfrieds Funeral March


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