# Greatest Stand-alone Melodies



## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

This is a serious thread. There have been discussions about who the greatest melodist is but I am curious as to what you think are the greatest melodies. I am not using the term "favourite" as it makes people just think about what they like. For example, I find Schubert's D960's opening melody incredibly beautiful, but as a stand-alone "tune", it is not as "good a melody" as, for example, the melody from his Standchen lied.

Therefore, think objectively about what a great melody is - not one you love because you love the piece it is found in.

I think that few can match the beauty and naturalness of:
Dvorak - the main theme of the lento from his string quartet no.12. It is very famous, but for good reason. 




Tchaikovsky - the melody from the "Scene " from Swan Lake. This is also very well known, but if you listen with fresh ears, you can truly appreciate how beautiful it is. 



Schubert - the 2nd main theme of the 1st movement of his string quintet, which "breaks out" in the cellos. 6:17 in this video


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Beethoven was not a melodist, when he decided to be, he went First Class. Ergo, the "Joy" theme from the Ninth.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

I always liked Brahm's melodies, though some state he rarely has any memorable ones. For example, the starting melody from his first Piano Trio. (H.L. Mencken called it 'the loveliest tune, perhaps, in the whole range of music,' in a fun little excursion he wrote on him. I may transcribe it later.) I can recall principle melodies from about half his symphonic movements, which for me is quite impressive. The main theme of the last movement of his first symphony is always nice to hear, similarities to _An die Freude_ taken into account or not, and this one is one of the most beautiful I've ever heard:


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## Marisol (May 25, 2013)

schuberkovich said:


> This is a serious thread. There have been discussions about who the greatest melodist is but I am curious as to what you think are the greatest melodies. I am not using the term "favourite" as it makes people just think about what they like. For example, I find Schubert's D960's opening melody incredibly beautiful, but as a stand-alone "tune", it is not as "good a melody" as, for example, the melody from his Standchen lied.
> 
> Therefore, think objectively about what a great melody is - not one you love because you love the piece it is found in.


How would you even begin to objectively define what a great melody is?
I think that is a fruitless endeavor.

Also I think it is not always possible to separate the melody from the harmony. For instance I like Wagner's and Richard Strauss' melodies but without the underlying harmonic changes they loose most of their charm.


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

Marisol said:


> How would you even begin to objectively define what a great melody is?
> I think that is a fruitless endeavor.
> 
> Also I think it is not always possible to separate the melody from the harmony. For instance I like Wagner's and Richard Strauss' melodies but without the underlying harmonic changes they loose most of their charm.


I agree it will always be fundamentally slightly subjective - however I think that it is possible to appreciate a melody which makes sense, and is particularly effective, memorable or striking.


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## Marisol (May 25, 2013)

I think this is a nice melody:


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Here is the first part of the first excursion from H.L. Mencken's _Four Little Excursions_, that deals with a subject close to that of this thread.

_Brahms_​
My excuse for writing of the above gentleman is simply that, at the moment, I can think of nothing else. A week or so ago, on a Baltimore Summer evening of furious heat, I heard his sextette for strings, opus 18, and ever since then it has been sliding and pirouetting through my head. I have gone to bed with it and I have got up with it. Not, of course, with the whole sextette, nor even with any principal tune of it, but with the modest and fragile little episode at the end of the first section of the first movement - a lowly thing of nine measures, thrown off like a perfume, so to speak, from the second subject.

What is the magic in such sublime trivialities? Here is a tune so slight and unassuming that it runs to but eight measures and uses but six of the twelve tones in the octave, and yet it rides an elderly and unromantic man, weighing 180 pounds and with a liver far beyond pills or prayer, as if it were the very queen of the succubi. Is it because I have a delicately sensitive ear? Bosh! I am almost tone-deaf. Or a tender and impressionable heart? Bosh again! Or a beautiful soul? _Dreimal_ bosh! No theologian not in his cups would insure me against Hell for cent per cent. No, the answer is to be found in the tune, not in the man. Trivial in seeming, there is yet in it the power of a thousand horses. Modest, it speaks with a clarion voice, and having spoken, it is remembered. Brahms made many another like it. There is one at the beginning of the trio for violin, 'cello and piano, opus 8 - the loveliest tune, perhaps, in the whole range of music. There is another in the slow movement of the quintette for piano and strings, opus 34. There is yet another in the double concerto for violin and 'cello, opus 102 - the first subject of the slow movement. There is one in the coda of the Third Symphony. there is an exquisite one in the Fourth Symphony. But if you know Brahms, you know all of them quite as well as I do. Hearing him is as dangerous as hearing Schubert. One does not go away filled and satisfied, to resume business as usual in the morning. One goes away charged with a something that remains in the blood a long while, like the toxins of love or the pneumococcus. If I had a heavy job of work to do on the morrow, with all hands on the deck and the cerebrum thrown into high, I'd certainly not risk hearing any of the Schubert string quartettes, or the incomparable quintette with the extra 'cello, or the Tragic Symphony. And I'd hesitate a long time before risking Brahms.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I'm sure it is impossible to list fixed criteria for what makes a good melody, & I will not attempt it. But I have noticed that my preferences are based very largely on what is 'singable' (or dancable), and what contains phrases with intervals that suggest some powerful emotion like sadness. I think Lully is my favourite composer precisely because he deals in 'tunes'. 

This looks like a really good thread & I look forward to reading some thoughtful replies.


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## Marisol (May 25, 2013)

GGluek said:


> Beethoven was not a melodist, when he decided to be, he went First Class. Ergo, the "Joy" theme from the Ninth.


I think that is a dreadful melody.

Quality wise I think that melody is about the same level as say this piece:






Watch Glenn Gould on video talking about a Beethoven melody (move it to 1:32):


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## Selby (Nov 17, 2012)

Schubert's Erlkönig was the first thing to come to my mind.











How about for violin?


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

Passengers will please refrain 
From flushing toilets on the train
When train is in the station
I love you


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

I agree with Beethoven often having weak melodies. For example, I adore his 3rd cello sonata, especially the opening cello theme, but you can tell that it is not a very "melodic" melody. It's interesting how well it works despite this fact:
(at the beginnning)


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

What I think, or hope, Glenn Gould is saying above -- and who can understand half of what he says half the time? -- is that Beethoven often uses banal melodies to good effect as springboards for the context of the composition as a whole, and so do not fit the criteria of this thread.

But not all Beethoven melodies are banal. He pulls out all the stops for the second movement of the Pathetique sonata, even when Gould plays it.


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)

take your pick


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

The part of _Sadko_ that runs from 6:47-7:12:






Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, and other Russian composers seem to have melodies with similar effects.


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

No one yet mentioned the national anthem of former Biafra


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

The second movement of Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez is an evocative melody and one not soon forgotten.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Tchaikovsky's gift for writing memorable and, at the same time, moving melodic lines is remarkable imo. Here are two of his very finest I think, the first being sweepingly beuatiful and the second deeply tender and reflective...

*Piano Concerto No. 1, mvmt. III* ~ 1:07






*Piano Concerto No. 2, mvmt. II* ~ 22:37


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

Ah Rimsky-Korsakov!
Both the first theme (played on the violin) and the second main theme (played first on the bassoon) from this part of the Scheherazade symphonic suite


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## Guest (Jun 9, 2013)

For a stand alone melody you would be hard pressed to beat Shostakovitch "Romance" from The Gadfly


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

just a random pick

Rachmaninoff - Elegie Op. 3 No. 1 





The entire part from 0:00 - 1:41


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

Brahms - Intermezzo No2 from OP. 117






it's from 5.46 minutes in! Radu Lupu plays it perfect imo.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

This melody from Frederico Mompou could be on the soundtrack to a movie, especially the way Michelangeli plays it.


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

Andante said:


> For a stand alone melody you would be hard pressed to beat Shostakovitch "Romance" from The Gadfly


& How about his Waltz No. 2 from the Suite for Variety Orchestra.

I didn't know much from Shostakovich in 1999, but did the music from the credits to Eyes Wide Shut haunt me!

(so did Ligeti's Musica Ricercata but that's another thing)


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

Here's some of the greatest stand alone melodies of Schubert on his piano works:

*Moment Musicaux in F minor * - the "tick tock" melody is just ravishing. It reminds me of clocks.






*Impromptu no. 3 in G flat* - the most popular of Impromptus with th most haunting melody.






*D.959 sonata, 4th movement* - this movement is the modt melodically inspired of all Schubert.


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## Feathers (Feb 18, 2013)

One melody that really made me drop what I was doing to pay full attention to its beauty was the second theme of Kalinnikov's Symphony No. 1: (1:12 - 2:00, and later at 11:29 - 2:17)


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

A lovely melody that has always haunted me:


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## oogabooha (Nov 22, 2011)

there are a few melodies that mean more to me than few things, and I can't really describe them in words well

one is actually from recent years:

(the piece is "New York", by Alexandra Streliski)







"Apres un Reve" by Faure is another, as well as "Je Te Veux" by Satie

also the viola melody in "Kathleen's Song" by Ray Lynch

however, the one melody that has forever ****ed me up (for lack of a better phrase to imply vulgarly that it has affected my life in bad and good ways) is Chopin's 2nd nocturne, Op. 9 (e-flat major). if there's one musical thing that has affected my life more...


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## chrisco97 (May 22, 2013)

I have to go with Dvorak here. I am often humming his melodies...


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## pluhagr (Jan 2, 2012)

Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor. The theme from the third movement is just marvelous!


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2013)

schuberkovich said:


> This is a serious thread. There have been discussions about who the greatest melodist is but I am curious as to what you think are the greatest melodies. I am not using the term "favourite" as it makes people just think about what they like. For example, I find Schubert's D960's opening melody incredibly beautiful, but as a stand-alone "tune", it is not as "good a melody" as, for example, the melody from his Standchen lied.
> 
> Therefore, think objectively about what a great melody is - not one you love because you love the piece it is found in.


Resisting the temptation to offer some of Debussy's most obvious tunes, I must say that I find it difficult to call to mind any melody, never mind a 'great' one. I'm reminded of the difficulty of giving someone directions to get from A to B. Unless I go with them, my sequential memory isn't triggered. So, to bring a melody to mind from, say, a symphony, requires some effort of will. The other thing is that with a head full of Haydn's 101 and 94, I can't 'hear' much else besides! That makes the 'clock' movement from the 101 an outstanding melody.

On the subject of what makes a great melody, I would suggest that the greatest would be those that are not the most immediately accessible, but there should nevertheless be a strong element of predictability, once it has become more familiar, and they would also be more extended - such as the melodic line towards the end of Haydn's 94 1st movement.

(around 6.05 in this clip)






It is difficult to remove personal response from the equation, since melodies come in assorted flavours, and the ones most often cited seem to me to carry broadly similar emotions of melancholy or yearning (though I've not yet listened to all the clips offered above).


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

A very charming lied from a certain Bohemian/Austrian composer:


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Heard Dvorak's 9th symph the other night, the second movement has a tune that could sell bread. In fact, it probably has! But as single melodies go, it's a great one...


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

Yes - the theme from the New World symphony 2nd movement seems so simple, yet every note feels like it couldn't have been any other


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

Two I forgot - both very well known, both from Borodin's 2nd string quartet.
The first movement is full of melody, but the "most perfect" sounding is the one heard at 1:16




And of course, the notturno theme


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I think it can be agreed upon that a large number of melodies by Russian composers have outstanding characteristics which make them memorable, emotional, "stand-alone." Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff are no doubt the greatest proponents of the Melody, but also Prokofiev who had an outstanding style to his melodies.

I think my all-time favorite Prokofiev melody is right here:




When you hit the chord at 1:24, it's like nothing else he ever wrote, ever.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I think it can be agreed upon that a large number of melodies by Russian composers have outstanding characteristics which make them memorable, emotional, "stand-alone." Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff are no doubt the greatest proponents of the Melody, but also Prokofiev who had an outstanding style to his melodies.
> 
> I think my all-time favorite Prokofiev melody is right here:
> [CLIP]
> When you hit the chord at 1:24, it's like nothing else he ever wrote, ever.


For someone who was anti-Romantic, he sure did love those Wagnerian progressions by minor third...


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

^The romantic sound of that reminds me a lot of this melody from Rachmaninov's 2nd symphony: @1:13-1:58


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Mahlerian said:


> For someone who was anti-Romantic, he sure did love those Wagnerian progressions by minor third...


Only he modulates from E major to C major? That's a major third. Also, it's a late work by Prokofiev, it was in his mellow years. 

@Tristan, you have a good ear, you probably heard that the Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev melodies were both in the same key, C major, a very open, pure sound. I had the enormous fortune of playing that Symphony this past Fall.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

It's impossible for me to determine the "greatest" melodies. I can think of my favourites, but apparently that's not what this thread is about. Where do you begin to determine greatness anyway? I think, once you do, your choices lose that personal touch that comes with selecting _your own_ favourite melodies, the ones that move _you_.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Feathers said:


> One melody that really made me drop what I was doing to pay full attention to its beauty was the second theme of Kalinnikov's Symphony No. 1: (1:12 - 2:00, and later at 11:29 - 2:17)


That opening theme is pretty iconic too. When I hear it I think it's a familiar melody I've heard since childhood, maybe Tchaikovsky or other well known composer.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Only he modulates from E major to C major? That's a major third. Also, it's a late work by Prokofiev, it was in his mellow years.


I actually meant at several points after the modulation on a chord-to-chord level, but my point is, those kind of third progressions with their inherent cross-relations are a favorite of Romantic (especially later Romantic) composers.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Mahlerian said:


> I actually meant at several points after the modulation on a chord-to-chord level, but my point is, those kind of third progressions with their inherent cross-relations are a favorite of Romantic (especially later Romantic) composers.


Yes, Prokofiev had little intention of doing anything innovative, at least at that point in the ballet. There are some pretty dissonant sections of the ballet though, particularly the Midnight scene.


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2013)

Greatest stand-alone melody? Come on, you're kidding me, right? No backing, no harmony? 
OK, this: _*Douce Dame Jolie*_ / *Guillaume de Machaut*. And best sung by Emma Kirkby ([practically] no vibrato). Heaven. A rare condition for me.


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2013)

I couldn't find the relevant link to *Kirkby's* _Douce Dame Jolie_.
Will this do instead? OK, there is a bit of vibrato, but always in good taste.


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2013)

And what a great melody for an exam dictation. Nah, really, I have tears in my eyes ...


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

The greatest melodist i know of is perhaps Brahms.


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

I love the opening theme from the first movement of Bruckner's 7th...it's big and expansive and beautiful.
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxH_a1ut49g


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2013)

Yes. But - Celloman - apart from that beautiful opening for the 'celli, it all becomes an enormous slog thereafter, ergo the tremolo, the 'left-hand' passage work (as in the F minor Mass) ...


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

In your opinion, yes. In mine, no. : )


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

TalkingHead said:


> Yes. But - Celloman - apart from that beautiful opening for the 'celli, it all becomes an enormous slog thereafter, ergo the tremolo, the 'left-hand' passage work (as in the F minor Mass) ...


You mean playing it, or listening to it? Bruckner's scores look incredibly dull for anyone to play except the brass, first violins, or the occasional wind solo most of the time.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

My vote goes to the _Adagio_ from Shostakovich's _The Golden Age_ -






It's bittersweet but there's also a feeling of nostalgia and heartbreak in this main melody.


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## Feathers (Feb 18, 2013)

Celloman said:


> I love the opening theme from the first movement of Bruckner's 7th...it's big and expansive and beautiful.
> http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxH_a1ut49g


Agreed! And the second movement too!


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Chopin. Nocturne Op. 32 No. 2.
The opening/closing melody is exquisitely beautiful. And for me, the middle section even transcends it. Cannot hear this without being profoundly moved.
Rubinstein 'owns' this:






This 1949 recording seems to me to have all the tenderness and passion imaginable.


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## Guest (Jun 11, 2013)

Mahlerian said:


> You mean playing it, or listening to it? Bruckner's scores look incredibly dull for anyone to play except the brass, first violins, or the occasional wind solo most of the time.


Yes, I'm sorry I wasn't clear. I mean the *actual playing* of it.


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## Guest (Jun 11, 2013)

Celloman said:


> In your opinion, yes. In mine, no. : )


OK, no problem. But it's not a stand alone melody, there is accompanying tremolo in the other strings.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

TalkingHead said:


> OK, no problem. But it's not a stand alone melody, there is accompanying tremolo in the other strings.


You're taking the OP too literally. The implication was that the melody can stand on its own, and doesn't _need_ other support (melodic, contrapuntal, harmonic). Nearly all Western music is accompanied one way or another.

My problem with the Bruckner 7 opening (in regards to the thread topic) is that it's not a complete melody in itself. It finishes on the dominant rather than the tonic, so it's an open question.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

another favorite is Schumann - Widmung 
I don't really like the singing, but the melody is beautiful, so I'll post the Liszt transcription


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

I don't understand terms like "melodist" or referring to a melody as being melodic. Doesn't that go without saying?


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Here is Jussi Bjorling singing in Swedish. (There are several versions of him singing this piece in the original French, of course.) 
As Irene Adler was The Woman for Sherlock, so Jussi is The Tenor for me.


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

In my opinion, Schubert together with Mozart and Tchaikovsky, were the greatest melodists of all.

Brahms.. He's not that melodic to me. The only melodic thing that I ever heard to him is the 3rd movement of his Symphony no. 4.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

I often find myself humming the opening melody of Bruckner's 7th symphony, 1st movement. I remember someone describing it as if the strings were "reaching for the light" and I find this a very apt description. Endless striving for the impossible... like chaste, suffering knights thirsting to touch the Holy Grail, to find salvation... it's very expressive.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Weston said:


> What I think, or hope, Glenn Gould is saying above -- and who can understand half of what he says half the time? -- is that Beethoven often uses banal melodies to good effect as springboards for the context of the composition as a whole, and so do not fit the criteria of this thread.
> 
> But not all Beethoven melodies are banal. He pulls out all the stops for the second movement of the Pathetique sonata, even when Gould plays it.


That's the melody Beethoven borrowed from the second movement of Mozart's c minor sonata, isn't it? At least the first half, then he does something differently with it, like what Mozart does with Clementi's melody in his Magic Flute overture.

I think one of Beethoven's best original melodies is from the first or third movements of his Archduke trio.


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## ZJovicic (Feb 26, 2017)

Not sure if it qualifies as standalone melody but I love aria from Bach's Goldberg variations.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

schuberkovich said:


> This is a serious thread. There have been discussions about who the greatest melodist is but I am curious as to what you think are the greatest melodies. I am not using the term "favourite" as it makes people just think about what they like. For example, I find Schubert's D960's opening melody incredibly beautiful, but as a stand-alone "tune", it is not as "good a melody" as, for example, the melody from his Standchen lied.
> 
> Therefore, think objectively about what a great melody is - not one you love because you love the piece it is found in.
> 
> ...


Is this a trick question like why would somebody have a screen name with Schubert in it and yet have a picture of Brahms posted underneath it by the OP?


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Just thinking in Dvorák's 8th symphony, 1st movement, you have the task done. The whole symphony is a fertile field of memorable melodies.

In fact, it's something marvelous about this kind of composers: they had a noticeable capacity of creating/adapting such tuneful pieces with an incredible (at least apparent) facility. It's something that always strikes me. True masters in their crafts.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Daniel Müller-Schott, 'Kol Nidrei'

This piece from Bruch, certainly qualify


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The adagio from Mozart's clarinet concerto.


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## Kajmanen (Jun 30, 2017)

Feathers said:


> One melody that really made me drop what I was doing to pay full attention to its beauty was the second theme of Kalinnikov's Symphony No. 1: (1:12 - 2:00, and later at 11:29 - 2:17)


Nothing beats this.


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## Beet131 (Mar 24, 2018)

I've always loved the expansive and majestic melody, "Nimrod" from Elgar's Enigma Variations.


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## vesteel (Feb 3, 2018)

Faure's sicilienne


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The opening of the second movement of the Brahms Fourth Symphony is a hauntingly beautiful melody, shrouded in mystery.






Here, Karajan captures it better than anyone I have ever heard.


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

Haydn has some beautiful melodies, besides the German national anthem! Dig into some of his adagios (but don't expect them all to be great )


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## Beet131 (Mar 24, 2018)

hpowders said:


> The opening of the second movement of the Brahms Fourth Symphony is a hauntingly beautiful melody, shrouded in mystery.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Indeed, just gorgeous!


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Not a composer you would expect here but Moritz Moszkowski - Piano Concerto Op. 3 has a real gorgeous romantic melody in the second movement. 12:40 - 14:00. Returns at 19:18 - 20:18, this superb section is pretty much the highlight of the piece.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Neo Romanza said:


> My vote goes to the _Adagio_ from Shostakovich's _The Golden Age_ -
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Very nice, I hadn't heard it before.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

TalkingHead said:


> Greatest stand-alone melody? Come on, you're kidding me, right? No backing, no harmony?
> OK, this: _*Douce Dame Jolie*_ / *Guillaume de Machaut*. And best sung by Emma Kirkby ([practically] no vibrato). Heaven. A rare condition for me.


yes, but it's unexpected to hear a woman sing these sexually charged words. There's a recording by Orlando Consort which isn't bad at all, a bloke sings.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

Mandryka said:


> yes, but it's unexpected to hear a woman sing these sexually charged words. There's a recording by Orlando Consort which isn't bad at all, a bloke sings.


Maybe not that unusual with a female voice:


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