# Music for the apocalypse



## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

(Obviously, had Scriabin lived longer and been able to finish the Mysterium somehow, that would have been the ultimate apocalyptic piece, actually it would've caused the apocalypse! )

Any other contenders?


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

11:41-25:36


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## powerbooks (Jun 30, 2012)

Liebestod all the way!

You gotta have a little faith in people!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I reckon the final chorus from Glass' opera _Corvo Branco_ would be excellent.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Lisztian said:


> 11:41-25:36


Wow, this is great. I'm going to listen to the entire piece tonight.


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## Jared (Jul 9, 2012)

DeepR said:


> Wow, this is great. I'm going to listen to the entire piece tonight.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

From the Apocalypse by Liadov


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Depends on what is causing the apocalypse.


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

Here's music from the last apocalypse:








A reconstruction of a mass from that frightening time of 1,000AD when people expected the end of the world.


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## Carpenoctem (May 15, 2012)

Yup.


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

One of my favorite Mozart pieces!


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

In case you wanna go out with a Russian bang.






But say, if it really were to be in our lifetime, the End of the World, I would want this:






Cuz I won't be sad when it's all over! This world is -------


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> In case you wanna go out with a Russian bang.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It's far from ideal....but pretty damn good considering most other worlds are barren rock or gas formations!


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## dionisio (Jul 30, 2012)

Adrian Leverkühn's _Apocalypsis cum figuris_

hehehehehheheheheehhehe


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Karl Weigl - Symphony No. 5 "Apocalyptic Symphony"


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

_Ives - The Unanswered Question_

thats the poetic answer :3

_Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring_

the badass answer 

_the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee"_

a tragic answer 

_Zappa - G-Spot Tornado_

funny answer X3

_all of the above at once_

the Schnittke answer


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (part II, V, VIII, X)

Just suit well. 

I may don't have the most disturbing pieces which actually seem right for the apocalypse. But I also suggest these pieces:

Haydn: Symphony No.83 in G minor 'La Poule' - I Allegro spiritoso
Mozart: Dies Irae
Bruckner: Symphony 5 - II. Adagio Sehr langsam
Bruckner, Some 'Scherzo's from his symphonies.
Brahms: Piano Concerto I. Maestoso
Liszt:
- Totentanz
- Miserere

Well the apocalypse lasts for several hours. You need bunch of music to cover it :lol:


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## Ralfy (Jul 19, 2010)

Not classical, though:


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

_O Fortuna_ from Carmina Burana would be perfect for the Apocolypse.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

This is the way the world ends...not with a bang, but with whisper. (T. S. Eliot) *Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel.*


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Yeah. The Dies Irae from Verdi's Requiem should console me and calm me down when the world is about to explode.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Any of the wonderful Masses of St John Chrysostom; or failing that, the Ride of the Valkyries!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I prefer to die with a smile on my face so I nominate L'Isle Joyeuse by Debussy played definitively by the great Sviatoslav Richter.

Enjoy!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

You need a pithier piece than a Mass; time is at a premium.

The apocalypse waits for no ma....uh.....person.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

hpowders said:


> You need a pithier piece than a Mass; time is at a premium.
> 
> The apocalypse waits for no ma....uh.....person.


Okay, then - I'll have this psalm set by Diego Ortiz - 




or Biber's Mystery Sonata for the Assumption of Mary, played by Elizabeth Wallfisch -






It lasts ten minutes, but sound is the last sense you have, so if I fade away on this divine melody, conscious of the mortal beauty of the world & the immortal beauty of God, what could be better?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Ingélou said:


> Okay, then - I'll have this psalm set by Diego Ortiz -
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> 
> 
> ...


That's it!!! In an emergency, allow pithiness to work for you! Fine choice!!!


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## Whistler Fred (Feb 6, 2014)

For an apocalypse brought on by war and ecological destruction, there's Karel Husa's "Apotheosis of this Earth." 

He originally wrote this for wind band, and then arranged it for chorus and orchestra. I prefer the original, but either version is frighteningly potent!


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Ligeti's Requiem seems to work.


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Also Stromberg and Morgan's soundtrack to Trinity and Beyond.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

> Ralfy: "_We few, we happy few, we band of chipmunks...."[/_QUOTE]
> 
> - Henry the Albert


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Haydn's Seven Last Words - the Introduzione or the 2nd Introduzione for winds.
Or, if one prefers to go out in a bang, The Creation - Singt dem Herren, alle Stimmen!


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Siegfried's Funeral March


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

Something by Schnittke. I can't think of a specific piece now, but I'm sure you can just pick something and feel like the end of your life is near.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

If the apocalypse is due in 5 minutes or less, then it would have to be the final chorus from Haydn's The Creation.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

(01) Ligeti's 'Le Grand Macabre'.
(02) Penderecki's 'Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Oh, yes, Penderecki's 'Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima' for the Man-made apocalypse. How about "The Star Spangled Banner?"


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

*Karlheinz Stockhausen - Luzifers Abschied*

Herr Stockhausen made music for all occasions.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Wagner - The Flying Dutchman overture or Smetana's Vsehrad?


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## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

The Enid - The Last Judgement


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

It really depends on the estimated time we have left and then program the music accordingly.

I'll probably skip the Wagner Ring.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

OP: I would select the North Korean National Anthem as number one on the nuclear hit parade.


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

Nobody here has mentioned the piece that immediately came to mind for me: Messiaen's Quartet for the end of time.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

That YUGE cadenza plus subsequent orchestral outburst in the first movement of Prokofiev's second piano concerto has always struck me as about as apocalyptic as you get.

More recently, I discovered Penderecki's 7th symphony, which also strikes me as kind of apocalyptic, especially the sequence with the narrator.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

powerbooks said:


> Liebestod all the way!
> 
> You gotta have a little faith in people!


Valued point , please do drop again by if you can.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

hpowders said:


> It really depends on the estimated time we have left and then program the music accordingly.
> 
> I'll probably skip the Wagner Ring.


I'd go for *As Slow As Possible* just keep the music playing I say


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Is it supposed to be music that expresses apocalyptic feelings, or should it be music that comforts us in our final hours?

For music that reflects what's going on, I'd suggest Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima.

For music that offers a soothing antidote to the destruction, I'd go with Bach's B-minor mass.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Leontyne Price "Libera me Domine" Verdi Requiem 
If this doesn't do it, nothing will.


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## christomacin (Oct 21, 2017)

Can't believe no one has mentioned Orff's De temporum fine comoedia (Here's the playlist. Everything from track 12 onwards is pretty hair-raising.):


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