# Pieces that make you cry



## Fonteles

While I'm completly obsessed with Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler styles, I find that some Haydn and Mozart pieces are breaking me apart too (I love that sensation).

I little exemple of what i am talking about: Haydn Symphony No. 49 in F minor ' La Passione '






So, I ask you what pieces are making you cry (its not necessary to be one of the glorious classic era).

Edit: if some moderator could put this thread on the general discussion forum that would be great.


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## MusicSybarite

This is an unbeatable example: the 3rd mov. from the Beethoven's String quartet no. 15. It's one of the most pure expressions of spiritual ecstasy someone could compose ever.
Also, the 2nd mov. from the Beethoven's Piano Concerto 'Emperor'. It's so moving, tender.
The prelude of '49th Parallel' by Vaughan Williams. What a gorgeous melody, magnific, it always do it.
Sibelius' 5th symphony, in the 3rd mov., it's one of those beautiful and unforgettable creations.
The Sunrise and the Summit sections in the _Eine Alpensinfonie_ by Strauss. It's apotheosic, ultra life-affirming.
_Lyra Angelica_ of Alwyn. This is the best harp concerto I've listened to. Its level of beauty is terribly impressive.


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## JeffD

Mozart's Requiem.


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## Botschaft

May potentially cause tears:


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## Pugg

Sir Georg Solti - Elgar: Enigma Variation IX 'Nimrod' 
No more crying just remembering my grandad


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## Roger Knox

Rachmaninoff's _Second Symphony_, slow movement, has made me cry on several occasions. Rather than call it a "tearjerker" I'd say that I experience it as cathartic, in that it can purge emotions of grief and sense of loss.


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## Bellinilover

For whatever reason -- the slow section of Gershwin's _An American in Paris_. I just find it moving, somehow.


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## Taplow

Allegri's Miserere


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## Kjetil Heggelund

I have shed a tear during Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia  ...This version didn't make a tear, maybe something to do with too fast tempo and not an innocent enough soprano solo...or I'm basically pretty happy now...


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## Taplow

I've also been known to shed a tear or two during the Liebestod (but only if sung by Margaret Price and conducted by Carlos Kleiber)





Here sung by Jessye Norman.


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## Taplow

And at the other end of the musical spectrum:






You either love him or hate him, but this is pretty incredible.


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## Tchaikov6

Most recently- Janacek's Piano Cycle "On the Overgrown Path," I don't know why, but the more melancholy parts just tear at my heart.


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## Pugg

Lucia Popp - Strauss Vier Letzte Lieder - Beim Schlafengehen

In the vocal section, this one, unbeatable.


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## haydnfan

Recently it was the finale of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony.


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## Judith

When I went to see Steven Isserlis, he encored with "The Swan"! I just sat in my seat and cried as he performed it so beautifully. Met him afterwards so I hope he didn't notice.

Other pieces that make me cry is 

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini ( slow piece)
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto 
Tchaikovsky 1st piano Concerto

These are to name a few!


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## hpowders

Bruckner's Eighth Symphony while peeling a Bermuda oñion.


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## Strange Magic

I do not weep when I listen to "sad" music, except maybe Barber's _Adagio_. But I weep tears of pleasure/gratitude during a lot of music, mostly piano concertos and Brahms symphonies, when overwhelmed by and immersed in the music. I've previously mentioned Prokofiev PC #3, and Sibelius' _Pohjola's Daughter_ as weep-inducing.


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## Pugg

Castronovo & Dessay - Parigi, o cara...Gran Dio morir si giovine - LIVE Aix-en-Provence 2011 VIDEO

Goosebumps, every time I hear/ see it.


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## FredericBernard

Barber's Adagio. 
Mozart's Requiem.
John Debney's - Passion of Christ Symphony.

Also Rupert Gregson Williams soundtrack for CLICK is extremely sad at times:


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## Pugg

Kol Nidrei; Adagio for cello and orchestra op 47 by Max Bruch Daniel Müller-Schott, cello


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## ICHTHUS

Mahler's Second and Eighth: I am so overcome with the grandeur and beauty of the final movements I have tears of awesome joy each time I hear them.


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## techniquest

ICHTHUS said:


> Mahler's Second and Eighth: I am so overcome with the grandeur and beauty of the final movements I have tears of awesome joy each time I hear them.


Hear hear; me too 

Whenever this topic comes up though (and it does with some regularity), I always reference Howard Skempton's Lento". A genuinely beautiful, sad, yearning piece.


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## sbmonty

I think the 2nd Movement of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.


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## mbhaub

Hah! That set of Mahler symphonies you have for your picture is funny! I thought I was the only one in the world who owned it. I picked it up dirt cheap in Innsbruck. There are some pretty good performances in it, and a couple of dreadful ones. But for $9 or so, it was well worth keeping in the car.


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## Pat Fairlea

sbmonty said:


> I think the 2nd Movement of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.


Yes.
Gets me every time.


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## Pesaro

Back in 1969, I heard George Szell conduct the Beethoven 9th with the Vienna Philharmonic. I had never heard a professional chorus before and the sound was so gorgeous, it made me cry. I think the Mahler 2nd did it also.


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## GAJ

I can honestly say I am always moved by so much music but for the life of me I cannot understand why I've never shed a tear for a single note.

On that note, I note two examples in this thread.

Rachmaninov 2 slow movement. My wife is always moved every time she listens to it on CD (which is often) but never to tears. On the other hand, at a live performance the buckets overflow.

The other example is the finale of Tchaikovsky 6. Many years ago I saw a young woman by herself sobbing in difficult silence up in the Gods at a Royal Albert Hall proms concert. Only her elated applause at the end prevented me from asking her if she was all right.
At every performance of this work I have attended ever since I have always looked out for anyone shedding a tear over this movement and sure enough I always spot a moist eye and a hankie.


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## Heck148

Hanson - Love Duet form "Merry Mount" - either Suite, or in complete opera
Wagner -Wotan's Farewell/Magic Fire music from "Die Walkure"


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## Brahmsian Colors

GAJ said:


> Rachmaninov 2 slow movement.


Portions of that movement always cause me to well up. Simultaneously, I also visualize a huge, never ending field of beautiful, golden yellow flowers.


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## DeepR

Taplow said:


> I've also been known to shed a tear or two during the Liebestod (but only if sung by Margaret Price and conducted by Carlos Kleiber)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here sung by Jessye Norman.


This version works for me. I only recently got to know this piece. Everytime I listen to it, the music haunts me for days.


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## mbhaub

The coda of the last movement of Elgar's 2nd symphony. Every time.


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## R3PL4Y

Anything by Mozart will make me cry tears of boredom.


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## Animal the Drummer

Yeah, yeah, we heard you the first time.


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## Oldhoosierdude

https://www.yourclassical.org/story/2017/03/07/daily-download-edvard-grieg--the-first-meeting#

Edvard Grieg - The First Meeting

Capella Istropolitana

Adrian Leaper, conductor

Naxos 8.552123-24

Direct MP3 download link


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## Niavlys

The second movement of Dvořák's _New World Symphony_, "Nimrod" from Elgar's _Enigma Variations_, Pärt's _Spiegel im spiegel_, Lauridsen's _O Magnum Mysterium_ and the aria "Lascia ch'io pianga" from Haendel's _Rinaldo_ are the first ones that come to my mind.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT

sbmonty said:


> I think the 2nd Movement of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.


Ditto his "Romance" from _The Gadfly_. Despite his somewhat austere reputation, Shostakovich had a remarkable gift for lyricism, and humour, in his music.


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## ArgumentativeOldGit

I am not a lachrymose person - by which I mean I tend not to cry physically. But there are many pieces of music (and of poetry, for that matter) where I find myself welling up inside, with a strange sort of weight in the breast. The final movements both of Tchaikovsky’s 6th symphony and of Elgar’s 2nd (both mentioned earlier) both reduce me to this state. And, above all, the music of Schubert. That passage in the string quintet, say, after the central climax in the slow movement, where the music itself seems to be sobbing at some inconsolable grief. Or in the 2nd piano trio, where the music from the slow movement emerges again in the finale.

Perhaps it’s Schubert more than any other composer who speaks most directly to the heart. For me, anyway.


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## jegreenwood

ArgumentativeOldGit said:


> I am not a lachrymose person - by which I mean I tend not to cry physically. But there are many pieces of music (and of poetry, for that matter) where I find myself welling up inside, with a strange sort of weight in the breast. The final movements both of Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony and of Elgar's 2nd (both mentioned earlier) both reduce me to this state. And, above all, the music of Schubert. That passage in the string quintet, say, after the central climax in the slow movement, where the music itself seems to be sobbing at some inconsolable grief. Or in the 2nd piano trio, where the music from the slow movement emerges again in the finale.
> 
> Perhaps it's Schubert more than any other composer who speaks most directly to the heart. For me, anyway.


Schubert and Mozart too. The slow movements of the clarinet concerto and quintet for sure, but on occasion many of his other slow movements. The sheer perfection of expression can overwhelm me.


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## Larkenfield

La Mer. All that water!
｡ﾟ( ﾟஇ‸இﾟ+)ﾟ｡


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## znapschatz

Most of my crying while listening to music takes place in the context of opera, at which I am a real pushover, sometimes to my wife's consternation during live performances ("I don't know that guy."). However, there have been a few pieces of orchestral music that have turned on my waterworks, although seldom every time I hear them, but I always have a strong visceral reaction when I do. Among full orchestral works are the concluding segment of Ravel's *Ma Mère L'Oye*; Beethoven *Symphony #2*, second movement; Poulenc *Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra*, second movement; Shostakovich *2nd Piano Concerto*, second movement; Shostakovich *Symphony #4*, several segments throughout piece, especially 4th movement; Glazunov *The Seasons*, several passages (associations have a lot to do with this one); Nielson *Symphony #4*, several segments; Brahms *Ein Deutsches Requiem*. To be continued...


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## SONDEK

Well, the tears don't often roll down my cheeks, but I'm always weeping on the inside to these beauties...

(In no particular order of preference...)

MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 5 - Slow Movement (Adagietto)








RAVEL: PIANO CONCERTO IN G - Slow Movement (Adagio assai)
RACHMANINOV: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 4 - Slow Movement (Largo)








SAINT-SAENS: - Le Cigne (The Swan)








HOLST: THE PLANETS - Venus, the Bringer of Peace








BEETHOVEN: PIANO CONCERTO (EMPEROR) - Slow Movement (Adagio un poco moto)








If you fancy a good howl, give these a go!


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## MusicSybarite

I was listening to the Diamond's Symphony no. 3. I have to say the II mov. moved me, what a sincere music! It really touched me.


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## cougarjuno

Ravel's Menuet from Le Tombeau de Couperin -- so sad, gentle and lonely


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## SONDEK

Here is another firm favourite of mine.

Whilst referred to these days as LISZT: FAUST SYMPHONY, this work generally get's overlooked in symphonic circles, as it lacks the regular numeric reference.

(I suspect the FAUST SYMPHONY could be considered LISZT Symphony No. 1 with the DANTE SYMPHONY following up as Symphony No. 2 - but stand to be corrected on this point...)

In any event, all that really matters to me is the glorious music-making and here I'd like to draw everyone's attention to this particular outing: -

*FRANZ LISZT
FAUST SYMPHONY
"Gretchen" (2nd Movement) *

And here is my favourite reading of it...









Superbly played, immaculately recorded and simply breathtaking.

Enjoy!


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## Holden4th

The Recordare from Verdi's Requiem sung by Price and Elias on that famous Reiner recording.


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## Triplets

I once sat through a performance of Wagner’s Die Walkure that made my cry when I realized that was 6 hours of my life that I will never have back


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## znapschatz

Triplets said:


> I once sat through a performance of Wagner's Die Walkure that made my cry when I realized that was 6 hours of my life that I will never have back


I had an entirely different reaction to _Die Walkure_. Although as a young man I was already familiar with several operas on record, _Saturday at the Met_ on radio, and a few films, this was the first live opera performance I ever attended. It was in 1960 at the old Metropolitan Opera house. I was in the Army then, stationed at Fort Dix, NJ, and on a weekend pass to New York City. They let me in free on account of the uniform, and I got to hear Birgit Nilsson during her debut season at the Met as Brunhilde. I was hooked for life.


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## Dan Ante

Well I don’t know what to make of this I have not heard a piece of music that made my cry for the sake of the music alone, there are some that make me sad because they remind me of someone no longer with us but that is due to personal memories.
Having said this and in a lighter vein I do verge on the point of tears when hearing what passes for music by some modern composers.


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## Vasks

Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music


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## Pugg

Brahms ~ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 (II/VII) ~ Herbert von Karajan/ Denn alles fleisch es ist wie gras


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## Dan Ante

Triplets said:


> I once sat through a performance of Wagner's Die Walkure that made my cry when I realized that was 6 hours of my life that I will never have back


What fortitude... You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!"


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## TxllxT

The love scene under the baton of Charles Dutoit touches me even deeper.


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## KJ von NNJ

The closing moments of the slow movement of Elgar's 1st symphony. Such a subtle and over-whelming feeling of nostalgia seems to take hold of me. Nimrod gets me too. The pastoral central section of In the South as well. 
Much of Mahler's music. Too much to mention. In concert, the 3rd symphony adagio just puts me away. 
The closing of Parsifal by Wagner. 
Lots of Bruckner. When I saw Chailly and the Gewandhaus perform the 7th in NYC, the closing two minutes of the first movement had me in tears. A wonderful performance of the entire work that evening.

So much music makes me tear up. It could be exultant music, loud, soft or otherwise. Dvorak's Cello Concerto, slow movement. How can one possibly not be moved by that? The final peroration of Swan Lake gets me too. The simple transformation of the main theme going from minor to major, the harp chords ascending to the final peroration by the orchestra. Yeah....it gets me.


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## eugeneonagain

It may seem hackneyed, but Vaughan Williams's _Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis_, really gets me at certain times. I suppose it is a combination of Vaughan-Williams's own nostalgic style combined with the Tallis fragment from even deeper within English music.

I'm not a flag-waver, but I am nostalgic for a a 'lost' England that was already disappearing when I was a boy. Or maybe it never really was.

RVW's 3rd Symphony (Pastoral) also has this effect.


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## tvparty

Emilie Mayer's Adagio from her 7th Symphony, makes me teary eyed. Beautiful. From 10:50 in this vid


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## SiegendesLicht

MusicSybarite said:


> The Sunrise and the Summit sections in the _Eine Alpensinfonie_ by Strauss. It's apotheosic, ultra life-affirming.


Yes, but I am even more moved by the "Ausklang" section, just as the pipe organ joins in. It is the yearning of a mountain climber who has just been there on the heights, and has come back, and can think of nothing else except how to return to the mountains again.

Also, the last movement of Mahler's 9th often makes me shed a tear, and the last movement of his 3rd. There is such a great power and tenderness about both. 
The adagio of Bruckner's 7th symphony - his requiem to the Meister.
The second-to-last lied from Schubert's Winterreise - "Nebensonnen", especially as performed by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. The last words "_Im Dunkeln wird mir wohler sein_" (in the darkness I will feel better) give me goosebumps and tears. It is not just the coming of the night that is meant there, but the final darkness of death.
Act I of Wagner's Parsifal, from the Transformation Music to the end.
Siegfried and Brünnhilde's duet at the prologue to Götterdämmerung - because their ecstatic happiness is just about to end so soon.

Etc, etc, etc.


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## gustavdimitri

I have been to Auschwitz...

Now imagine yourself alone at night, dimmed lights, then listening to the second part of the third symphony by Gorécki...






Text second movement No, Mother, do not weep,
Most chaste Queen of Heaven
Support me always.

"Zdrowas Mario." (*)
(Prayer inscribed on wall 3 of cell no. 3 in the basement of "Palace," the Gestapo's headquarters in Zadopane; beneath is the signature of Helena Wanda Blazusiakówna, and the words "18 years old, imprisoned since 26 September 1944.")
(*) "Zdrowas Mario" (Ave Maria)-the opening of the Polish prayer to the Holy Mother


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## Larkenfield

Bravo for the mention of Górecki‘s 3rd. I’ve also found it deeply moving.


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## Pugg

Tchaikovsky 9 Sacred Pieces No 6 - Lord's Prayer


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## znapschatz

SiegendesLicht said:


> Yes, but I am even more moved by the "Ausklang" section, just as the pipe organ joins in. It is the yearning of a mountain climber who has just been there on the heights, and has come back, and can think of nothing else except how to return to the mountains again.
> 
> Also, the last movement of Mahler's 9th often makes me shed a tear, and the last movement of his 3rd. There is such a great power and tenderness about both.
> The adagio of Bruckner's 7th symphony - his requiem to the Meister.
> The second-to-last lied from Schubert's Winterreise - "Nebensonnen", especially as performed by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. The last words "_Im Dunkeln wird mir wohler sein_" (in the darkness I will feel better) give me goosebumps and tears. It is not just the coming of the night that is meant there, but the final darkness of death.
> Act I of Wagner's Parsifal, from the Transformation Music to the end.
> *Siegfried and Brünnhilde's duet at the prologue to Götterdämmerung - because their ecstatic happiness is just about to end so soon.
> *
> Etc, etc, etc.


Good choices of music to surrender yourself to.

We share the same reaction. My wife thinks I am bonkers when that Götterdämmerung prologue leaves me in tears. I have experienced it during moments in opera where seemingly joyous or triumphant events are eventually headed for disaster, a struggle for me to hold back when in a public situation.

There are moments in other operas that have had a similar effect on me, like the pretender Dmitri's triumphal entrance in the final act of *Boris Godunov*. A number of years ago, I was washing my clothes at a laundromat, and while waiting the dryer to complete its cycle, watching that very scene on television during an ABC Opera Workshop production of Boris. At one point, I became aware of a noise that sounded like one of the machines had an unbalanced load. It took me more than a few seconds to realize it was me, sobbing.


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## Haydn man

My wife is prone to tears at concerts
Mahler 5 slow movement had the desired efffect as the most recent example


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## Pugg

RPhO Mahler3 O Mensch

O Mensch Gib acht

Mahler 3, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Yannick Nezet Seguin, conductor

Karen Cargill, mezzo soprano


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## Sloe

The second movement in Franz Berwald´s fourth symphony because it is so beautiful:






It was used as theme for a tv serial in the late seventies and early eighties.


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## Oakey

Mozart's Requiem, especially the Requiem part and Brahms' Deutsches Requiem. Really beautiful. I seem to have a weakness for requiems.


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## archimago

In the right mood, almost any of my favorites. But the usual culprits are:

Duruflé's Requiem. If I haven't gotten misty-eyed by the Agnus Dei, that unfailingly does it.
Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia (I'm glad someone else mentioned it. It's just lovely.)
The end of Shostakovich's 10th, for whatever reason. 
Respighi's Pines of Rome, as the final movement builds to the climax
The second movement of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, particularly the restatement of the theme at the end. Wistful, magnificent, etc.

(Mind you, I'm someone who tears up in virtually no other circumstances. So I need this, haha.)


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## Pugg

Renee Fleming - Strauss' 4 Last Songs - Im abendrot


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## pkoi

Few years ago I heard Luigi Nono's "Como una ola de fuerza y luz" live in concert. The sheer power of the orchestra and the touching poem mourning the death of a chilean leftist resistance fighter Luciano Cruz really moved me to tears and left my body shaking for hours after the concert. It's a tough piece to listen live, as the dynamics raise to such extremes. For example, near the end of the piece it has two piccolos playing minor seconds in a very high register for at least 30-40s continuously.

Here's a small clip from it, starting from the entry of the solo voice and ending when the part with piano and orchestra ends.


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## Pugg

Dame Joan Sutherland - Home! Sweet Home, Sydney Opera House farewell performance

I would give a arm and a leg to be in that audience that night.


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## Samael420

Schubert's String Quartet 14 / Death and the Maiden






Bruckner's eight used to have a similar effect on me, but I guess I got too used to it at this point


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## Josquin13

1. Ludwig van Beethoven, String Quartet Op. 132
2. Ludwig van Beethoven, 9th Symphony, final choral movement.
3. Ludwig van Beethoven, 5th Piano Concerto, middle movement, but only when played by Claudio Arrau.
4. Johannes Brahms, German Requiem, heard live, St. Luke's Orchestra, conducted by Andre Previn, at Carnegie Hall. I was surprised by how intensely beautiful Brahms Requiem is live (to Previn's credit). I hadn't expected to be so overwhelmed.
5. Johannes Brahms, "Haydn Variations" for orchestra--but only on the Kurt Masur/Leipzig Gewandhaus recording--it's the way Masur handles the flutes at the end that I find so moving (& sets his recording apart from all others I know). (The woodwind section of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in those days was the finest I've ever heard.) 
6. Edward Elgar, "Enigma Variations", heard live, played by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, at the Academy of Music in Philly. At the time, I had never heard this music before, and was unexpectedly moved to tears by the "Nimrod" movement.
7. Samuel Barber, Violin Concerto, the elegiac 2nd movement, but only when played by violinist Elmar Oliveira, with the St. Louis S.O., conducted by Leonard Slatkin. No other violinist I've heard understands the middle movement as well as Oliveira, or plays it as beautifully.
8. Gustav Mahler, 2nd Symphony, "Urlicht" and the final choral movement
9. Gustav Mahler, 9th Symphony
10. Thomas Tallis, "Spem in Alium" (the David Wulstan, Andrew Parrott, Harry Christophers, Mark Brown, & Phillip Cave recordings are the ones that I've been most moved by over the decades) 
11. Thomas Tallis, "Miserere"--when sung by Magnificat, led by Phillip Cave.
12. William Byrd--his consort song, "Ye Sacred Muses"--composed in elegy to Byrd's teacher, Thomas Tallis--in recordings by the Hilliard Ensemble, and Michael Chance with Fretwork.
13. Jean Sibelius, 7th Symphony--Paavo Berglund conducting the London Philharmonic live. It isn't just the music that I find so deeply moving on this recording, but also Berglund's vocalizations as he becomes totally swept away by the music making, in tandem with what is to my mind the finest conducted performance of the 7th ever recorded. When I hear Berglund calling out, I'm also saddened by the realization that my favorite Sibelius conductor is no longer with us.
14, Allan Pettersson--7th Symphony, the final 15 minutes, conducted by Serge Comissiona.
15. Josquin Desprez--sometimes the sheer beauty of Josquin's Motets gets to me: particularly his "Inviolata, integra, et casta es Maria" (when sung by the Orlando Consort) and "La déploration de Johannes Ockeghem: Nymphes des bois"--an elegy to his teacher, Ockeghem (when sung by the Hilliard Ensemble, Orlando Consort, or Cappella Pratensis). Josquin's Missa Gaudeamus also moves me deeply (when sung by De Labyrintho).
16. Johannes Ockeghem--"Mort tu as navré de ton dart"--a motet composed in memory of Ockeghem's teacher, the composer Gilles Binchois (when sung by La Main Harmonique or Capilla Flamenca).
17. Handel Messiah--the "Hallelujah" chorus, in the Paul McCreesh/Gabrieli Consort & Choir recording, as well as "Behold, I tell you a mystery... The Trumpet shall sound", sung by Neal Davies on the McCreesh recording, or Gwynne Howell on the Sir Neville Marriner recording (my two favorite basses in this music).
18. J.S. Bach--the final "Dona nobis pacem" movement of Bach's Mass in B minor, when it is performed slowly and "with majesty" (not overly fast like too many conductors unwisely choose to do). An example of a conductor that gets the tempo just right is Robert King and The King's Consort (though I'm not necessarily recommending King's recording otherwise).
19. Richard Wagner--the end of Tristan und Isolde, but only on the Staatskapelle Dresden/Carlos Kleiber recording, with soprano Margaret Price. Others don't effect me as deeply. In those days, the Staatskapelle Dresden played Wagner more in tune & better than any other orchestra of the modern era, in my opinion, and for me, it makes a big difference to how moving the ending is. The digital sound helps too, of course. & Kleiber Jr. was also at his best.
20. Richard Strauss--Four Last Songs: either Elisabeth Söderström (with Armstrong, or Dorati--though the Dorati is mono) or Elizabeth Schwarzkopf (with Szell) singing the 3rd song, "Beim Schlafengehen". I find the passage where the soprano enters after the violin solo especially moving on their recordings. Also, Arleen Auger singing the 4th song, "Im Abendrot" (with Previn). I am likewise moved by Auger singing "Morgen" by Strauss (with pianist Irwin Gage), in the finest rendition I've heard live or on LP or CD.
21. Gustav Mahler--from the 5 Rüchkertlieder, "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" ("I am lost to the world"), sung by Dame Janet Baker, in her classic recording with conductor Sir John Barbirolli, who I think was a great Mahler conductor. 
22. Gabriel Faure--Requiem--In Paradisum--especially on the John Rutter recording.


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## Jacred

The last movement of Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony... and also Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, particularly the Kyrie and Sanctus movements. Those get me most consistently.


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## Dan Ante

Josquin13 said:


> 1. Ludwig van Beethoven, String Quartet Op. 132
> 2. Ludwig van Beethoven, 9th Symphony, final choral movement.
> 3. Ludwig van Beethoven, 5th Piano Concerto, middle movement, but only when played by Claudio Arrau.
> 4. Johannes Brahms, German Requiem, heard live, St. Luke's Orchestra, conducted by Andre Previn, at Carnegie Hall. I was surprised by how intensely beautiful Brahms Requiem is live (to Previn's credit). I hadn't expected to be so overwhelmed.
> 5. Johannes Brahms, "Haydn Variations" for orchestra--but only on the Kurt Masur/Leipzig Gewandhaus recording--it's the way Masur handles the flutes at the end that I find so moving (& sets his recording apart from all others I know). (The woodwind section of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in those days was the finest I've ever heard.)
> 6. Edward Elgar, "Enigma Variations", heard live, played by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, at the Academy of Music in Philly. At the time, I had never heard this music before, and was unexpectedly moved to tears by the "Nimrod" movement.
> 7. Samuel Barber, Violin Concerto, the elegiac 2nd movement, but only when played by violinist Elmar Oliveira, with the St. Louis S.O., conducted by Leonard Slatkin. No other violinist I've heard understands the middle movement as well as Oliveira, or plays it as beautifully.
> 8. Gustav Mahler, 2nd Symphony, "Urlicht" and the final choral movement
> 9. Gustav Mahler, 9th Symphony
> 10. Thomas Tallis, "Spem in Alium" (the David Wulstan, Andrew Parrott, Harry Christophers, Mark Brown, & Phillip Cave recordings are the ones that I've been most moved by over the decades)
> 11. Thomas Tallis, "Miserere"--when sung by Magnificat, led by Phillip Cave.
> 12. William Byrd--his consort song, "Ye Sacred Muses"--composed in elegy to Byrd's teacher, Thomas Tallis--in recordings by the Hilliard Ensemble, and Michael Chance with Fretwork.
> 13. Jean Sibelius, 7th Symphony--Paavo Berglund conducting the London Philharmonic live. It isn't just the music that I find so deeply moving on this recording, but also Berglund's vocalizations as he becomes totally swept away by the music making, in tandem with what is to my mind the finest conducted performance of the 7th ever recorded. When I hear Berglund calling out, I'm also saddened by the realization that my favorite Sibelius conductor is no longer with us.
> 14, Allan Pettersson--7th Symphony, the final 15 minutes, conducted by Serge Comissiona.
> 15. Josquin Desprez--sometimes the sheer beauty of Josquin's Motets gets to me: particularly his "Inviolata, integra, et casta es Maria" (when sung by the Orlando Consort) and "La déploration de Johannes Ockeghem: Nymphes des bois"--an elegy to his teacher, Ockeghem (when sung by the Hilliard Ensemble, Orlando Consort, or Cappella Pratensis). Josquin's Missa Gaudeamus also moves me deeply (when sung by De Labyrintho).
> 16. Johannes Ockeghem--"Mort tu as navré de ton dart"--a motet composed in memory of Ockeghem's teacher, the composer Gilles Binchois (when sung by La Main Harmonique or Capilla Flamenca).
> 17. Handel Messiah--the "Hallelujah" chorus, in the Paul McCreesh/Gabrieli Consort & Choir recording, as well as "Behold, I tell you a mystery... The Trumpet shall sound", sung by Neal Davies on the McCreesh recording, or Gwynne Howell on the Sir Neville Marriner recording (my two favorite basses in this music).
> 18. J.S. Bach--the final "Dona nobis pacem" movement of Bach's Mass in B minor, when it is performed slowly and "with majesty" (not overly fast like too many conductors unwisely choose to do). An example of a conductor that gets the tempo just right is Robert King and The King's Consort (though I'm not necessarily recommending King's recording otherwise).
> 19. Richard Wagner--the end of Tristan und Isolde, but only on the Staatskapelle Dresden/Carlos Kleiber recording, with soprano Margaret Price. Others don't effect me as deeply. In those days, the Staatskapelle Dresden played Wagner more in tune & better than any other orchestra of the modern era, in my opinion, and for me, it makes a big difference to how moving the ending is. The digital sound helps too, of course. & Kleiber Jr. was also at his best.
> 20. Richard Strauss--Four Last Songs: either Elisabeth Söderström (with Armstrong, or Dorati--though the Dorati is mono) or Elizabeth Schwarzkopf (with Szell) singing the 3rd song, "Beim Schlafengehen". I find the passage where the soprano enters after the violin solo especially moving on their recordings. Also, Arleen Auger singing the 4th song, "Im Abendrot" (with Previn). I am likewise moved by Auger singing "Morgen" by Strauss (with pianist Irwin Gage), in the finest rendition I've heard live or on LP or CD.
> 21. Gustav Mahler--from the 5 Rüchkertlieder, "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" ("I am lost to the world"), sung by Dame Janet Baker, in her classic recording with conductor Sir John Barbirolli, who I think was a great Mahler conductor.
> 22. Gabriel Faure--Requiem--In Paradisum--especially on the John Rutter recording.


Is that all? A real bucket of happiness you are


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## SiegendesLicht

^ That was such a brilliant selection.


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## LezLee

Sloe said:


> The second movement in Franz Berwald´s fourth symphony because it is so beautiful:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was used as theme for a tv serial in the late seventies and early eighties.


Sloe : I've never heard that Berwald before, it's lovely! Was it British TV?


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## Pugg

Haydn Emperor Quartet, 2 mvt - DSCH


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## Sloe

LezLee said:


> Sloe : I've never heard that Berwald before, it's lovely! Was it British TV?


No Swedish.
That is why they speak Swedish in the link.


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## SiegendesLicht

Pugg said:


> Haydn Emperor Quartet, 2 mvt - DSCH


May I ask why exactly this piece makes you cry? 

And thanks for posting it. I've had a somewhat stressful day today. Hearing this is just what I needed to set my outlook on the world straight again. Listening to this while looking out over the roofs of my Hamburg suburb through the veil of the falling snow just about makes me want to rise up and fly.

There is a beautiful variation on that tune, composed by Carl Czerny:






From about 15:20 to 17.00 sometimes does make me shed a tear.


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## Pugg

> May I ask why exactly this piece makes you cry


My late grandad was so fond of it, just like some other pieces he could talk about it like he wroth the piece himself.
So the loss get's bearable when hearing it.


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## SiegendesLicht

^ Ah, I see. Sorry, my first thought was that there was some political reason behind it making you cry.


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## Larkenfield

Pieces that make me cry? Or _Pisces_ that make me cry?


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## Flamme




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## karlsoren

I didn't see any reference to Boris Godonuv (sp?)--the last scene when Boris says goodbye to his son. Very powerful. Of course Rach 2 concerto and symp #2. But how about the slow movement of Brahms 3rd symphony? or the very short bit of the big chords in the slow movement of his first piano concerto. And let's not forget the absolute all time tear jerker: La Boheme. As my daughter would say, bring your tissues.


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## DSCHLargo

I see many people commenting on Haydn and Mozart pieces. 
For some reason stuff like that has never really done it for me. I second the Rach Piano Concerto 2, both the second movement, and (surprisingly?) the first. 
Also:

the "Love Theme" from Rhapsody in Blue. 
"Andante" from Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
The B theme from the Bruch Violin Concerto 
The 4th movement from the Franck Sonata in A Major
Largo from Shostakovich Symphony 5
Movement 3 from Scheherezade
Largo from New World Symphony and parts from Dvorak Cello Concerto


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## Nicksievers

Tchaikovsky piano concerto 
Beethoven 3 
Brahms 3 
Brahms 4 (especially movement 2)
Give any Mahler Symphony a listen and let the tears stream but the go to is No. 5 imo 
A little hidden gem: Sibelius Symphony No. 2
Dvorak's 6th will bring you to the height of ecstacy (you may not cry but you will laugh and relish in pure joy)

While you go back in time maybe I'll give you a few 20th century:

Ravel Piano Concerto
Rachmaninoff piano concerto no 2
Gershwin An American in Paris (although you must be open to his style for it to really hit you)

Now I hope I can bring some beauty into your life:

Sievers String Quintet No. 1

__
https://soundcloud.com/nick-sievers-2%2Fstring-quintet-no-1-mccall

That's me


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## Barelytenor

*Performance That Makes Me Cry*

The U.S. Air Force Band performing a Christmas medley (mostly Jingle Bells, but as you've never heard it before). As a performer (getting long in the tooth and wishing I had more good gigs ahead of me than _behind me_), I must say some performances are just so perfect that they make me cry. For joy.

This is one of them.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyeux Noël, Frohe Weihnachten, Buon Natale, Счастливого рождества, Boas Festas, Feliz Navidad!






Kind regards, :tiphat:

George


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## Sonata

1) the slow movements from *Brahms violin sonatas*. I don't know if any of you remember L'enfer, a former forum member. We had a rather brief but very warm friendship on the forum here, one of those rare meetings online where you really connect with someone on a deeper level. She loved Brahms, as I do. She was ill and the day I received word from her husband that she passed,I played these violin sonatas in honor of her.

Here's the adagio of the first sonata:





2) *Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs*

3) *Puccini's Senza Mama* aria from Suor Angelica. I first heard this about one month after I became a mother. Talk about emotional impact!

4) *Verdi's Aidaatra Mia and the ending *(Terra Adio, but also the preceding moments) Not just the parts with Aida and Radames, but Amneris too, her grief over the loss of Radames' life due to her own selfish schemes.

5) *Dvorak Stabat Mater*:The most emotionally wrenching of Stabat maters for me. In its own right, but also due to some emotional context. An unexpected death of young patient...previously I'd only experienced very old and ill passing. once I heard the news, I went to my car at lunch and played this one


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## karlsoren

I forgot the all time tear jerker of tear jerkers: Barber's adagio for strings. 
It's been used in a number of films just for that reason. 
IN a league by itself I think for the sheer concentrated misery/grief/melancholy...


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## snowyflow

The finale of Mahler's 3rd, especially when the brass section starts, towards the end...it tends to hit me, again and again. It's not really sadness, it's the immense emotional power of this piece that is so moving and it shakes you from deep down.


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## Guest

It's the "why" that intrigues me. Some of the pieces that make me cry are not "sad" - just something about the form, and particularly the anticipation and the inevitability, the climax and resolution. I can almost feel the chemicals in my brain at work. 

Today it's Fauré's Nocturne No 4. I've been listening to it over a period of time, but it's only just come into focus today. Finally, I woke up humming part of it, wanting to hear it again properly. It's only come to this because I know what happens next. It hasn't moved me up to now, despite having the CD on repeat in the car this last week.


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## bravenewworld

Bruckner Symphony No. 7, movement 2. It's the way the piece seems to tentatively pluck at the strings of my soul: sometimes so delicate, sometimes so tragic, almost always so lonely. It is really horrifyingly beautiful, and I'm reduced to a state closer to tears then to any other work to which I regularly listen.


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## DeepR

I imagine this piece has a high "Classic FM" factor but the melody is simply gorgeous and this performance is phenomenal.


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