# Pieces That Can Get You Teary Eyed...



## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Due to the beauty that comes with it. I'll start off. 




 Not sure if this can be topped.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Several pieces by *Ravel*:

Ma Mère l'Oye - XI. Le jardin Féerique 




L'Enfant et les sortilèges (last number) "Il est bon, l'enfant, il est sage" (He is good, the child, he is good) 



 (starts at 3:17)

Ravel - Left Hand Concerto (Cadenza) 




Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin, Menuet 




Ravel is a composer which really digs on me at the pure "emotional" level.


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## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

I've been on a choral kick lately...


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

"Pieces That Can Get You Teary Eyed..." are completely dependent upon your mood and psychological state at any given moment.

I suggest you may want make an addendum to your OP, separating 'absolute' music from any music with a text or contextually suggestive title, the text or suggestive title having such another power of its own 

I have been moved by many at different times of my life. If not teary-eyed, I recall a welling and fullness of high emotion upon first hearing Schubert's "Nacht und Träume," for example. (of course, there is the built-in sentiment of its being for human voice, and its text is one of true romantic lugubrious longing... 









Again, if not teary-eyed, I melted upon the first hearing of the opening bars of Stravinsky's ballet "Orpheus."





and was deeply moved by the serene beauty of his neoclassical "Apollo" for string orchestra.













[It seems there is a policy to post links without the video, so as to not slow down many user's computers. I am passing on that reminder of courtesy which I myself once received, and with which I have easily managed to comply.]


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## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

PetrB said:


> [It seems there is a policy to post links without the video, so as to not slow down many user's computers. I am passing on that reminder of courtesy which I myself once received, and with which I have easily managed to comply.]


I never knew...appreciate the heads up!


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

There are many pieces by my favorites like Bach, Ravel, Debussy and Bartok, that may have this effect on me but a composer that also does this to me that is not as likely to be mentioned is Joaquin Rodrigo. He has many pieces that can bring out a very emotional response from me. Several movements from his _Suite Para Piano_ for example, his _Piezas Infantiles for 2 Pianos_, _Piezas Para Piano_, also the Andante from his _Sonata Giocosa_, and the piece _Junto al Generalife_. I have provided links for the last two.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Finale of Gotterdammerung. 
Siegfrieds funeral March
Bach Passacaglia anf fugue in Cminor
Purcell When I am laid in earth, Dido and Aeneas
Grieg Ase's Death
Grieg Varen


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

*Ligeti:* cello sonata
Wagner: Liebestod from "Tristan und Isolde"
Pärt: "Fratres" (violin and piano version)
Philip Glass: symphony no. 3, third movement
Jonathan Harvey: "Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco"


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)




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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

mistake, sorry


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

[



/VIDEO]


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)




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## Hayze (Jul 4, 2012)

To name a few:

Pergolesi - Stabat Mater





Mendelssohn - Songs Without Words, Op. 30 No. 6





Villa Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5





Bach - Mass in B minor: Agnus Dei


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## stanchinsky (Nov 19, 2012)

Instantly thought of this by Fauré: 



Then this one by Rachmaninoff:


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

For some reason this does it for me




as does this one


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## Renaissance (Jul 10, 2012)

neoshredder said:


> Due to the beauty that comes with it. I'll start off.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Very weird. We seem to get the same emotional response from the same pieces.

Other pieces I would add :

Beethoven's String Quartets Op.131 & Op.59 No.2 (most of his chamber music, actually)
Zelenka's Missa Votiva
Sweelinck's Fantasia Chromatica & Echo Fantasias
Tallis - Salvator Mundi
Byrd - Consort Music - Fantasia No.2 (I see it labeled as being in G minor on youtube, but it is pre-tonal music)
Cesar Franck - Chorales for Organ.


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## Wandering (Feb 27, 2012)

First time I remember crying from classical was as a teen, the first hammer strike in finally of M6, more caused by an extreme emotional reaction rather than sadness.


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

I agree many of the ones already posted. I guess there's no point in repeating things, but here's a host of additions I could think of. I rarely tear up, but most of them are in my "extra touching, sometimes lump in throat inducing" category. 

Grieg: En Svane (A Swan) - I think I prefer this with a male singer, couldn't find my favorite Jussi B. recording
Grieg: Ved Gjaetlebekken (By Gjaetle Brook) - 



Grieg: Air from Holberg Suite (especially the middle part in Major)
Rachmaninov: Zdes' khorosho - 



Rachmaninov: Vespers, nos. 5 and 6 
Mahler 2: Urlicht and finale 
Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel
Tallis: Spem in alium
Dowland: Seven Tears (Lachrimae)
Handel: "V'adoro, pupille" from Julius Cesar - 



Borodin: From the steppes of Central Asia
Brahms: Slow movements from both piano concerti
Brahms: Drei intermezzi, op.117
Orff: In trutina from Carmina Burana - 



Mozart: "Contessa, perdono" from Le Nozze di Figaro
Monteverdi: "Ama dunque" from Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria - 



Gluck: Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo ed Euridice
Shostakovich: D Major prelude from op.87 - 



Shostakovich: Piano concerto no.2, 2nd movement
Morales: Parce mihi Domine -


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Not many things get me too teary eyed anymore. Back 3-4 years ago I was sobbing _all _the time to Glazunov, I started to keep count actually because it was so bizarre to me how _uncontrolled _I became emotionally when listening. I'm usually a very calm, "unemotional" person but I lost count around 20-something individual break-downs in 4 years (by breakdown, I mean actually crying, not just teary-eyed).  I feel that through that experience I was set free from some a sorta emotional-bondage in me, and since then have become very brave to be emotional when I play (now you know the _real _personal secret behind my advocacy of him ).

I don't cry from Glazunov works anymore, but since then, after I heard through almost everything he ever wrote, those have been _hard _shoes to fill! It's been _very _hard to find a composer that gets that same uncontrolled reaction out of me. Just sparse Prokofiev and Shostakovich works have done that. Currently, Arensky maybe, that's the latest.

This use to work like a charm for me in the past, but not as consistently anymore. Still, it's very dear to me, I call it my Life's theme:





What do ya know, it worked today. :')

I get teary eyed from certain pieces if they remind me of something painful, or someone that pained me in the past or is paining me in the present. But that can't really be because of the music itself right? Yeah... but the piece above, it's definitely mostly the _music _that gets to me, not just its implications.


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)




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## Faville (Sep 15, 2012)

A couple of pieces that come to mind are the final movement of Respighi's Pines of Rome and the finale to Bruckner's 5th Symphony (Barenboim). I have become emotional with live performances of works frequently when I normally wouldn't, which really points out to me how live music can make a big difference. I saw Yo-Yo Ma perform the Dvorak cello concerto and teared up quite a bit, and I don't even like cello concertos or Dvorak that much.


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## Vinski (Dec 16, 2012)

Mahler - Kindertotenlieder

Especially this one:
Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen by Jessye Norman


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## TheVioletKing (Jan 9, 2013)

The Ending of Bernstein's Candide






No other piece that I have heard has affected me as much as this has.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I love the Concerto fatto per la notte di natale! If that isn't the most fun name for a piece to say, I don't know what is 

For me, the two most tear-jerking pieces are "Intermezzo" by Mascagni from Cavalleria Rusticana and more importantly, "Le Jardin Feerique" by Ravel, from Ma Mere L'Oye. This piece is just stunningly emotional:






And honestly, so does the ending of the Poem of Ecstasy.


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## Wandering (Feb 27, 2012)

Anything on the radio or stereo that is audible in the kitchen, where I'd be dicing an onion.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I quite like the emotion triggered by some of Bach's pieces that I have listened to , like the violin concertos' middle movements, and arias from his cantatas and large Passions.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Chopin's Etude No. 3 in E Major Op. 10 and Nocturne in Db Major Op 27 No. 2, the 3rd movement of Ives' Piano Sonata No. 2, Zappa's Watermelon in Easter Hay.


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## Wandering (Feb 27, 2012)

^ Yes Yes 

I have the T and F in D minor with Simon Preston on organ, that fugue is as dramatically climatic a piece as there ever was, very emotional indeed.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Clovis said:


> ^ Yes Yes
> 
> I have the T and F in D minor with Simon Preston on organ, that fugue is as dramatically climatic a piece as there ever was, very emotional indeed.


I Iove that piece but I don't get teary eyed from it. The emotions I get from it is more of a haunting feeling.


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## Wandering (Feb 27, 2012)

Neither do I, simply left it at emotional, but extreme emotions they are. I don't feel haunted, the Toccata sure, not the Fugue. I know the organ has various pipe shapes for different sounds, Preston in that DG recording really lets all the colors fit flawlessly, and the climax of the composition is darned near a maddening shrill.

On the same Preston single disc is Bach's Prelude and Fugue in D Major, is it just me or does that jubilant ending fanfare sound like Mozart?


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## vertigo (Jan 9, 2013)

13:52


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

This really is down to my mood. I've been profoundly affected by music, but rarely dampen the old eyes. I think there's been a few times I was close, especially last year in Vienna when I visited Mozart's home and during one of the commentaries they played the opening of his Requiem and it struck me deeply.

But what is this? Sentimentality? Empathy? Was it the music or his death that affected me? Was it the music at all, or the emotion of being in his home?

It's hard to say. For music to make me well up, there must already be an emotional trigger ready and music just pulls it, that's all...


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

vertigo said:


> 13:52


For me, the "inner" weeping starts at 37:07, just the beginning of the 4th mvmt, which gradually grows unbearable as the piece moves along, with the main character building his funeral pyre... 43:16 it's like someone burning themselves alive... 44:13 one of the greatest Russian brass chorales ever written... 44:57, the worst part, it's like I stumbled upon the burning corpse of the dear friend, having come too late to save them from suicide, and fall to my knees in anguish... _Noooo!_ ... The red embers fade deeper and deeper into the gloom of night...


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

This heavenly piece makes me think of my girlfriend who I'm madly in love with. Currently I tear up almost everytime I hear it. It's so full of longing and it makes me think of how sweet and gentle she is.


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## vertigo (Jan 9, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> For me, the "inner" weeping starts at 37:07, just the beginning of the 4th mvmt, which gradually grows unbearable as the piece moves along, with the main character building his funeral pyre... 43:16 it's like someone burning themselves alive... 44:13 one of the greatest Russian brass chorales ever written... 44:57, the worst part, it's like I stumbled upon the burning corpse of the dear friend, having come too late to save them from suicide, and fall to my knees in anguish... _Noooo!_ ... The red embers fade deeper and deeper into the gloom of night...


Wonderful description Huilunsoittaja...I completely get what you're saying.
My tears, which I'm embarrassed to say, most times are anything but inner , aren't tears of sadness. They are (I think) a reflex response to the release of tension (which has been building for the whole first movement) afforded me by those magical trombone notes at 14:15. Imho Karajan captures this dynamic to perfection.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Superb, graphic impression of what the 4th movement says to you, Huilunsoittaja; I too completely get what you're saying.
I'm a bit of an emotional softy it has to be said, so music can affect me in a watery way. The two pieces that come to mind are Howard Skempton's 'Lento' and the 2nd movement of Vaughan Williams' 2nd symphony - especially the beautiful interlude at 4:38 which seems to be remembering happier times with snippets of tunes before the main theme returns, stiff-upper-lipped but almost desperate. Have a listen - see what you think.


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## Ivanovich (Aug 12, 2012)




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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Britney Spears'..... I kid, I kid!

Rameau: Les Boréades - Acte 4: Entree

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis in D, Op. 123 - Sanctus ----- especially the Benedictus section.

Beethoven: String Quartet #13 in B Flat, Op. 130 - Cavatina: Adagio Molto Espressivo

Schumann - "Widmung"

Brahms: Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 114 - Adagio

Beethoven: The Vale of Clwyd, WoO 155


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Neoshredder, I agree. The Corelli can hardly be outvied.


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## vertigo (Jan 9, 2013)




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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Novelette said:


> Britney Spears'..... I kid, I kid!


This is a story about a girl named Lucky.


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

Different pieces at different times depending on the circumstances. Only a few with any consistency. Only one in almost its entirety:

Haydn's _Mercury_ Symphony, No. 43


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## dionisio (Jul 30, 2012)

I tend to let myself loose in the music. I've always been like this. I'm not sure if my state of looseness in music would compared as Bernstein's, for example, but it is somewhere towards to it.

Nevertheless two pieces brings me to tears no matter what phsycological condition i am at that moment whatsoever.

One is La Boheme. Specifically, i'm touched by two sections: the whole development from the beginning from the Musetta's watlz till the two lovers embrace themselves; the second one is the short duet "O Mimi tu piu non torni". Because these two describe exactly the opposite situations (in the former the lovers reunite; in the later not) and, most importantly, because i relate it to myself during a period of my life when that happened to me. Unfortunately, it was the second part that happened; i never had the chance to experience the first. And those two remained in my heart until this very day, no matter what life has brought me latter.

The second is Wotans Abschied. More than any kind of love, the love of a father to his son and his son to his father the greatest among living creatures. No father should ever have to say goodbye to his offsprings. That should never happen. The pain is just too much to bear even to the most ruthless human being (i hope so). And Wotan, no matter how grand was his fault, is forced to bid farewell to his daughter. After that everything is meaningless in this life.


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## farmerjohn (Jan 24, 2013)

"The Onion Song" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell :lol:


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

DeepR said:


> This heavenly piece makes me think of my girlfriend who I'm madly in love with. Currently I tear up almost everytime I hear it. It's so full of longing and it makes me think of how sweet and gentle she is.


For God's sake don't marry her or those feeling will be more like needing the sheet music for Marschner's Hans Heiling.......


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

There a few cases where I cry, but when I do it is usually because of sheer terror - fear, you could almost say. Two exceptions are Mahler's output and the conducting of Wilhelm Furtwängler, they often get to me too. Here's my list of pieces that made me cry or came very close: 

- Schnittke, Violin Concerto No. 4
- Ligeti, String Quartet No. 2
- Bartók, String Quartet No. 4
- Shostakovich, Symphony No. 15
- Shostakovich, Symphony No. 10
- Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8*
- Any Mahler symphony (especially 9)
- Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (Furtwängler 1942)
- Bruckner, Symphony No. 4 (Furtwängler, 1951)

*: I recall that once I turned off Shostakovich's eight string quartet - during the second movement - in haste after realizing how terrified I was; it was one of those inexplicably melancholy days, and the idea to put this piece up at that point was both one of the best and worst I've ever made. It was just too intense for me to finish.. Rather scary.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Novelette said:


> Beethoven: The Vale of Clwyd, WoO 155


What? What is this? A Beethoven piece I haven't heard? With a Welsh sounding name?

Oh, I see. I have not listened to Beethoven's lieder much as I am not a classical song fan. I still haven't warmed to solo voices much post-baroque music with few exceptions. They still sound warbling and bellyaching to me. Voice in large ensembles are is a whole different thing.

____________________

Here's a lesser known one that tears me up a little depending on my mood. Leo Weiner's Romance for cello, harp and string orchestra. Aside from the lush sonorities (which seem to do the trick for most people), it seems to have satisfying, ever so slightly unexpected, but not too unexpected, shifts in direction of voice leading or harmonic structure - or something. The theme doesn't go in the direction I think it is going. I haven't really analyzed it. That might ruin it for me.


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## lovesbeethoven (Feb 10, 2013)

beethoven's pathetique mvt 2. always.


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