# Suggestion of sad/dark piece(s) ?



## Charlot

My salutation to everyone,

Lately, I've been listening to music being called ''dark'', ''obscur'', ''sad'' and ''romantic'', such as :
-Penderecki's Threnody to the victims of Hiroshima, Polymorphia.
-Barber's Adagio for String, Violin concerto No.1 (2nd movement), Cello and piano sonata, Medea Dance of Vangeance.
-Shostakovich's Violin concerto No.1 (1st and 3rd movement), Piano concerto No.2 (2nd movement), Cello concerto No.1, Romance from the Gadfly, 5th Symphony (3rd movement), String Quartet No.8.
-Rachmaninoff's Piano concerto No.2 (2nd movement), 2nd Symphony (3rd movement), Vocalise.
-Mozart's Fantasia in Dm, Piano Concerto No.23 (2nd movement).
-Beethoven's Moonlight sonata, Piano concerto No.3 (2nd movement).
-Wagner's Prelude to Tristan and Isolde, Prelude to Lohengrin, Prelude to Parsifal.
-Kachaturian's Adagio from Gayane, Adagio from Spartacus.
-Pettersson's 6th Symphony, 7th Symphony, 11th Symphony.
-Fauré's Pavane, Élégie, Requiem.
-Ravel's Pavane for a dead princess.
-Mahler's 5th Symphony (4th movement), 4th symphony (3rd movement)
-Albinoni's Adagio
-Marcello's adagio for Oboe.

I would like to have suggestions for Romantic, Modern or Contemporary pieces such as the ones listed above. Thank you, sincerely, in advance .

Charlot


----------



## Tapkaara

There are a few threads similar to this one...I'd say use the search button and myriad suggestion will come your way.

Sibelius: Pohjola's Daughter, Swan of Tuonela, Kullervo's Death

Mahler: 6th Symphony

Anything by Vivaldi is also very dark...almost satanic and certainly morbid. I knew Goth kids in high school that used to cut their arms with razors while listening to the 4 Seasons. This is DARK music!


----------



## Lang

I would suggest Andrej Panufnik's Autumn Music, a sad, contemplative piece, written for a friend who was dying of cancer.


----------



## species motrix

gosh, this could go on for awhile, but here's a few that spring to mind:

-Sibelius, Valse Triste
-Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, 2nd Mvmt. 
-Schubert, Death and the Maiden (both the lieder and the second movement of the string quartet of that name), Unfinished Symphony
-Grieg, Solveig's Song from the Peer Gynt Suite
-Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time, Louange a la Eternite de Jesus
-Elgar, Cello Concerto
-Mozart's Requiem (obviously)


----------



## Sid James

Richard Strauss - Metamorphosen
All Bruckner and Mahler symphony slow movements


----------



## Sid James

I forgot to mention another Germanic work, Hindemith's Mathis der Maler symphony. I consider it to be like a C20th equivalent of Beethoven's Eroica, it is concerned with human struggle and revolution. No wonder it was banned by the Nazis.


----------



## Fsharpmajor

Shostakovich's 10th Symphony alway strikes me as very dark.

Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata is dark in the sense of being (reputedly) satanic
in its inspiration.

The Confession of Isobel Gowdie by James MacMillan is quite dark. (Isobel Gowdie was tried for witchcraft).


----------



## Scented Letters

A few of these may seem quite obvious, but they came to mind straight away.. Chopin is good bet if you want an example of melancholic moods.


Chopin's nocturne in C#minor
Chopin's nocturne, no.19, op.72
Chopin's Piano sonata, op.35, no.2 (Funeral March)
Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Rezső Seress' "Gloomy Sunday" (Szomorú vasárnap)
Mozart's Requiem (as has been mentioned)


----------



## fenz

I'll suggest Schumann's Eichendorff song Nr. 5 (Mondnacht)


----------



## the_unexpected

~Mendelssohn's D Minor Piano Trio (Op.49), especially the first movement.
~Rachmaninov's 3rd Piano Concerto, also the first theme of the first movement.
~Beethoven's "Pathetique" Sonata (Op. 13), second movement
~I can't recall the name of the specific movement, since the CD is on loan, but check out Purcell's 'Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary' (unless you're not looking for early music). 
~There's also a choral arrangement of the Adagio for Strings (Barber) that you mention, arranged (if I'm not mistaken) by Barber himself and set to the Agnus Dei from the Catholic mass...worth checking into if you enjoyed the string version.
~Pavel Tchesnokov (or any variant of the Russian spelling) - Salvation is Created (preferably in the original a cappella vocal arrangement, though wind/orchestral arrangements are also beautiful)
~Pretty much any classical Requiem (Mozart's was already mentioned, but Berlioz, Cherubini, Faure, and Verdi also have written Requiems filled with sublime music)
~Pergolesi - Stabat Mater 
~Mahler - Kindertotenlieder

I'm sure more will come to mind now, but there's a random list of widely diverse styles that you should enjoy.


----------



## FrankieP23

> Anything by Vivaldi is also very dark...almost satanic and certainly morbid. I knew Goth kids in high school that used to cut their arms with razors while listening to the 4 Seasons. This is DARK music!


really? I find Vivaldi is quite the opposite!

sad, tragic pieces, in my opinion:

~Finzi - the Fall of the Leaf, Op 20. it's not very well known but is fantastic and tragically beautiful! 
~Mahler - Symphonies 2, 6, some of 5.
~Shostakovich String Quartet 8
~Mahler - Kindertotenlieder (pretty much all of it!), some of the Des Klagende Lied (based on a Grimm fairy tale), one or two of Das Knaben Wunderhorn, especially Revelge.

they're my picks of tragic music!


----------



## JTech82

Great somebody else wants us to do their homework for them. People are so lazy these days. They can't figure things out for themselves. It takes effort on your part to find this information out.

You can't depend on other people's opinion of what music is "dark" or "sad." That's purely subjective. It all depends on the way YOU perceive it.

I think Frederick Delius' music is sad, but whereas someone might think it's happy, airy sounding. There is sadness in happiness I think and Delius' music is a prime example of this. The more layers you peel back the more tragic it becomes, but again, this is just my own personal perspective.

People feel different things, so that's why it's just impossible to answer this question.


----------



## nickgray

Depends on your definition of "sad" music... First composer that comes to mind - Chopin, most of his music sounds sad and dark to me. Also Tchaikovsky is sometimes sad, but his "sadness" is more uh... it has some hope in it. Vivaldi's music also strikes me as sad sometimes, but baroque isn't really famous for its emotional constituent, so it's kind of arguable point. There's Shostakovich, but I don't see him as "sad". Depression, anxiety, fear, sarcasm, but almost never sadness. Anyway, it's all very subjective and you shouldn't rely on other people's opinion concerning the emotional part of music, especially the "sadness" part.


----------



## World Violist

Tapkaara said:


> There are a few threads similar to this one...I'd say use the search button and myriad suggestion will come your way.
> 
> Sibelius: Pohjola's Daughter, Swan of Tuonela, Kullervo's Death
> 
> Mahler: 6th Symphony
> 
> Anything by Vivaldi is also very dark...almost satanic and certainly morbid. I knew Goth kids in high school that used to cut their arms with razors while listening to the 4 Seasons. This is DARK music!


Out of the four seasons, make sure you check out the "Winter" (especially!) and "Summer" concerti first. They're both in the minor key, and they both really flaunt it. I don't think I've ever heard anything quite so jarringly dissonant and dark out of the Baroque era than the opening of the Winter concerto. This is practically modern music 300 years before its time!

I second every recommendation Tapkaara has given, but I find Shostakovich in general to be far darker than anything Mahler ever wrote. I'd say to try the 13 symphony: it's a series of poems about the Babi Yar massacres of World War II set to music. Also try his later string quartets, starting with the 8th and ending with the 15th (his last, consisting entirely of slow movements).


----------



## Lisztfreak

Tapkaara said:


> Sibelius: Pohjola's Daughter


Why on earth Pohjola's Daughter?  It's not sad at all, IMO...


----------



## JTech82

Lisztfreak said:


> Why on earth Pohjola's Daughter?  It's not sad at all, IMO...


I'm not sure either Liszt, but it's maybe the way it's interpreted by Tapkaara? Perhaps he/she feels it's sad.

It's all in the ears of the listener. I find a lot of John Ireland's music to be very sad. Schoenberg's "Verklarte Nacht" is quite sad.

In terms of darkness, Stravinsky's "Symphony of Psalms" is quite dark as is Schmidt's "Symphony No. 4." Many Prokofiev's symphonies are dark.

Again, this all really subjective.


----------



## World Violist

Lisztfreak said:


> Why on earth Pohjola's Daughter?  It's not sad at all, IMO...


No, it isn't sad, but it's very dark, especially at the beginning and end, which sets the overall tone generally. That's why someone mentioned Mahler 2: it isn't sad in any way, but the opening movement as well as scattered bits of the rest are very dark, aggressive, and such.


----------



## Conor71

Adding Sibelius Symphony No. 4 to the list..


----------

