# If you hadn't much to live, what would you listen to?



## Amadea (Apr 15, 2021)

Let's say, if you had 2 weeks to live, because there's an apocalypse or whatever, what would be the last pieces of classical music (any time and genre, opera, symphony, quartets, concerto etc.) you would listen to?

(Feel free to add non-classical to your list if you want but keep in mind the thread focuses on classical).


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Stockhausen's Licht cycle

Lol


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I would listen to as much of the entire ouevre of Bach that I could. Yes, there’s so much great music out there, but all I need is JSB. I would supplement by reading the complete works of Shakespeare.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Handel's Messiah!


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I would listen to as much of the entire ouevre of Bach that I could. Yes, there's so much great music out there, but all I need is JSB. I would supplement by reading the complete works of Shakespeare.


That's kinda cringe bro, ngl.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

My first thought is Adagio kv 540 by Mozart. After that all can disintegrate


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## Amadea (Apr 15, 2021)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> That's kinda cringe bro, ngl.


That's not. He loves Bach and Shakespeare. Nothing wrong with that.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> That's kinda cringe bro, ngl.


Idk this zoomer asf reply just made me crack up


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Probably my granddaughter’s voice!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I've discovered that when I'm in situations where I'm confronting life and death (hospitalizations, family crises), I don't listen to much music.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Mahler................

NOTE: I would also consider some weak modern music.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

If I were listening to Copa Cabana at the end, I would be so intent on trying to get it to end that I wouldn't mind dying at all. 

Barring that: Beethoven: Opp. 109, 111, 127, Missa, and Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I would continue to listen to great works by the best. So that's operas by Handel, choral and instrumental works of Bach, symphonies and chamber music by Haydn, including his great masses and oratorios, anything by Mozart and Beethoven's symphonies. I would include operas by masters such as Wagner, Verdi, Puccini and it there is time left some, more Baroque and Classical works. I wouldn't have time for any weak music.


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

Bach's works (goldberg, SMP) or Beethoven's late works (piano sonatas, string quartets)


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Interesting thought exercise. I would probably go back to the music that is nostalgic to me: Mozart, Haydn (Joseph ), Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Bizet (not opera), Kalinnikov, Faure. I'd also like to hear birds, the waves on the shore, and leaves rustle. Definitely no aggressive nor atonal music then (except maybe some slower Schoenberg).


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

The symphonies of Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Brahms, Schmidt, Elgar.
Some of my favorite Russian scores: Rachmaninoff 2nd, Balakirev 1st, Kalinnikov, Glazunov 4th
Ballets: Romeo & Juliet (Prokofieff), Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Firebird
Piano concertos: Tchaik 1, Rach 2, Beethoven 5
Violin Concertos: Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven
Operas: Tristan und Isolde, Hansel & Gretel, Bluebeards Castle, Rusalka, The Ring

Then as the end is near: Bach St. Matthew Passion, B minor mass.


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

Imo, death is the apotheosis of human experience. Therefore the music listened afore the tremendous day should respectfully emphasize its solemn and grave nature. It is the end of all, so I don`t think hopeful or life-affirming stuff would be accurate at that stage. Of course 2 weeks is a long enough period for me to listen all the things like Brahms Chamber works, Beethoven Piano Sonatas, WTC, Schumann Solo Piano works multiple times. So I`ll focus on the real death-bed wish list that would escalate my emotions to the utmost density and escort me to the gates of annihilation.

Here it goes:

Brahms - Werther Quartet, Op. 51 SQs, PC no. 1, Symphony no. 4, Clarinet Trio, Piano Trio no. 3
Bach - Violin Partita no. 2
Shostakovich - SQ no. 15
Fauré - Élégie
Vierne - Piano Quintet
Mahler - Symphony no. 9, Symphony no. 2 (this would be the last one just as a plot twist )

Probably I should add some Reger, Carter, Penderecki, Krenek, Wellesz and Hindemith to the mix if the day ever comes. Hopefully I`ll have some time to contemplate upon this...


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Manxfeeder said:


> I've discovered that when I'm in situations where I'm confronting life and death (hospitalizations, family crises), I don't listen to much music.


I do, but I find it's the same dozen songs or so on repeat...there's something comforting about that to me.

To the OP: Brahms violin sonatas, Chopin Noctures, Bruckner 8 or 9, Mahler 2, Gorecki's symphony of sorrowful songs, Verdi's Don Carlos, some Dvorak and Mendelssohn, particular pieces undecided, either an orchestral selection of Wagner, or a few selections from Lohengrin, Parsifal and the Ring, and a handful of my favorite opera arias


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

No idea, in any case not wondering what to spin in my last times on earth


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Rogerx said:


> No idea, in any case not wondering what to spin in my last times on earth


The likelihood is that music is not going to be a priority in our last days. Better to spend it with others who will miss us far more than we will miss that last listen to a favorite musical piece. However, if I have to sit alone in a room to die, then bring on Handel's Messiah!


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

SixFootScowl said:


> The likelihood is that music is not going to be a priority in our last days. Better to spend it with others who will miss us far more than we will miss that last listen to a favorite musical piece. However, if I have to sit alone in a room to die, then bring on Handel's Messiah!


Wise words, not sure about Handel though.


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

Schubert: Winterreise, Schöne Müllerin , Death and the Maiden (Lied and 14th SQ), Piano Sonata's 20 and 21 ,...

Shostakovich SQs (8, 15 ,...)


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

SixFootScowl said:


> The likelihood is that music is not going to be a priority in our last days. Better to spend it with others who will miss us far more than we will miss that last listen to a favorite musical piece. However, if I have to sit alone in a room to die, then bring on Handel's Messiah!


Good point here, I just summed up what I would listen to if I were alone and had to choose something to listen to...


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

The Mozart piano concertos - my favourite composer and my almost lifelong instrument. The best of this music is so heavenly it would also serve as preparation for the life to come!


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## Amadea (Apr 15, 2021)

Amadea said:


> Let's say, if you had 2 weeks to live, because there's an apocalypse or whatever, what would be the last pieces of classical music (any time and genre, opera, symphony, quartets, concerto etc.) you would listen to?
> 
> (Feel free to add non-classical to your list if you want but keep in mind the thread focuses on classical).


Yes, obviously you'd all spend time with the family, as I would. This is a hypothetical thread, I can't edit it now, so try to think it this way: if you had 2 weeks before becoming deaf, what would you listen to?


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## Ned Low (Jul 29, 2020)

Bruckner's 7th. The adagio.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Biber's Rosary Sonatas.


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## Amadea (Apr 15, 2021)

MarkW said:


> If I were listening to Copa Cabana at the end, I would be so intent on trying to get it to end that I wouldn't mind dying at all.


Ahahahah nice one. Now I can't get it out of my head.


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## Botschaft (Aug 4, 2017)

I would listen to Brahms.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

A series of my personal favourites, including selections from pop/rock as well. I'd end with Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, finishing off with movement six, Abschied (Farewell).


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

Art Rock said:


> A series of my personal favourites, including selections from pop/rock as well. I'd end with Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, finishing off with movement six, Abschied (Farewell).


I didn't mention my Rock favourites tbh , I would listen to them too ... if I had the time that is :lol:


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## karajan1976 (Jun 7, 2019)

The Eroica in a loop


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

I was thinking the hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee," since that, I thought, was what the band on the titanic played as it sank. However, there's no consensus on what they actually played. From Wiki:

_"Colonel Archibald Gracie, an amateur historian who was aboard the ship until the final moments, and was later rescued on a capsized collapsible lifeboat, wrote his account immediately after the sinking but died from his injuries eight months later. According to Gracie, the tunes played by the band were "cheerful" but that he didn't recognize any of them, claiming that if they had played "Nearer, My God, to Thee" as claimed in the newspaper, "I assuredly should have noticed it and regarded it as a tactless warning of immediate death to us all and one likely to create panic."_

Apparently the band's main mission was to keep the passengers calm and upbeat.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

I may focus on Beethoven, especially late Beethoven. 

I'd also listen to Bruckner, Mahler, and some Bach.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

I would try to listen to as many of my favorite works by the great masters of the past except Beethoven and Wagner as I could in all the days of these two weeks except the last two (I have lists of personal preference, and there are too many works to name here by the likes of Bruckner, Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Tchaikovksy, Berlioz, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Fauré, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Debussy, Ravel and many others). In the day prior to the end, I would like to listen only to Beethoven, concluding with the Ninth and the late quartets. In the day of my death it would be only Wagner (perhaps some late Beethoven also), and I would like to end everything with _Tristan und Isolde_.


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## Agamenon (Apr 22, 2019)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I would listen to as much of the entire ouevre of Bach that I could. Yes, there's so much great music out there, but all I need is JSB. I would supplement by reading the complete works of Shakespeare.


Bravo. Two giants of our culture.

Bach: Goldberg Variations.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Mozart's music on shuffle.

I'd supplement with reading Frankenstein, my favorite novel and watching 2001, my favorite film.
A few games of Chess, and I'd be ready for the trip. (hopefully upwards,  )


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*If you hadn't much to live, what would you listen to?*

The same I always listen to.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Mozart's music on shuffle.
> 
> I'd supplement with reading Frankenstein, my favorite novel and watching 2001, my favorite film.
> A few games of Chess, and I'd be ready for the trip. (hopefully upwards,  )


That is neat, I like that approach.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Beethoven's late quartets
Bruckner Symphony no. 9
Mozart Piano Concerto no. 27 
Brahms Clarinet Quintet

(In addition to whatever else I want to listen to-- I might be in the mood for other things)


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

The operas of Mozart and Wagner

The string quartets of Haydn, Beethoven, and Shostakovich

The musicals of Stephen Sondheim

The solo piano music of Ravel, Satie, and Debussy

The songbook collections by Ella Fitzgerald

The Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings of Louis Armstrong

The piano concertos of Mozart

Complete recordings of Bill Monroe, Stanley Brothers/Ralph Stanley, The Earls of Leister, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Tony Rice, Norman Blake, Anna Tivel, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan


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## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

As is my wont, over the 14 day period I would listen to everything from St Kassiani to whatever Drill/Trap some troubled kid in Deptford produced 5 minutes ago…

All I know for sure is that the very last piece I’d play before meeting my maker is 

“Madame Press died last week at 90” by Morton Feldman…


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Geez, this forum is in such a happy place right now...


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

SanAntone said:


> *If you hadn't much to live, what would you listen to?*
> 
> The same I always listen to.


Play it again San..


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

premont said:


> Play it again San..


Funny; I forgot I made that post. But the one I just made today has that very music.


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## 59540 (May 16, 2021)

I agree with Allegro Con Brio above. Bach, Bach, Bach. I still haven't gotten through all the cantatas. Plus I'd probably dig more deeply into AoF. AND spend my remaining time trying to learn the last 4 cello suites. In fact I'm doing all the above already, so not much difference, probably.


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## perempe (Feb 27, 2014)

I would listen to Götterdämmerung as I haven't heard it yet unlike the other three.


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## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

perempe said:


> I would listen to Götterdämmerung as I haven't heard it yet unlike the other three.


No better way to slip this mortal coil, than listening to Brunnhilde's self-immolation…


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

1st - a priest administering Last Rites...

2nd - De Dannan with Mary Black - "A Song for Ireland"

3rd - a priest then administering the Last Rites a second time - in case they didn't "take" the first time - 

Just to be on the safe side...


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## Bruce (Jan 2, 2013)

I think I'd start off with Beethoven's 9th symphony, 
Mahler's 2nd symphony
Korngold's Die tote Stadt
Berlioz's Requiem

I'd also probably include some difficult works whose beauty has eluded me. Works like 

Maxwell-Davies - Symphony No. 4
Lieberson - Piano Concerto No. 1
Reger - Piano Concerto

Works like these would force me to focus, and take my mind off things.


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