# "Composed for Music Lovers and the Refreshments of their Spirits"



## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

...is the inscription on the title page of Bach's Clavier-Übung part II [the Italian Concerto and the French Overture].

Now, before continuing, I HAVE to apologize for starting yet another thread that asks this question, because I'm sure that this same question has been asked in one form or another up to the double digits, but since personal tastes change [and this is easier than searching], I'll ask:

What is the music that refreshes your spirits? If you're feeling blue, do you put something cheerful on? Or something energetic? What music makes you feel happy?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

When I'm feeling down I don't think I want to hear something happy. We usually want music that reflects our own experience so we know we're not alone. I usually listen to something rather down, but sometimes also defiant. The Allegretto 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th symphony is a good example.

When I do want something uplifting or happy, music with wide interval leaps does the trick for me. The happiest music I've ever heard is a part of one of Handel's organ concertos.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I listen to music when I'm interested in music. In sad or melancholy moods, or times of discontent or frustration, I don't look to music to oppose or escape my frame of mind. I can understand needing to do this if that frame of mind is persistent, tenacious or chronic, but I recognize most low moods as normal "down time" in the cycles of life, and I allow them to run their course. Rather than put something cheerful or defiant on the CD player, I'm likely to sit down at the piano and play something, or improvise something, that expresses (among other possible things) some shade of sadness - not tragedy, which would not really express my nature and sense of life - but simply the sadness which comes with acknowledging that I am incomplete and mortal. Hopefully, I'll play something which reminds me that in that very acknowledgement there is beauty and strength. Often I'll play bits from _Tristan_ or, most likely, _Parsifal_, lingering at will over every revelatory shift of harmony, savoring the mysterious mix of pain and exultation that Wagner expressed with such power. That music unfolding under my fingers always feels like a journey inward, a quest to uncover the Grail's light, the light that shines secret or forgotten, but eternally, in even the dark corners of the soul.

I'll play until I've said to myself what I need to say, and then, a sense of wholeness restored, I'll get on with life.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The A Flat Major Prelude and Fugue from WTC Book One by Bach.

One of the happiest most joyous pieces I know.

Since I have 8 versions of it, I will be well-cheered up at the end.


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

When I feel down, I usually listen to something that matches my mood. After a few minutes of that I come to the conclusion that I am taking my situation a bit too seriously and laugh off my funk and move on. But if you want some music that will lift your spirits immediately, then I suggest that Vivaldi's Sinfonia in G major, RV 149 may be just the thing.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

"Composed for Music Lovers and the Refreshments of their Spirits"

No different today, and the right music still works. I suspect we all need this from time to time.


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