# depressive classical music?



## The Sound Of Perseverance (Aug 20, 2014)

anything like this? 





also to tell you guys i have gotten into a few classical music pieces (i guess?)
this is a fragment but i still like it


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Sorry I was too stunned by the different points on the spectrum where these to songs lay! By depressive, do you mean this slow-ish, droning quality?

Some works that might share this "depressive" quality:
Rachmaninov - The Isle of the Dead. This work isn't exactly in one mood, but it does build up and flow, in the same way as the first movement of his second symphony. Only this one is darker in tone





Gorecki - Broad Waters (though this one ends in a happier mood)





I'm not sure, what do you think?


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## The Sound Of Perseverance (Aug 20, 2014)

Cosmos said:


> Sorry I was too stunned by the different points on the spectrum where these to songs lay! By depressive, do you mean this slow-ish, droning quality?
> 
> Some works that might share this "depressive" quality:
> Rachmaninov - The Isle of the Dead. This work isn't exactly in one mood, but it does build up and flow, in the same way as the first movement of his second symphony. Only this one is darker in tone
> ...


both are great! anything depressive at all will do.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Here are some more works that make me feel depressed

Busoni - Fantasia nach Bach




Kilar - Piano Concerto 1 mov. 1




Part - Tabula Rasa, part 2: Silentium




Ligeti - Lux Aeterna


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

The Sound Of Perseverance said:


> anything like this?


maybe it's not exactly what you're looking for but those Eye of solitude reminds me the kind of cold landscapes and epic atmospheres evoked by of a couple of gothic rock bands, Lycia and Black tape for a blue girl. In the second case, Black tape for a blue girl are a band with a marked classical influence (altough many would object that it's more exterior surface than a real influence).










anyway if you're looking for depressive classical music there's (at least) another thread.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

Maybe Shostakovich's Fourteenth Symphony? It's a song-symphony, and each movement is a meditation on death written by various poets.

Mahler's _Kindertotenlieder_ (Songs on the Death of Children)?


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

JACE said:


> Maybe Shostakovich's Fourteenth Symphony? It's a song-symphony, and each movement is a meditation on death written by various poets.
> 
> Mahler's _Kindertotenlieder_ (Songs on the Death of Children)?


Yes, these are the kind of things that sprung to my mind. Shostakovich's late output has quite a number in similar vein, both instrumental and vocal (the Tsvetaeva and Michelangelo settings, String Quartet 15 and the Viola Sonata). I never feel depressed by listening to them, but there is much in both the lyrical and musical content to ponder over. Some of the more dirge-like Weill/Brecht pieces (i.e Ballad of the Drowned Girl) could also come into this category, I think.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I can see why a death-metal enthusiast (or whatever sub-genre you call it) would like early chant and organum, since it is essentially melodic and has lots of parallel fifths.

I've always found R. Strauss' Metamorphosen to be depressing, ever since it was used in a film doc about the bombing of Dresden. Let's see if I can find some suitable footage...





http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/73814.html

http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/73814.html

https://content.thespco.org/music/c...-a-study-for-23-solo-strings-richard-strauss/


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## The Sound Of Perseverance (Aug 20, 2014)

thanks for the recommendations guys! have a lot of options now to sift through


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Some of Bruckner's symphonies are depressing in nature... perhaps the Eighth?

I think that Mahler's Kindertotenlieder takes the award for most depressing classical piece.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Why, enjoy this delightful demonic waltz about the death of Schnittke's mother:





Or here, a fun work about feeling chased by death, finished right before Schnittke was hit by a stroke:





Górecki's upbeat 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs' will certainly cheer you up:





Mahler's sixth, nicknamed the 'tragic', which the composer reportedly called "the sum of all the suffering I have been compelled to endure at the hands of life", is a fun tune as well:





Enjoy!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Pettersson Symphony No. 7.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

albertfallickwang said:


> Some of Bruckner's symphonies are depressing in nature... perhaps the Eighth?
> I think that Mahler's Kindertotenlieder takes the award for most depressing classical piece.


I can't say that any of Bruckner's work have struck me like that - the nearest I can come up with was the slow movement of the 7th which he wrote as an elegy to Wagner as Bruckner had a premonition that Wagner would die soon (which, in fact, he did...).

Granted, Bruckner's music can be solemn, but there is a majestic loftiness to it which I imagine, right or wrong, to be in keeping with the devotional side to the composer's character.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

One that hasn't been mentioned that may fit the bill -- Barber's _Adagio for strings_.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Ravel - Sad Birds.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

*Markus Reuter ~ Todmorden 513*
Here is the full piece in the composers electronic realization (the piece is electro-acoustic, for instruments and electronics)




here, a few of its movements realized with more real instruments + the electronics.





If you can find these, one earlier piece by 
*David Lang ~ Slow Movement* is somewhat akin to the drone-buzz in your alternative pop piece cited, sounding pretty minor-keyish, quietly sustained for near 20 minutes -- 
and likewise, 
*Michael Gordon ~ Decasia* (duration ca. 1 hour) is one helluva eye / ear opener (even for those more accustomed to contemporary classical) in a like vein.

*Mozart:
Adagio and Fugue K.546 in C minor* -- string quartet version, is certainly one of the grimmest pieces he composed.
*Piano Concerto 24 in C minor, K. 491* is also a work of three movements which live in an almost completely unrelieved gloom 

Vocal works, inflecting their texts -- there are plenty enough, *Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (songs on the death of children)* already mentioned.
*Henry Purcell ~ Dido's Lament, from Dido and Aeneus*
*Mussorgsky ~ Songs and Dances of Death*

I'm so used to modern and contemporary classical that I hear a lot of it as 'normal,' i.e. beautiful, and beautiful can include 'dark' or in pop terminology, "gothic," etc.

There is at least one thread on TC (use the search engine) with many recommendations in it of pieces for someone who asked for for 'Dark Classical." There may be another under "Depressing Classical" -- lol.

*Bartok's Music for stringed instruments, percussion and Celesta *is gorgeous, but also dark enough that Kubrick used one or more of its movements in _The Shining._

The more 'stock-set' of dark choral pieces, and later classical and quasi classical (as in films, current alternative pop) written very much like would be:
*Prokofiev ~ Battle on the Ice*, from his cantata *Alexander Nevsky.* / Also the *1st movement of his Piano Concerto No. 2.* 
*Stravinsky ~ Oedipus Rex*, and his very brief and lesser known *Zvezdoliki,* for male chorus and orchestra. 
... and the ubiquitous -- *Carl Orff ~ O Fortuna* from *Carmina Burana*


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## The Sound Of Perseverance (Aug 20, 2014)

PetrB said:


> *Markus Reuter ~ Todmorden 513*
> Here is the full piece in the composers electronic realization (the piece is electro-acoustic, for instruments and electronics)
> 
> 
> ...


i really enjoyed david langs piece but i really only enjoy that when its being played by a guitar and bass guitar.
i enjoyed prokofiev but there were certain happy points i did not particularly enjoy, this is the part i listened to




when i talk depressive i mean more along the lines of samuel barbers adagio for strings and maurice ravels pavane for dead princess.
you'll have to forgive me my knowledge of classical is amateur in comparison to yours and most everybody on this site as i know more of metal.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Schubert's String Quartets No. 13 "Rosamunde" and No. 14 "Death and the Maiden", also *Winterreise*...
Though the impressions change from one person to another. Personally, I don't find Pavane pour une infante defunte "depressing" at all.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

PetrB said:


> *Markus Reuter ~ Todmorden 513*
> Here is the full piece in the composers electronic realization (the piece is electro-acoustic, for instruments and electronics)
> 
> 
> ...


Oddly enough, I don't really find O Fortuna to be depressing. 
I'll look out for the other works, though. I love your lists of recommendations.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

MoonlightSonata said:


> Oddly enough, I don't really find O Fortuna to be depressing.
> I'll look out for the other works, though. I love your lists of recommendations.


Depressing -- well, I took it as a non-literal use of the word -- dark, ominous, foreboding, 'sad,' etc. -- all those states / colors are going to vary -- a little or a lot, as per listener perception.

For me, Barber's _Adagio for Strings_ is quite pretty, yet it has within the past five or so years topped popular lists of "The Saddest Song" -- and I don't really find it "sad," "depressive," and of course I don't think of it as a "song" lol 

*"Chacun à son goût."*


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

What makes an elephant gargling over really loud major chords depressing? 

Anyway, the first movement of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony is about as dark as it gets. And the first movement of Prokofiev's Violin Sonata no. 1 in F minor.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

PetrB said:


> Depressing -- well, I took it as a non-literal use of the word -- dark, ominous, foreboding, 'sad,' etc. -- all those states / colors are going to vary -- a little or a lot, as per listener perception.
> 
> For me, Barber's _Adagio for Strings_ is quite pretty, yet it has within the past five or so years topped popular lists of "The Saddest Song" -- and I don't really find it "sad," "depressive," and of course I don't think of it as a "song" lol
> 
> *"Chacun à son goût."*


This is fascinating - our interpretations are so different! I don't really think of O Fortuna as any of those - I view the piece more as a build-up and release of tension. I'm probably the only one.
Though of course the Adagio is not a song, it seems very despondent. 
This could make for some fascinating statistics.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

The most depressing movement I've heard comes from one of my top 5 symphonies. The 2nd Mvt, "Andante Moderato", of Brahms' 4th.

There's quite a bit of melancholy in Beethoven's Late String Quartets. Nothing I'd call depressing, though. Same for some of Mahler's symphonies.

Perhaps the 6th _Mvt of Das Lied Von Der Erde_, "Der Abschied".



> Bruno Walter related that Mahler showed him the score of this movement and asked, "Do you know how to conduct this? Because I certainly don't." Mahler also hesitated to put the piece before the public because of its relentless negativity, unusual even for him. "Won't people go home and shoot themselves?" he asked.


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## Guest (Dec 18, 2014)

I find Pettersson's 6th more funereal than his 7th. 

Some earlier music is not necessarily depressing but "sobering" - take Gesualdo for instance.

Can also agree with the Mussorgsky songs, Mahler songs, Purcell aria, etc.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I avoid it. Life has enough sadness and tragedy for me.


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## The Sound Of Perseverance (Aug 20, 2014)

EdwardBast said:


> What makes an elephant gargling over really loud major chords depressing?
> 
> Anyway, the first movement of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony is about as dark as it gets. And the first movement of Prokofiev's Violin Sonata no. 1 in F minor.


ha ha. funny. the song is meant to put more emphasis on the vocalist not the instrumentalists


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## afterpostjack (May 2, 2010)

I find that I tend to listen to Bruckner when I'm in a bad mood, although it is not depressive in the same, direct way that, for instance, Shostakovich is. Lemminkäinen in Tuonela from Sibelius' Lemminkäinen suite evokes the mood of everything falling apart.

Also, The Rite of Spring is totally depressive. Mendelssohn's The Fingal's Cave as well as Cattle movement from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition likewise. Alan Hovhanes' music is for the most part quite depressive, see for instance his popular St Helens symphony.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

I will add [since others have mentioned him] Bruckner's 9th might be up your alley. It is more dramatic than depressing, but it has an effect on me


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## mtmailey (Oct 21, 2011)

Often classical have negative stuff which is also depressive to me like operas certain ones anyway.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Itullian said:


> I avoid it. Life has enough sadness and tragedy for me.


Is this why you like so much opera, with thwarted loves, depressing and tortured human conditions, and death?


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## Muse Wanderer (Feb 16, 2014)

Sibelius 4th symphony 1st movement is the epitome of depression. It feels like being at the bottom of a bottomless pit with occasional flickering of light seen for fleeting seconds. 

The remaining movements are its antidepressants. 

These surely have a slow onset of action but the end result is truly miraculous!


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

I find Arvo Pärt's works quite depressing sometimes, perhaps due to the fact that they can be quite depressing, I'd say catatonic even. I'm thinking of "My Heart's in the Highlands" and his Stabat Mater.
Otherwise, how about Schoenberg's La Nuit Transfigurée. It's quite mysterious and dreary.. even worrying in some sections. He was still not quite into serialism back then when he wrote that piece it would seem 
Pavane pour une enfante défunte by Ravel, as mentioned above is more a lullaby for the deceased girl more than anything. I find it quite relaxing. 
I love "L'Ho Perduta" in Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart. The whole opera is one big mess, people messing about, running all over the place, pretending to be servants, and here comes Barbarina, crying the saddest aria I've ever heard because she lost a ... pin, is that right?


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## Muse Wanderer (Feb 16, 2014)

Ligeti's Requiem is of such a dark nature that I felt like self harming myself as my fingernails dug into my palms. 

Depressing and thrilling at the same time!


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Pantheon said:


> Otherwise, how about Schoenberg's La Nuit Transfigurée. It's quite mysterious and dreary.. even worrying in some sections. He was still not quite into serialism back then when he wrote that piece it would seem


The first part is dark, but the second part (where everything is transfigured) is pure beauty and joy. The ending is wonderful.

Of course serialism didn't even exist for another 24 years when the piece was written...


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I was thinking that I couldn't think of any depressing classical music. Depressing, that is. Sad is another thing.

Last night, I listened to Grieg's Funeral March in Memory of Rikard Nordraak, a piece the grief-stricken Grieg wrote to honour the memory of his friend, who died unexpectedly at the age of 23. This piece is really sad.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

I'm not sure if music can actually be 'depressing' -- rather, one may feel depressed upon hearing a piece of music. [isn't this a classic some guy proposition? ]

It may be more appropriate to suggest pieces that tend to evoke some sense of sorrow, more than anything else. [although again, sorrow is something we feel ... ]

I'll just post Rachmaninov's B minor prelude and pretend that life isn't so comiplicated.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

I get depressed when I hear some modern music which seems all screeches and discordant wails. Depresses me that someone should ever have written it.


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

Skilmarilion said:


> I'm not sure if music can actually be 'depressing' -- rather, one may feel depressed upon hearing a piece of music. [isn't this a classic some guy proposition? ]
> 
> It may be more appropriate to suggest pieces that tend to evoke some sense of sorrow, more than anything else. [although again, sorrow is something we feel ... ]
> 
> I'll just post Rachmaninov's B minor prelude and pretend that life isn't so comiplicated.


This piece is incredibly powerful. The chords in the middle sections are like thunder, yet the tone of the piece is still filled with sorrow.
Rachmaninov was inspired by Chopin, namely his preludes and the pattern of his left hand. Then I made the link with this prelude, also in B minor. There's quite a lot of melancholy as well, with those "raindrops" in the right hand.


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

The last movement of Malcolm Arnold's ninth symphony. 23 minutes of misery. The Naxos recording has an interview as the last track, in which conductor Andrew Penny asks the composer if the D major ending depicts light shining through the gloom. Arnold says no!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Well, the last 5 minutes or so of Mahler's 9th, I don't have programmed for my New Years Eve party.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Chris said:


> The last movement of Malcolm Arnold's ninth symphony. 23 minutes of misery. The Naxos recording has an interview as the last track, in which conductor Andrew Penny asks the composer if the D major ending depicts light shining through the gloom. Arnold says no!


I wince a little when I listen to that interview - although he isn't impolite you really get the impression that Arnold could be an especially prickly so-and-so when he wanted to be.

I get the impression that Arnold wrote the 9th, or at least the final movement of it, as some kind of elegy to himself, but actually lived for far longer than he expected to.


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## kikko (Jun 19, 2014)

And one more time I post Schubert.

The night is calm, the avenues are quiet,
My sweet one lived in this house;
She has already left the city long ago,
The house certainly still stands, in the same place.

A man is standing there, too, staring up into space,
And powerfully wringing his hands in torment.
It horrifies me, when I see his countenance,
The moon shows me my own form.

You my fearful double, you pale partner!
Why do you ape the pain of my love,
That has tortured me here in this spot
So many a night, in times long ago?


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## Kibbles Croquettes (Dec 2, 2014)

Muse Wanderer said:


> Sibelius 4th symphony 1st movement is the epitome of depression. It feels like being at the bottom of a bottomless pit with occasional flickering of light seen for fleeting seconds.
> 
> The remaining movements are its antidepressants.
> 
> These surely have a slow onset of action but the end result is truly miraculous!


Even the third movement? I've always found that the darkest. The theme, when it is finally revealed, has to be played slow enough for it not to be pompous. That's a little bit backwardly, I know: usually things get more pompous the more slowly they are played, but with that theme it is the opposite. It obviously is a matter of opinion whether one sees the reveleation of the theme as a happy or a sad moment. For me it is the moment when some bad premonitions have been proven to be true. Until this moment there's been at least some hope in the uncertainty, but now everything is certain. Which, at the same time, brings comfort - finally knowing the truth. It's not pleasant, but now one knows.

And the ending (of the 4th movement) isn't that optimistic either. At least to my ears. A quiet resignation, or something like that was what Sibelius himself said about it.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Anton Webern - Passacaglia





Arnold Schoenberg - Pelleas und Melisande





Both are tonal despite composed by two famous atonal/serial composers.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

F. J. Haydn - Symphony No. 49 in F minor, 'La Passione' - I. Adagio:






Seven Last Words - 




Michael Haydn - Requiem in C minor:






Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, 'Eroica' - II. Marcia funebre (Adagio assai)






Symphony No. 7 in A Major, II. Allegretto:


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