# Looking for 'sad' music.



## almosnow (Aug 8, 2011)

Ha, didn't know how to describe that.

The thing is, I'm writing some stories. The stories are sad and talk about feelings of despair, loneliness, bored at life, etc...

I'd like to add music to them, the music should go in the same mood. I was thinking on piano pieces that roll out really slow, with an overwhelming melody. The first track that came to my mind immediately was Gymnopedie 3.

I'm looking for more pieces like that. Since I'm not a deep connoisseur of classical music, I recur to your knowledge.

Best!


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## Amfibius (Jul 19, 2006)

Sad piano music?

Gymnopedie No.3 doesn't really strike me as sad - it seems contemplative. Which is what it was - a set of variations evoking the feelings of looking at sculpture. As the observer walks around the sculpture, he appreciates different aspects of the same thing.

If you want sad - Chopin springs to mind. A lot of his music is melancholic - "the joy of despair".

Some of Bach's works are sad as well. Variation No.13 from The Goldberg Variations for example. And a few from the Well Tempered Klavier.

You could also consider Beethoven's _Les Adieux_ piano sonata.


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## almosnow (Aug 8, 2011)

I always tought that the Gymnopedie's reflected the ****** life that Satie's lived all the time. But I guess it's just a matter of interpretation.

On the other hand, Goldberg Variation 13 sounds actually cheerful to me c:

Les Adieux is a good example, thanks for that one !


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Barber's Adagio:






It can also be found in a choral version: _Agnus Dei_:






Mahler _symphony no.5_ (IV):






J.S. Bach "Erbarme dich mein Gott" from the _St. Matthew Passion_:






Arvo Part - _Salve Regina_:






Schubert:Impromptu in G flat major D899 No.3


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8 "Pathetique" (2/3):






Schubert Impromptu Op. 90 No. 1"






Chopin Nocturne Op.27 No.1:






Pollini plays Chopin Nocturne op.9 no.1






SchumannTraumerei:






Richard Wagner Siegfried funeral march:


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

For slow, sad piano music:

Beethoven...
- Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, 2nd movement
- Piano Sonata No. 29 in Bb major, 3rd movement
- Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, 3rd movement

Chopin...
- Ballade No. 1 in G minor
- Etude Op. 10, No. 3 in E major
- Nocturne Op. 15, No. 1 in F major
- Nocturne Op. 55, No. 1 in F minor
- Mazurka Op. 30, No. 4 in C# minor

Brahms...
- Variations on a Theme of Schumann in F# minor
- Some of the late intermezzi

Faure...
- Nocturnes
- Barcarolle No. 1 in A minor

Rachmaninov...
- Prelude Op. 32, No. 10 in B minor
- Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, 1st movement
- Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3 

Ravel...
- Piano Concerto in G major, 2nd movement

Prokofiev...
- Piano Sonata No. 2, 1st movement (2nd theme mostly)

Scriabin...
- Piano Sonata No. 2, 1st movement


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## Guest (Aug 8, 2011)

StLuke totally beat me to it - Barber's Adagio for Strings. Go with either the orchestral version, or the original form - the adagio movement from his string quartet, which I find slightly sadder, as the minimal 4 instruments seems to make it not only sad, but rather lonely feeling.

Given the way the market has been going today, I'm contemplating listening to it myself.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Whatever music is playing on Wall Street today.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Shostakovich' Preludes & Fugues: many hauntingly doleful tunes, as if nothing would be left to cling on except for those tunes...


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

From Schumann's _Kinderszenen_:

4. Bittendes Kind
7. Träumerei
10. Fast zu ernst
12. Kind im Einschlummern
13. Der Dichter spricht

Most of Chopin could be considered sad, or melancholic. One piece in particular comes to my mind, the Waltz, Op. 34 No. 2.


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## Curiosity (Jul 10, 2011)

*Witty comment about how listening to the music of Cage and Stockhausen makes me sad for the state of mankind*


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Whatever music is playing on Wall Street today.

My guess would be:






Black Sabbath, my a**!


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Have I just missed it, or am I correct in my observation that no one has yet mentioned the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata? It is filmmakers' go-to piece for Sad Piano Music.

Also, not piano, but rather devastating - second movement of Corigliano's clarinet concerto. Very beautiful, and _very_ sad. (Corigliano wrote it shortly after his father died.)


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## sabrina (Apr 26, 2011)

Tchaikovky symphony nr 6 Pathetique:


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

All examples are good, but also try Mussorgsky's Une larme (A Tear) ...


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

Though not *piano music* per se, how about this from Beethoven's 7th Symphony:


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## almosnow (Aug 8, 2011)

*Many many thanks.*

To each and everyone of you. I definitely found great songs to use in my project.

Thanks :lol:


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## Theophrastus (Aug 13, 2011)

Could also try Gorecki's 3rd symphony ("symphony of sorrowful songs" aptly enough)






Tavener's Protecting Veil can also come across as bloody depressing....


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## Lenfer (Aug 15, 2011)

Henryk Górecki's Symphony 3, Opus 36 - 2. Lento E Largo - Tranquillissimo.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Don't know why but this one brought me to a screeching sob every time I heard it for years...to me, this small and elegant piece of music is filled with sadness and love and longing and so many things human


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

There aren't many laughs in Malcolm Arnold's Ninth Symphony


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)

Not the best arrangement of Enclosure but the best on YouTube.


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## robert (Feb 10, 2007)

Deathly Sad Alan Pettersson


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