# Music that moves you to tears?



## Ephemerid

Here's an interesting question to pose to everyone here-- pure subjective of course: _Are there specific pieces of music that can often make you cry or tear up? _

But I'm interested in those pieces that might move someone that deeply and WHAT pieces those might be and if there might be certain common pieces that recur.

One of the things I love about classical music is it is often able to reach me that deeply in ways that other kinds of music does not (there are a few exceptions in rock music, but it is not a common).

Of course not everyone is moved the same way and of course music doesn't need to be "sad" in order to make one cry. And there are many pieces of music I adore but without being THAT deeply moved by it (there's no necessary correlation between the greatness of a piece of music and its potential to make one cry and there is also no correlation between one's appreciation of music and being moved to tears-- we are all different).

Here are some pieces that immediately comes to mind that often moves me to tears:

*Pachelbel: Canon in D *(but it must be Paillard's recording. Specifically there is a moment close to the end where a suspended 4th appears and I can't explain where this aching feeling comes from, but it hits me quite suddenly).

*Bach: Air (from Orchestral Suite No. 3)* What else can I say?

*Beethoven: the finale from Symphony No. 6 *(the French horn call sections in particular)
*Beethoven: "Holy Song of Thanksgiving by a Convalescent to the Divinity, in the Lydian Mode" (3rd movement from String Quartet No. 15) *
*Beethoven: The third movement from String Quartet No. 16*

*Schubert: Nacht und Traume*

*Faure: "Pie Jesu" from Requiem*

*Debussy: The Afternoon of a Faun *(particularly the big sweeping string passage in the middle of the piece)
*Debussy: Clair de Lune*
*Debussy: Pelleas et Melisande *(there are many many passages: oddly enough, the passage where Genevieve is reading Golaud's letter; the perverse scene where Golaud is using his son to spy on Melisande; of course the final meeting of Pelleas et Melisande; much of the final scene and several other passages)

*Holst: Mars, The Bringer of War, from The Planets *(this is, if anything, a musical representation of the inhumanity of war-- it does not glorify it)

*Vaughan-Williams: Silent Noon *

*Copland: Appalachian Spring *(especially the violin solo at the end)

*Barber: Adagio *(the string orchestra version certainly, but especially the original 4tet version)
*Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915 *(there are quite a few passages in this piece)

*Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem *(all three movements of this piece moves me deeply)

*Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 *(several passages-- knowing the context that this was written right after Stalin's death only make it more powerful)
*Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8 *(like Britten's Sinfona da Requiem, this piece moves me greatly from start to finish)

*Bernstein: Mass *--Not exactly "classical" but there as SEVERAL songs from Bernstein's "Mass" (which is sort of a musical about a mass service, not an actual mass, though the Latin text is incorporated into it throughout), but especially the terrifying Agnus Dei where the congregation is DEMANDING peace. It has not dated well (incorporating rock music that especially has not dated well), but I still have a fondness for the it.

*Part: Spiegel im Speigel *(the version for violin and piano-- it sneaks up on me unexpectedly sometimes)

What about others here? What pieces (or certain moments in certain pieces) move you to tears?


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## opus67

Elgar - first movement of his cello concerto. It's the first that comes to mind.


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## Rondo

Very good topic!

I have to agree with you on the _Shepherd's Song_ (finale) from Beethoven's 6th. That piece was on the very first classical album I ever owned. Also, the second mv't from the 4th symphony and the first mvt of Pno Sonata no. 30, both by Beethoven.

To mention others, the Adagio Cantabile from Bruch's _Scottish Fantasy_, _The Swan of Tuonela_ by Sibelius, and sometimes _Solveig's Song_ from Grieg's _Peer Gynt_. And, on several occasions, the choral from the Finale of Brahm's first symphony has made my eyes well. For me, the emotional value stems from my experiences of the first time I heard it. But, that's the power of music.


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## Lark Ascending

Here are some of the pieces I find extremely moving:

Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending, Norfolk Rhapsody No 1, 5th Symphony (1st movement)

Ravel - Mother Goose Suite, Daybreak from Daphnis & Chloe (this piece makes me go weak at the knees)

Barber - Knoxville, Summer of 1915 (another piece that takes my breath away) 

Finzi - Dies Natalis (Rhapsody)

Sibelius - The Swan of Tuonela


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## Ephemerid

Rondo said:


> Very good topic!
> 
> I have to agree with you on the _Shepherd's Song_ (finale) from Beethoven's 6th. That piece was on the very first classical album I ever owned. Also, the second mv't from the 4th symphony and the first mvt of Pno Sonata no. 30, both by Beethoven.
> 
> To mention others, the Adagio Cantabile from Bruch's _Scottish Fantasy_, _The Swan of Tuonela_ by Sibelius, and sometimes _Solveig's Song_ from Grieg's _Peer Gynt_. And, on several occasions, the choral from the Finale of Brahm's first symphony has made my eyes well. For me, the emotional value stems from my experiences of the first time I heard it. But, that's the power of music.


Oh, yes, the Swan of Tuonela! I love that piece-- it is definitely a deeply moving piece!

Beethoven's 6th Symphony was one of my very first classical records too!

I'll have to make note of some of the pieces I am not familiar with (such as the Elgar cello concerto).

~josh


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## Ephemerid

Lark Ascending said:


> Here are some of the pieces I find extremely moving:
> 
> Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending, Norfolk Rhapsody No 1, 5th Symphony (1st movement)
> 
> Ravel - Mother Goose Suite, Daybreak from Daphnis & Chloe (this piece makes me go weak at the knees)
> 
> Barber - Knoxville, Summer of 1915 (another piece that takes my breath away)
> 
> Finzi - Dies Natalis (Rhapsody)
> 
> Sibelius - The Swan of Tuonela


Hmmm that's the second appearance of Sibelius' Swan (I love it too, and though it is deeply moving I don't think I've teared up listening to it). And a second appearance of Barber's Knoxville (I TOTALLY agree with you Lark!).

And the Fairy Garden section of the Mother Goose suite gets to me too (its been awhile since I've listened to it).

~josh


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## Rondo

Lark Ascending said:


> Ravel - Mother Goose Suite


Hmm...that's a new one for me.


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## Aristocrat

Ok, this might be a long list...

Piano Concerto no. 23, second movement - Mozart
Clarinet Concerto, second movement - Mozart
All of the Requiem Mass in D minor - Mozart
Ballade in G minor - Chopin
Ballade in F minor - Chopin
Nocturne Opus 48 no. 1 - Chopin
Nocturne Opus 72 no. 1 - Chopin
Barcarolle - Chopin
Berceuse - Chopin
Piano Concerto no. 3, first movement - Rachmaninoff (especially the cadenza!)
Piano Sonata no. 31, third movement - Beethoven
A lot of Preludes - Debussy
Piano Concerto no. 2, second movement - Shostakovich
Symphony no. 2, third movement - Brahms
Nocturne no. 4 - Faure

And a lot more...


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## Rondo

Does anyone know where I can find an arrangement (I usually dont go for them, but in this case...) which includes the choral theme (or variations thereof) from the finale of Brahms' First symphony?


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## Ephemerid

Aristocrat said:


> Ok, this might be a long list...
> 
> Piano Concerto no. 23, second movement - Mozart
> Clarinet Concerto, second movement - Mozart
> All of the Requiem Mass in D minor - Mozart
> Ballade in G minor - Chopin
> Ballade in F minor - Chopin
> Nocturne Opus 48 no. 1 - Chopin
> Nocturne Opus 72 no. 1 - Chopin
> Barcarolle - Chopin
> Berceuse - Chopin
> Piano Concerto no. 3, first movement - Rachmaninoff (especially the cadenza!)
> Piano Sonata no. 31, third movement - Beethoven
> A lot of Preludes - Debussy
> Piano Concerto no. 2, second movement - Shostakovich
> Symphony no. 2, third movement - Brahms
> Nocturne no. 4 - Faure
> 
> And a lot more...


Oh oh oh yes the andante from Shostakovich's 2nd piano concerto is heartbreaking! Its one my my favourites...


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## Ephemerid

Oh, I'd like to add (as strange as this might sound) Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, in various places but particularly the very ending. I don't know why, but it I find it so overwhelming.

~josh


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## Rondo

fool on the hill said:


> Oh, I'd like to add (as strange as this might sound) Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, in various places but particularly the very ending. I don't know why, but it I find it so overwhelming.
> 
> ~josh


Now there's one I didn't see coming!


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## Aristocrat

fool on the hill said:


> Oh oh oh yes the andante from Shostakovich's 2nd piano concerto is heartbreaking! Its one my my favourites...


Quite. It's really lovely. I think heartbreaking is the right description. The whole concerto is stunning.


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## Ephemerid

A long time ago when I was a teenager and I was first getting seriously into classical music, there was a radio programme I used to record onto cassette on Sunday evenings and they played a variety of classical music. One time they played that Shostakovich concerto and I was so thankful I got it on tape! I wore that tape out to death! I was so delighted when a few years later I got it on CD. There's a section close to the end of the first movement that is really thrilling too, where the brass join in at the end. 

Regarding Stravinsky's Rite-- there's something about certain loud dissonant pieces that get to me (though certainly not all!)... Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem or Holst's Mars is one thing-- at least it is connected in my mind to the savagery of war (I think of them as strongly anti-war music-- it is hardly glorified in these two pieces). I can't help but make the connection with the music with what it represents (this is true with much Shostakovich as well). 

The dissonance of Sinfonia da Requiem is connected (in my mind) with the death and suffering and deumanisation of so many people. The Holst piece is simply inhuman (a terrifying "march" in 5/4) and also represents (in my mind) how soldiers are dehumanised (all the more remarkable because Holst write this BEFORE WWI). Though even without those extra-musical associations, I think they would still move me like they do. But with the Rite I don't even associate it with the basic storyline of the original ballet.

I can't explain why I react to the Rite that way-- the ferocity of it is just so overwhelming. (I have similar odd moments like this with certain movies, crying in some of the most unexpected moments)

~josh


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## Rondo

The second mvt of Beethoven's Vln Concerto in D is very moving...brings back memories of one of my favorite movies.


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## CampOfTheSaints

I agree with most of what is already listed, however, I don't think anyone has listed Bach's Mass In B Minor. This is one of the most moving works ever written, and has been going strong for almost 300 years.


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## Chi_townPhilly

I recognize that I'm repeating myself here, but...

1) The conclusion of Wagner's *Tannhäuser*. Invariably.

2) Passages from the final 2 movements of Schoenberg's *Verklärte Nacht*. In addition to the "subject matter," I have the feeling that it "closes the door" to the 19th century. It's an overstatement to say that music would never be written the same way again... but _Schoenberg_ would never write music like this again.


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## Edward Elgar

I find Elgar's Chanson d'Nuit to be very moving. It pushes melody to its emotional limit.


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## ChamberNut

fool on the hill said:


> *Beethoven: "Holy Song of Thanksgiving by a Convalescent to the Divinity, in the Lydian Mode" (3rd movement from String Quartet No. 15) *


Ohhhhhh yes indeed!

Also, from *Beethoven*:

Cavatina 5th mvt. from SQ# 13, Op. 130

2nd mvt. of Piano Sonata # 23 _Appassionata_

2nd mvt. of Piano Concerto No. 2 (this one gets to me somehow)

*Mahler*

Symphony No. 5, 4th mvt. Adagietto

*Brahms*

Piano Concerto No. 1, 2nd mvt.

*Barber*

Adagio for Strings

*Bruckner*

Symphony No. 5 Adagio


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## Ephemerid

Oh, this is another Samuel Barber piece that gets to me-- but partly for extra-musical reasons because of the story: *Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance. * The rage of a mother driven to this point of jealousy, descending into madness and ultimately evil-- and the terrible fate of the children-- this is expressed so powerfully that by the end I am overcome with tears... This is another instance of rather violent music that has this effect on me...

~ josh


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## AmericanPop

Marjan Mozetich - Affairs of the heart


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## World Violist

Definitely these:

Elgar: Cello Concerto, first movement
Bach: Partita No. 2 for Solo violin in D minor, Chaconne (must be Menuhin, though!)
Bruch: Kol Nidrei
Brahms: 1st Symphony, last movement (especially when the brass theme comes at the end, Karajan conducting)
Vitali: Chaconne (has to be Heifetz's recording with the organ, though)


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## ChamberNut

I need to add to this list Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 _Hammerklavier_, the immense 3rd movement.


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## MJTTOMB

Although not entirely classical, I'm deeply in love with the Ashoken Farewell


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## anon2k2

There are a few pieces that have brought me to tears: the Urlicht from the Mahler 2nd, the 2nd movement of the Mendelssohn violin concerto, the Pie Jesu from the Durufle Requiem, the 2nd Movement from the Honneger 3rd Symphony, and just about the entire Messiaen Quatuor pour la Fin Du Temps.

Each is such amazing beauty and if well done (or sometimes not even well done) I feel that familiar lump rising in my throat.


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## ChamberNut

Well, ok, this movement doesn't necessarily move me to tears, but sends definite shivers up my arms.

It is the _Andante con moto _of Schubert's _Death and the Maiden _String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D810, specifically in between the 2 and 3 minute mark variation....the pleading violin.


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## World Violist

The third movement of Mahler's first sends shivers up my spine also. I've felt tears in my eyes from it's utter resignation... it's just so sad.


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## sirder

fool on the hill said:


> A long time ago when I was a teenager and I was first getting seriously into classical music, there was a radio programme I used to record onto cassette on Sunday evenings and they played a variety of classical music. One time they played that Shostakovich concerto and I was so thankful I got it on tape! I wore that tape out to death! I was so delighted when a few years later I got it on CD. There's a section close to the end of the first movement that is really thrilling too, where the brass join in at the end.
> 
> Regarding Stravinsky's Rite-- there's something about certain loud dissonant pieces that get to me (though certainly not all!)... Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem or Holst's Mars is one thing-- at least it is connected in my mind to the savagery of war (I think of them as strongly anti-war music-- it is hardly glorified in these two pieces). I can't help but make the connection with the music with what it represents (this is true with much Shostakovich as well).
> 
> The dissonance of Sinfonia da Requiem is connected (in my mind) with the death and suffering and deumanisation of so many people. The Holst piece is simply inhuman (a terrifying "march" in 5/4) and also represents (in my mind) how soldiers are dehumanised (all the more remarkable because Holst write this BEFORE WWI). Though even without those extra-musical associations, I think they would still move me like they do. But with the Rite I don't even associate it with the basic storyline of the original ballet.
> 
> I can't explain why I react to the Rite that way-- the ferocity of it is just so overwhelming. (I have similar odd moments like this with certain movies, crying in some of the most unexpected moments)
> 
> ~josh


I know the Programme you mean ......Your 100 Best tunes presented by Allen Keith and then by Richard Baker .........Yes I'm sure there were many that were captivted by the tremendous variety of Music putout from that Radio Show.
and now in my mind I'm trying to remember the Shostakovich concerto ..(it was the 2 nd was'nt it ?).can only remember the main theme ........At one time I'd ring my Brother and humm or sing ;-))) the tune for him to tell me the Title .........But now he's gone .I "ain't got no one "........How're yer fixed ? ;-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Happy listening Josh


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## Ephemerid

sirder said:


> I know the Programme you mean ......Your 100 Best tunes presented by Allen Keith and then by Richard Baker .........Yes I'm sure there were many that were captivted by the tremendous variety of Music putout from that Radio Show.
> and now in my mind I'm trying to remember the Shostakovich concerto ..(it was the 2 nd was'nt it ?).can only remember the main theme ........At one time I'd ring my Brother and humm or sing ;-))) the tune for him to tell me the Title .........But now he's gone .I "ain't got no one "........How're yer fixed ? ;-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
> 
> Happy listening Josh


Oh yes, it was the second concerto-- the outer movements are wonderful but the second movement is sooooo gorgeous! 

~josh


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## QuestionMark

I have to second CampOfTheSaints. Bach's B-Minor Mass is tops in my book, but unfortunately (or fortunately for its devotees), it's also a very long work.

To make it easy for 1st time listeners, I'd recommend the "Kyrie eleison", which has three parts (Kyrie/Christe/Kyrie). And of course the gorgeous "Dona nobis pacem", which is the final part of the Agnus Dei, and closes out the Mass. But don't stop there! Dedicate a couple of hours of focused listening now and then to the entire work, and you'll discover many other gems of your own.

This is one of the truly great masterpieces of western music. I don't play it unless I'm stocked up on Kleenex.


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## Ephemerid

Yes, QuestionMark-- I recently downloaded the whole mass and there are so many exquisite moments in it! (As much as I love Bach, I have never heard it before!)

~josh


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## Guarnerius

Well, what a fascinating topic! Guess that there are already listed many interesting and impressive works, familiar piano concertos etc. with their spesific movements. Surely those one's by Chopin and Rachmaninov are also my favourites. I just thought to add one more by Ravel, piano concerto G major, Adagio assai movement.

But when we talk of the real "to tears mover", then it is (for me) absolutely Natalie Dessay performing the mad scene of poor Ophélie in Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas. That is the most overwhelming thing I have ever heard or seen. There is also a clip in YouTube, especially the one recorded in Paris Théâtre du Châtelet:





Do look also:




conclusion: "Doute de la lumière, doute du soleil... mais jamais de mon amour... Jamais!"


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## Ephemerid

Hello, Guarnerius 

wow wow WOW that was supurb. OK, add that to my list! LOL 

That was truly amazing-- thank you for sharing! 

~josh


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## World Violist

Sibelius' Swan of Tuonela is very beautiful too; just took me awhile to find it to be so. It's rather elusive.

The second movement of Sibelius' third symphony. Just how the themes develop is just so enchanting!


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## BuddhaBandit

Guarnerius, that was really fantastic. I've never really been bowled over by any vocal pieces, but that aria definite did it. Great clip.


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## coloneljessop

Mozart's Symphony no. 25.Such drama,such genius.SPINE TINGLING!!!


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## Claireenet

yes the Lark Ascending would be one of my choices too

and funnily enough the first and as I recall only piece, to really move me to tears was the first movement of Saint Saens clarinet sonata.. 
im not sure why, but it did and I still remember that moment to this day


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## SalieriIsInnocent

Mozart:Le Nozze Di Figaro Act 4 Ah Tutti Contenti
Mozarton Giovanni Act 2 Commendatore Scene A Cenar Teco (Just Powerful to me i feel my heart twist when i hear it)
Bach:Air suite
Beethoven:Symphony 9 Ode to joy (near the end)
Beethovenathetique sonata
Beethoven:Moonlight Sonata (everybody has probably said it but it does)
Mozart: Requiem Mass
Mozartiano Concerto In D Minor, K. 466; 2nd Movement (Just really peaceful. I could die to this music)
Pachelbel: Canon in D 
Beethoven: Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 47 "Kreutzer" 
Mozart: Concerto For Flute And Harp K. 299; 2nd Movement
Mozart: Mass In C Minor; K. 427, Kyrie (So beautiful i break into tears. every time i hear it. Is there a composer that does works as beautiful as this peice.


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## SalieriIsInnocent

Rondo said:


> Very good topic!
> 
> I have to agree with you on the _Shepherd's Song_ (finale) from Beethoven's 6th. That piece was on the very first classical album I ever owned. Also, the second mv't from the 4th symphony and the first mvt of Pno Sonata no. 30, both by Beethoven.
> 
> To mention others, the Adagio Cantabile from Bruch's _Scottish Fantasy_, _The Swan of Tuonela_ by Sibelius, and sometimes _Solveig's Song_ from Grieg's _Peer Gynt_. And, on several occasions, the choral from the Finale of Brahm's first symphony has made my eyes well. For me, the emotional value stems from my experiences of the first time I heard it. But, that's the power of music.


 I have always loved beethovens 6th symphony.
But why does symphony number 5 get more praise.
automatically when you talk to a noob of classical about beethoven you know their thinking in their mind "du dudu du, du duddu"


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## Rondo

Why? Has someone mentioned the Fifth in this thread?


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## Gustav

Salieri=Innocent said:


> I have always loved beethovens 6th symphony.
> But why does symphony number 5 get more praise.
> automatically when you talk to a noob of classical about beethoven you know their thinking in their mind "du dudu du, du duddu"


Because symphony 5 is a masterpiece too? When Beethoven premiered it, he actually played the 6th symphony to "Prepare" audience for the 5th, this shows how "serious" Beethoven was about his 5th. Added to which, the 5th is a monumental achievement, unfortunately, it has been so OVER PLAYED in the last century, people with superficial knowledge of Classical music only knows the "Fifth".


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## SalieriIsInnocent

Gustav said:


> Because symphony 5 is a masterpiece too? When Beethoven premiered it, he actually played the 6th symphony to "Prepare" audience for the 5th, this shows how "serious" Beethoven was about his 5th. Added to which, the 5th is a monumental achievement, unfortunately, it has been so OVER PLAYED in the last century, people with superficial knowledge of Classical music only knows the "Fifth".


The Fifth symphony is a masterpeice to me, but for the 3rd part the allegro. I totally agree with what you said. Everybody knows the Allegro con brio AKA (Duh Duhduh Duh). I appreciated it when I was very young and I still appreciate it to day but I just dont enjoy the song as much since it has been played out way too much.


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## Gustav

it's funny, when i was in my mid-late teens, i was not listening to Beethoven at all. Because in my early to mid teens, i was really into Beethovne, but now i am older, and more mature. I have come back to his symphonies, and I find more and more nuances to his music. Particularly in his lesser known symphonies, let's say the 4th symphony, which is just lovely, and while it is may not be a "Monumental" achievement, it's musically fascinating.


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## SalieriIsInnocent

Beethoven was a great composer when it came to his symphonies how one moment everything is peaceful then boom it was dark and the darkness would build and build till it exploded back into a peaceful work of art. Of course several composers did this. 
I loved the 4th too.


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## Gustav

Salieri=Innocent said:


> Beethoven was a great composer when it came to his symphonies how one moment everything is peaceful then boom it was dark and the darkness would build and build till it exploded back into a peaceful work of art. Of course several composers did this.
> I loved the 4th too.


But, no symphonists progressed/developed as much as Beethoven did. For every 2 symphonies, Beethoven does something completely new, and ground breaking. Can you say the same about any other symphonists?


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## SalieriIsInnocent

You are correct. I noticed some people were influenced by him. He was like mozart always did something new that just exploded. I do know I talk alot about Mozart but forgive me I am obsessed with his music just the same as beethoven's.
1 question I have Mahlers 10th symphony that I never gave a chance should I?


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## rich23434565

Vast tracts of Schoenberg's 'Gurreleider', just because it's so exquisitely _gorgeous_


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## rich23434565

Salieri=Innocent said:


> 1 question I have Mahlers 10th symphony that I never gave a chance should I?


You mean should you listen to it? Yeah! Mahler purists will slay me, but it's one of my top four Mahler symphonies along with 2, 5 and 9. Mahler purists hate the fact that it was 'realised' i.e. completed from Mahler's extensive sketches by, among others, Deryck Cooke but even in it's unfinished state, it's a masterpiece. The huge final movement is utterly beautiful and moving, and the two scherzi are magnificent. Lots of Rattle haters out there, but the version on EMI with Simon Rattle and the BPO is my personal favourite. One of my desert island discs. If Mahler had lived to complete the 10th it would've been perhaps his greatest work. Even unfinished it's tremendous! 

Edit: and the fact you're obsessed with Mozart just shows what excellent musical tastes you have


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## SalieriIsInnocent

thank you Mozarts been in my life forever I can't remember a time that I didn't know who he was. I have a BBC recording of Mahlers 10th and I really did like it even though it had a few hisses and pops though I got it in 1990 in a big collection of cds that had an extensive collection of Beethovens piano work. I just cannot believe it took me 17 years to finally listen to it


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## David C Coleman

Adagio from Bruckner's 7th Symphony - (especially by Eugen Jochum).
2nd Movement from Mozart's PC#21.
Mozart Soave Sia Il Vento from Cosi Fan Tutte.
Adagietto from Mahlers 5th Symphony......


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## teccomin

Chopin: Ballad #4 opening, and the reprise of the opening somewhere in the middle
Chopin: Piano Concerto #1 1st movement 2nd theme
Beethoven: Piano Concerto #5 2nd movement
Beethoven: Symphony #6 last movement
Tchaikovsky: Swan lake finale


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## KenazFilan

Two which recently brought tears to my eyes:

Adams: "The Wound-Dresser"
Britten: "Now Let Us Sleep" from _War Requiem_


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## Cyclops

For me it has to be the `Albinoni `Adagio. I very rarely listen to it because I find it so moving and,I dunno its embarassing maybe but it makes me feel like crying yet I`m not sad. Its hard to explain but some music I feel more than hear. Beethoven`s Moonlight Sonata,if a slow performance, is similar. Also parts of Prelude Apres Midi d`un Faune.


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## opus67

Cyclopus said:


> I dunno its embarassing maybe but it makes me feel like crying yet I`m not sad. Its hard to explain but some music I feel more than hear.


Nothing to be embarrassed about; you are in the company of 4-pages worth of members, 'fessing up to similar feelings.


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## SalieriIsInnocent

opus67 said:


> Nothing to be embarrassed about; you are in the company of 4-pages worth of members, 'fessing up to similar feelings.


That just shows your human and not embarrassed to say you are


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## Cyclops

Salieri=Innocent said:


> That just shows your human and not embarrassed to say you are


Thank you. I find it hard to hide my feelings online but regardless if I'm upset or annoyed it'll show. Hard to believe I'm a nervous wreck in real life,lol


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## Ave88

In my case there are several works that I find very moving.. Right now for instance I am in awe when listening to Schuman's Piano concerto, op 54. Especially the very fist minutes or so.. Schumann wasn't a virtuose, but he sure had the imagination, emotions, and his work is very, very powerful.

I reckon I have one of the best recordings (Argeric and Rostropovitch), which allow me to experience that wonder to the fullest.

Funny thing is, I wasn't that much into it the first time I listened to it, but now...


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## opus67

Hi, Ave88. Welcome to TC.



Ave88 said:


> Schuman's Piano concerto, op 54. Especially the very fist minutes or so..


Indeed. That clarinet (it's a clarinet, isn't it?) with the opening theme and then followed by the piano.


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## Mozart_Oboe_Beethoven

I totally agree.

Some that bring me to tears are

* Mozart Requiem Mass in D Minor: Dies Irae *
* Requiem Mass (again) : Lacrymosa * This one especially
* Beethoven Symphony No. 9: Presto * Mainly the part that is Ode to Joy
* Mozart Coronation Mass in C Minor - VI: Angus Dei *

A lot of operas are included too, but I don't know the names of them right off. When I was in 6th grade, during study hall, the teacher would play opera music and people would laugh because the other languages sounded funny. That really annoyed me.


----------



## Guarnerius

Just spontaneously remembered a very moving aria from Puccini's Suor Angelica.
There seems to be a clip also in YT sung by Barbara Frittoli in MET 2007.






Here comes the lyrics on that aria:

"You died, oh my little baby,
without your mama,
your lips
grew pale 
and cold, cold,
without my kisses.
You closed,
oh little baby, your lovely eyes.
You cannot
fondle me.
You clasped your little hands
in a cross,
and you are dead
without knowing
how much your mama loved you!

Now that you are an angel in heaven,
you can see your mama,
you may fly down from heaven
and I shall feel your wings around me.
You are here, you are here, you kiss
and fondle me.
Tell me, when can I see you in heaven?
When can I kiss you?
Oh, a sweet end to all my pains!
When can I ascend to heaven with You?
When can I die?
When can I die. When can I die?
Tell this, my little one, to mama,
speak, speak, my little one, little one,
in a small bright star".


----------



## Cyclops

One CD I have yet hardly listen to is Gorecki's Symphony #3,book of sorrowful songs. I wish I were stronger emotionally so I could listen to this but it gets inside me and can be overpoweringly emotional.


----------



## Rondo

Cyclopus said:


> Gorecki's Symphony #3


That piece has been mentioned quite a bit in this forum. Whenever I get more spare time, Ill have to check it out for myself.


----------



## Mozart_Oboe_Beethoven

Oh, another piece to add to my list:

* Moonlight Sonata * (mainly 1st mvmt)


----------



## SalieriIsInnocent

Its been said a lot but
pretty much all of Beethovens piano work especially piano concerto 5 Emperor.


----------



## Cyclops

Another that can be strong, Faure's Pavane. Just achingly beautiful!


----------



## Oneiros

Arvo Pärt's music hits me pretty deeply, often moving to tears... I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. This is what music is about.



Cyclops said:


> One CD I have yet hardly listen to is Gorecki's Symphony #3,book of sorrowful songs. I wish I were stronger emotionally so I could listen to this but it gets inside me and can be overpoweringly emotional.


Yeah it's pretty intense that one... when you read a bit of the background info, about where the lyrics came from etc, it becomes even stronger. Personally I find it more bearable than Pärt's music though. Maybe it's the lack of notes in Pärt, the silence and understatement, that leave you stranded, with nowhere to look but within. For me, Gorecki pushes the flow too hard in the 3rd symphony - there is no space to catch your breath, and this lessens the impact.


----------



## confuoco

Rondo said:


> That piece has been mentioned quite a bit in this forum. Whenever I get more spare time, Ill have to check it out for myself.


It is a kind of controversial work. For me it's work, that brings great emotional experience for the first or the second listening. But later it began boring me...Especially numerously repeated motifs in the third movements are tiring...i think it's too much.


----------



## Cyclops

Can I mention something non classical which can have a similar effect. I have a CD of Terry Oldfield's 'De Profundis'(psalm 109 I believe-Out of the Depths), on New World label, quite relaxing and slow but at times it can get emotional.


----------



## Gustav

it seldom occurs, but sometimes the performance or the music is so good, i get tears in my eyes, not so much because the music is melancholy, but the powerful performance is simply too overwelming. I think it occured when i heard Gould's "Goldberg Variations" for the first time, and Bruckner's 8th conducted by Wand.


----------



## Rondo

Gustav said:


> ...and Bruckner's 8th conducted by Wand.


I also have that recording of Bruckners 8th. You should also hear, if you like that one, Barenboim's with the same group (BPO).


----------



## Methodistgirl

I know of a classical piece that makes me cry and that's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring
by J S Bach. Because I used to play it on the organ and I'm not allowed to play it
anymore.
judy tooley


----------



## missmaestro

no joke

Mozart's Requiem mass

Brahms's German Requiem


----------



## Moldyoldie

I can think of only two or three offhand, but they are specific recordings. Who can ever possibly "explain" these things.

Brahms: _Piano Concerto No. 2_ - Gilels/Jochum/BPO/DG (Richter didn't make the eyes well up, but Cliburn came damn close!)

Vaughan Williams: _Symphony No.3 "Pastoral"_ - Previn/LSO/RCA (Boult, Handley, et al. were dry-eyed performances)

Rosza: _Theme from Ben-Hur_.


----------



## Methodistgirl

There are some great gospel songs that make me cry. I Can Only Imagine is
one of them that move me to tears and Amazing Grace is a classic.
judy tooley


----------



## Moldyoldie

Methodistgirl said:


> ...and Amazing Grace is a classic.


Heard it the other day on a solo bagpipe at a funeral; there was no holding back the waterworks.


----------



## Methodistgirl

Yes that one is a good tear jurker. There is another one that tears me up and
it's a Bill Gaither song called Because He Lives.
judy tooley


----------



## sirder

Sibelius ...his 2 nd Symphony....... Extremely moving experience .powerful too 
Vaughan Williams........Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis


----------



## Rohit Soans

Great topic, Offenbach is probably the one for me, but i think it reminds me too much of Life is Beautiful. really great post though, am listening too all the suggestions. Thanks. Rohit Soans


----------



## Rmac58

Lark Ascending said:


> Here are some of the pieces I find extremely moving:
> 
> Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending, Norfolk Rhapsody No 1, 5th Symphony (1st movement)


I second this!


----------



## Lark Ascending

Thanks, Rmac58, and I'll add VW's 3rd Symphony (Pastoral) to my list.


----------



## Mark Harwood

Perfection and beauty can do it for me.
Examples include John Fahey's "Dixie Pig BBQ Blues", Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow, Reprise", and "Starless" by King Crimson. Parts of Nigel Kennedy's first published "Four Seasons" interpretation have filled me with an awe that threatened to be lachrymose. Then there's Aaron Brock's take on Carlo Domeniconi's "Koyunbaba".


----------



## World Violist

Mahler's second is pure inspiration and at the last movement is truly overwhelming. You don't listen to it; you experience it.


----------



## Phoenix12

Oh, there are several pieces that do it for me.

The Serenade and Unfinished Symphony by Schubert.

Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

Mozart's Requiem.

Many things by Bach.

Several of Puccini's arias.

Various works by Debussy, Vaughan-Williams, and Brucker.

Arvo Pärt does it to me a lot as well, especially "Te Deum".


----------



## marval

Hi Phoenix12

Good list you have there. 

I love Beethoven's 9th, and Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.

BTW welcome to the forum.


Margaret


----------



## rdilip

*PuDu and JiShi*

These two pieces.. Definitely 

http://www.falundafa.org/bul/lectures/pudu-jishi/Pudu-5_128.mp3

http://www.falundafa.org/bul/lectures/pudu-jishi/Jishi-5_128.mp3


----------



## Pianoforte

I love Gospel and it often moves me to tears. I'm not religious but I love the celebration and uplifting feeling Gospel gives. Also Gospel choirs symbolise what musicianship is all about. Working together and spreading happiness while expecting nothing in return.

Edwin Hawkins is the true king of Gospel and these two are gems. Sadly they are very quiet recordings but both have distinct surprises in them which every time makes me laugh with disbelief. I hope they do for you too. How can such a large gathering of people create something so 'as one'?

Edwin Hawkins, Twight Shelton with the Louisiana State Mass choir - What A Friend






Tremaine Hawkins with the Louisiana State Mass choir - You Need Him


----------



## TrippeR

I have never been moved to tears by music. But still, i think my appreciation for music is pretty big. I get emotional quite often while listening to music but i feel rather something like euphoria or pleasing melancholy. And yeah i get this one feeling quite often too.. when there is really moving passage in a piece, my nerves make an electric wave on the surface of my brain  
But yeah i think its cool when somebody can get so much into it, that it brings him to tears.


----------



## Harold75

Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8. You just know this piece has such deep meaning sown everywhere. The pensive "DSCH" motif, which he uses to symbolize himself, is featured in every movement. He wrote this piece to be his last work before he killed himself (but he didn't: his actual last work is a viola sonata). If any of Shostakovich's works can be described as a self-portait, this is the one. It begins and ends introvertedly, look inward toward the composer himself...


----------



## Mark Harwood

Pianoforte said:


> I love Gospel and it often moves me to tears. I'm not religious but I love the celebration and uplifting feeling Gospel gives. Also Gospel choirs symbolise what musicianship is all about. Working together and spreading happiness while expecting nothing in return.
> 
> This reminds me of something I heard Emmylou Harris say, to quote approximately: "Religion is not, as Karl Marx said, "the opium of the people"; it's the poetry of the people."
> There you are, religion & politics in one quotation! -but it helped me to get to grips with how to simply enjoy uplifting sacred music.
> The recent BBC4 series on that topic was terrific, although the BBC only made four episodes & wouldn't fund The Sixteen to go and sing in the most appropriate cathedrals.
> Nice words, Pianoforte.


----------



## Isola

World Violist said:


> Mahler's second is pure inspiration and at the last movement is truly overwhelming. You don't listen to it; you experience it.


I can't agree more.

Also, Chopin's Ballade #1.


----------



## Isola

A few more:

Brahms' piano sonata No.3 
Chopin's piano sonata No.2 
Schubert's lieder - Liszt's transcription for piano: Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D.774; Gretchen am Spinnrade, D.118.
Grieg's Peer Gynt suite #2 Solveig's Song.


----------



## Kezza

Canzonetta from Tchaikosvky's Violin Conerto
First Time I heard it my very gorgeous girlfriend was playing it and it was very moving watching and listening to her playing it.

The opening of Elgar Cello Concerto is very moving too. But not quite as much as Tchaik.

Beethoven 5 is very inspiring and powerful and I love playing it too


----------



## Lance

Shostakovich's 2nd piano concerto, the second movement really melts my heart every time i listen to it. Such beauty..


----------



## Pianoforte

I downloaded this video a few years ago and soon after noticed the original had been removed for some reason. I've been meaning to research it and upload it myself when I discovered someone else recently did. All I know of the video is its Tremaine Hawkins (looking very young) her then husband Walter (looking like a Ben Stiller creation) in the backing group and that's all I know. I would love to know more about it. Venue, choir, other backing singers, musicians etc.

Vocal power is isn't the word for Tremain's performance. I listen to this daily. It recharges my spiritual batteries.

Prepare to be blown away….


----------



## cathcacr

*Vaughan Williams; Morricone*

A predictable choice, but I'll go with _The Lark Ascending_. There are other good candidates from RVW as well.

A few film scores by Ennio Morricone have worked as well. Once Upon a Time in America, Cinema Paradiso, Lolita, Malena in particular.


----------



## Mad Ludwig

I don't get too teary over recorded music but at live concerts I sometimes am overwhelmed by the sum total of the experience. Gratitude that I have ears, gratitude that I can FEEL the music, gratitude that there are musicians willing to do this for me, gratitude that the music was pulled out of thin air by the composer and laid out in all it's glory for the orchestra to play for me, the communion I feel with the rest of the audience gratitude for all of it. I feel humbled by the power of music to create so much sheer, visceral pleasure in me and there is no way to express myself save applause. I hope that mucisians find as much pleasure in that applause as the audience did in the music making.


----------



## Lisztfreak

I've recently written a list of pieces, or parts of pieces, that move me strongly. Not necessarily to tears, but strongly. It came out about 50 pieces... too much, I'd say.

Music to which I really managed to cry... not that it was forced, of course... there's not a lot of it. Just a little, in fact.

*Tchaikovsky: *Symphony No.5, 2nd movement
*Fauré: *Requiem - the In paradisum part
*Brahms: *Ein deutsches Requiem, the first chorus (in fact the very beginning)
*Alkan: *Grand Duo Concertant for Piano and Violin, 2nd mvt (L'Enfer)
*Elgar: *Nimrod from the Enigma Variations
*Janáček: *String Quartet No.2, 3rd mvt (the part when the violin sings high)
*Tippett: *String Quartet No.1, 2nd movement
*Shostakovich: *Symphony No.8, parts of the 1st mvt and the closing bars of the work

There are also some pieces that make my eyes wet not because of their sadness, or despair, melancholy or whatever, but because of absolute optimism with wich their radiate. Victory and catharsis!

*Bruckner: *Symphony No.5, the last 3 or so minutes of the 4th movement
*Janáček: *Taras Bulba, the last 2 minutes of the third and final part, and especially the very closing, with the organ (this one's in fact metaphysical)
*Tippett: *Concerto for Double String Orchestra, 3rd movement
*Honegger: *Symphony No.2, 3rd movement when the trumpet enters
*Beethoven: *Symphony No.3, 4th movement - the final victory of a despised hero!

Here. So I guess I've opened my soul to you...


----------



## SalieriIsInnocent

well 
for some reason Space Lion from Yoko Kanno


----------



## Major Winters

Enigma Variations - Nimrod.

Brings back memories because the Massed Guards Band always play it at the Senataph on Remembrance Day.


----------



## World Violist

The last movement of Mahler's Ninth symphony, as I have mentioned elsewhere, is IMO one of the most moving pieces of music the man ever wrote. I literally had to hold back my tears the first time I listened to it; actively distract myself and slightly disengage myself from the music, otherwise it would have been impossible.


----------



## SalieriIsInnocent

symphony number nine finale 
this music is........................breathtaking it almost well it did make me break into tears. it gives me a sense of love and peace. it is amazing how beethoven was surrounded in a world of hate and he still produced this music this beautiful music.


----------



## Air

sorry I have a quite REGULAR choice of songs here but:

Vivaldi winter 2nd movement
Bach piano concerto in d minor
Beethoven sonata in e minor 2nd movement
Chopin nocturne in d flat major, op. 48 in c minor
Chopin ballade no. 1
Tchaik violin concerto
Rach piano concerto 2
Prok piano concerto 3
Jupiter by Holst


----------



## Scelsi

Mahler: Kindertotenlieder (José van Dam)
Mahler: das Lied (Ferrier)

And music that moves me to tears, but from laugther:
Florence Foster Jenkins


----------



## World Violist

My latest purchase of Mahler's Second Symphony (Bernstein/NYPO/1987) is utterly revelatory to me. It took me a while to get used to it, but the sheer beauty of the whole choral section combined with the heart-wrenching catharsis (played so slowly!) at the very end just pushes me over the edge every time now. I love it!


----------



## john august smith

I do not see many posts concerning the emotional power of opera. The trio in the final scene of FAUST and the entry of the chorus always makes me cry. At a performance at the Met years ago, i was embarassed at tears streaming down my face until I looked around and everyone was it tears. Now that is the power of music. The beauty of Puccini's Boheme third act also makes me tear up. I am an old man now and music has given me so much pleasure, it is a debt I cannot repay!


----------



## linceed87

strauss last songs
mozart greensleeves
mozart requiem, mass in d minor, le nozze di figaro the ah tutti contenti
mozart 27 piano concerto 2nd movement (last performance in public) i just feel that is wolfie saying goodbye
beethoven 6 string quartet
charles chaplin limelight soundtrack


----------



## linceed87

oh and leoncavallo opera the clown part


----------



## Elgarian

There've been pieces that have moved me to tears in the past that no longer do so, but they've been succeeded by different pieces that do. The most overwhelming, these days, include:

Puccini - _Suor Angelica_. I've shed more tears over the final 25 minutes of this, time and again, than everything else put together.

Strauss - 'The Presentation of the Silver Rose', from _Der Rosenkavalier_. Perhaps the ultimate height that music can reach, for me. I'm not sure whether the tears arise from the perception of the beauty of the music, or pain from the longing it arouses. Roses from Heaven indeed.

Elgar - 'For the Fallen' from _The Spirit of England_ (though all three sections bring tears, not just this final one). The combination of proud hope and desolate anguish that it portrays is like nothing else I know.


----------



## Kuhlau

I happened to be listening to Magdalena Kozena's DG release, Songs My Mother Taught Me, when I spotted this thread. It put me in mind of a song by Reynaldo Hahn - a song he set for soprano and piano accompaniment, using the words of a poem by Theophile de Viau, called To Chloris.

This beautiful little love song always brings a tear of joy to my eye, as I remember playing it just after my daughter was born. But of course, me telling you how moving I find it won't get across to you how it actually _sounds_. So I've uploaded it here.

Before you download it and listen, read the poem below. While these words mean very little to me in their literal translation, it's the way Lynne Dawson sings them on this Berlin Classics recording - with tender support from Julius Drake - that I find so very touching.

*To Chloris*

If it is true, Chloris, that you love me,
And I hear that you are fond of me,
So I believe that not even kings
Know such happiness as I enjoy.
Death would be very unwelcome
If he were to exchange my fate
For the joys of heaven!
Whatever they say about Ambrosia
Cannot rouse my imagination as much
As grace in your eyes.

FK


----------



## Elgarian

Kuhlau said:


> It put me in mind of a song by Reynaldo Hahn


Reynaldo Hahn is hardly a household name I think, but I too find some of his songs very moving, and I wonder if you know Susan Graham's CD, _La Belle Epoque_? It leads off with 'A Chloris', and is full of other good things from Hahn.

I'm reminded of an interesting synchronicity regarding him. I'd just discovered his music but knew nothing of the man, and was looking forward to meeting a friend, very knowledgeable about _fin-de-siecle_ France, who I thought might know more about him. When we did actually meet, I had no time to ask my question, but was immediately informed that she'd been reading some letters by Reynaldo Hahn, in which he'd made an observation that had particularly struck her. I can't quote it precisely, but it was something like 'We are each responsible for our own lives' [see below]. At the time, and for all sorts of other reasons, it was _exactly_ what I needed to be reminded of, and I found the moment both moving and unnerving at the same time. The sheer synchronicity of it all gave his music an added poignancy after that.

*Later:*
[I didn't remember it quite correctly - here's the exact quotation: "Je suis de plus en plus convaincu qu'on fait soi-meme sa vie"]


----------



## Kuhlau

I have a CD of Graham's French orchestral songs, but not the one you mention, Elgarian. I'll be sure to look it up, thanks. 

FK


----------



## Isola

Lance said:


> Shostakovich's 2nd piano concerto, the second movement really melts my heart every time i listen to it. Such beauty..


Ooooh you can say that again! The sudden mood change from the 1st mvt catches me by surprise every time. And yes, it's achingly beautiful.


----------



## Kuhlau

Isola said:


> ... it's achingly beautiful.


And terribly sad, too. 

FK


----------



## Lang

Well, Arthur Honegger was a very manipulative man. I say so from knowledge of his compositions. He had an amazing dramatic gift, and he can move me to tears even when I know that my emotions are being manipulated. The particular bits that do it for me every time are the trumpet entry in the Symphony no. 2 for Strings, and the latter part of Jeanne d'Arc au Bucher. 

I remember playing the latter piece on someone's hi-fi system to test out his system. I don't think that he was a fan of classical music, but after it his eyes were full of tears and he was incapable of speaking. So it doesn't just work on me ...


----------



## Kuhlau

Lang said:


> Well, Arthur Honegger was a very manipulative man. I say so from knowledge of his compositions. He had an amazing dramatic gift, and he can move me to tears even when I know that my emotions are being manipulated. The particular bits that do it for me every time are the trumpet entry in the Symphony no. 2 for Strings, and the latter part of Jeanne d'Arc au Bucher.
> 
> I remember playing the latter piece on someone's hi-fi system to test out his system. I don't think that he was a fan of classical music, but after it his eyes were full of tears and he was incapable of speaking. So it doesn't just work on me ...


You've persuaded me that I need to hear this symphony, Lang.

FK


----------



## nefigah

Though I have been moved to tears in the past, it just happened and I thought of this thread. Of all places, it was Beethoven's piano sonata in A (op 2 #2), the 2nd movement. Beautiful...


----------



## Lang

Kuhlau said:


> You've persuaded me that I need to hear this symphony, Lang.
> 
> FK


Good, it's really worth hearing. It grows out of pain, and reaches a culmination of - what? - exaltation I suppose, in the last movement. And at the climax of this, a solo trumpet rises above the strings with a glorious tune. It's one of the most wonderful moments in music that I know.


----------



## billy-bob-beck

Bailero from Canteloube's Songs from the Auvergne - kills me every time (well, the Victoria de los Angeles recording specifically). I haven't a clue what is being sung about, and at this stage in the game I think actually finding out might detract from my enjoyment - but every time I hear this it's as if a window to an entirely different 'other place' has been opened.

I have to ration my listens to half a dozen a year now!


----------



## Kuhlau

billy-bob-beck said:


> Bailero from Canteloube's Songs from the Auvergne ...


If you like this, get the recording of a selection of Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne (to give this body of songs its French title) by Frederica von Stade on Sony, and listen to La Delaissado (The Deserted Woman, I believe). It's tragically beautiful. And for the complete songs, make sure you get Netania Davrath singing them on Vanguard Classics. 

FK


----------



## billy-bob-beck

Thanks for the recommendation - La Delaissado I believe I know, but I'll be sure to check out those recordings. I think i can risk being unfaithful to Victoria once in a while


----------



## Kuhlau

The von Stade performance of La Delaissado is truly moving. And Davrath's complete recording of all five volumes of songs (on two CDs) is absolutely without equal - as I recently proclaimed in another forum when the topic of Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne cropped up.

FK


----------



## Elgarian

Kuhlau said:


> If you like this, get the recording of a selection of Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne (to give this body of songs its French title) by Frederica von Stade on Sony, and listen to La Delaissado (The Deserted Woman, I believe). It's tragically beautiful. And for the complete songs, make sure you get Netania Davrath singing them on Vanguard Classics.


Oh yes. Oh yes.

I have Veronique Gens singing them, and Davrath - but the one I return to again and again is von Stade. For another weepy one, how about _Pastourelle_? The poor girl has no bridge, no boat, no shepherd, no love, and is told: 'You'd soon have a boat if you were pretty'. There you have the sorry lot of women everywhere through history, encapsulated in this one girl's plight, and the achingness of it is every note of the song. I just wish I could give her a hug.


----------



## Elgarian

Kuhlau said:


> The von Stade performance of La Delaissado is truly moving.


Listening to it now as I write. So beautiful, so heartbreaking.


----------



## Herzeleide

Alban Berg's Violin Concerto.

Liszt's Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude.


----------



## Kuhlau

Elgarian said:


> Oh yes. Oh yes.
> 
> I have Veronique Gens singing them, and Davrath - but the one I return to again and again is von Stade. For another weepy one, how about _Pastourelle_? The poor girl has no bridge, no boat, no shepherd, no love, and is told: 'You'd soon have a boat if you were pretty'. There you have the sorry lot of women everywhere through history, encapsulated in this one girl's plight, and the achingness of it is every note of the song. I just wish I could give her a hug.


So nice to know one is not alone in one's tastes. 

FK


----------



## msegers

This is a fascinating thread. I see a side of participants in talkclassical here that I don't see elsewhere. I agree about the cry-ability of any of the pieces that have been referred to that I know (and I find myself wanting to find the ones that I don't know).

I especially want to emphasize these six that have been previously referred to:
*Barber*: _Adagio_
*Berg*: _Violin Concerto_
*Mahler*: _Kindertotenlieder_ 
*Messiaen*: _Quatuor pour la Fin Du Temps_
*Schoenberg*: _Verklärte Nacht_
*Schoenberg*: _Gurreleider_

The *Barber* and *Mahler* pieces: who can keep a dry face when listening to those two pieces?

The *Berg* and *Schoenberg* pieces: special thanks to those who originally included them. In some other threads the music of Berg and Schoenberg is put down so badly. Yes, they did write great music that tugs at our hearts and tear ducts.

And then we have the *Messiaen* Quartet. It was not very long ago that I discovered the Quartet, and as I listened to it the first time, I knew that I would have to cry, scream, or die. At the moment, crying seemed the best option. After listening to it again and again (and adding other pieces by Messiaen), I have decided that a wry smile might be acceptable, with a few tears. I would have to go back to those great days of musical adventure and discovery in my youth when I was losing musical virginities left and right to have such an emotional experience of any piece of music. Messiaen's Quartet has revived me in ways that I could not have imagined (including signing up with talkclassical). Now, pass the kleenex, dammit!

I do wonder about the vocal music referred to in this thread. Is the emotional response to the music or to the words? I don't guess it matters - a sock in the gut is a sock in the gut - but I wonder...


----------



## Elgarian

msegers said:


> I do wonder about the vocal music referred to in this thread. Is the emotional response to the music or to the words?


With the Canteloube songs I think it's the whole package. They're sung in French, so if you don't have the words in front of you, then on first hearing what hits you is the music (unless your French is fluent enough to follow the meaning as sung, which mine mostly isn't). The general mood of each song is recognisable from the music and character of the singing alone, but if you then listen while reading a translation of the words, another dimension enters into it - as with the bitter-sweet poignancy of the 'Pastourelle' I mentioned earlier, which (for me) seems to have a dash of dark humour lurking behind its words that I might not have picked up from the music alone. Having said all that, I seem to recall that my eyes went pretty misty the first time I listened to it (without the words).


----------



## jhar26

msegers said:


> I do wonder about the vocal music referred to in this thread. Is the emotional response to the music or to the words?


The music I guess since an aria or song (or whatever) can move me without me understanding the words but I never get emotional when I read a libretto or lyric without hearing the music. But since the composer writes music that reflects the emotional content of the lyric it's a combination of both really. The voice of the singer also plays a huge role, and I'm a sucker for sopranos (especially lyrical sopranos) in this regard.


----------



## World Violist

Well, as my vocal piece-to-be-cried-to (Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde), I have a very vague understanding of the words, but before I even knew that, it didn't matter to me what the words were; rather the heartbreaking nature of the music itself. The words added to it, yes, but like the same composer's Ninth symphony, there are no words when all is said and done. It is just music. And it's some of the most heart-wrenchingly beautiful music I've ever known.


----------



## Herzeleide

World Violist said:


> Well, as my vocal piece-to-be-cried-to (Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde), I have a very vague understanding of the words, but before I even knew that, it didn't matter to me what the words were; rather the heartbreaking nature of the music itself. The words added to it, yes, but like the same composer's Ninth symphony, there are no words when all is said and done. It is just music. And it's some of the most heart-wrenchingly beautiful music I've ever known.


I agree with both of your choices, though I some times find now that the Adagio of the Ninth wears its _Weltschmerz_ at little too heavily... still, the first movement is perfect. _Der Abschied_ from _Das Lied von der Erde_ is sublime; its heaviness of emotion and sadness is counterbalanced with ethereal oriental aspects. The latter aspect ultimately prevails so that the peroration is luminously positive and in an other-worldly sense.


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## Tibby

I'm coming to the party a little late, but here are a few that get me a little, er, verklempt:

Symphony No.7, 2nd movement – Beethoven

Symphony No.9, all of it – Beethoven 

Concerto for Cello Wg 172 2nd movement – CPE Bach 

Hungarian Fantasy – Liszt

Piano Concerto No.2 2nd movement – Liszt

Transcendental Etude No.4 (Mazeppa) – Liszt

Requiem k.626 – Lacrimosa – Mozart

Polish Fantasy 1st movement – Paderewski 

Violin Concerto No.1 Op.19, II. Scherzo – Prokofiev

Etude, Op.8, No.12 – Scriabin


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## World Violist

And now there are some parts of Mahler's Eighth where tears spring to my eyes. However, some of the pieces on m list earlier I don't think move me to tears so much anymore.


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## phoenixshade

There's plenty of music that can move me to tears, but none so powerfully as a piece that has a very personal story attached to it.

Chopin's _Nocturne in E-flat_, op.9 no.2. This was the last piece a beautiful young amateur pianist friend played for me before she passed away unexpectedly a few days later at the age of 37. When she played it for me, she stopped after measure 25, since that's all she was confident enough to perform in front of an audience. Sometimes when I listen to it now, I stop it there and let the emotions wash over me in the silence.


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## carrTL1274

I'd have to say any opera I see live makes me tear up, but recordings...

Menotti- Th Consul (does it to me everytime)
Scriabin- Piano concerto in F (may not be as harmonically interesting as his later stuff but's its still beautiful)
Respighi- The fountains of Rome ( the Villia Medici fountain at Sunrise in particular)
Stravinsky- Le Sacre du Printemps (the ferocity of the piece is almost beautiful in itself)
Tchaikovsky- piano concerto no. 1 ( ya gotta love it)
Ravel- Gaspard de la nuit (le Gibet)
Griffes- The White peacock (orchestrated version is beautiful!)

I think i could go for days with that list but i'll stop there. My taste is a little old fashioned sometimes but what can I say I'm a romantic trapped in a Modernist lifestyle


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## FlyMe

I have to say that I pucker up very easily in the opera house but there are some that make me go weak at the knees even ou of the opera house - especially this, we played it at my sister's funeral so I suppose there is added meaning here for me:


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## musika

Anyone heard Smetana's set of six symphonic poems; Ma Vlast.
They're all absolutely fantastic! But his second symphonic poem; Vltava-Moldau, is the most popular, and has such a beautiful melody. 
You can read a good bit about it-actually I recommend doing that first.
Tell me what you think!

http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics/vlast.html


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## mueske

The moderato from Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto, one of the few pieces to get me teary. There are others, but this one does it everytime.


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## karenpat

When I get tears in my eyes or start to cry from a piece or music it's often not just the music itself but the whole context/situation combined with what mood I'm in when I hear it (if I'm stressed or frustrated it doesn't take much to bring me to tears). Today though I had a very strange experience; I was at school working on a painting and I had my iPod on as always, and I was listening to the Defiance soundtrack. (I've heard the other soundtracks Joshua Bell has contributed to, like the Red Violin and in particular Ladies in Lavender, so that was what made me want to get it) And then suddenly tears welled up in my eyes and I couldn't explain why. I think the track I was listening to at the time was called Nothing Is Impossible, there was just something about it. I wasn't particularly sad though, just emotional. I kind of like that music can make you cry cause it shows how powerful it is.


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## Bach

Debussy's only String Quartet. Every movement but the second.


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## Harold Adrian

Intermezzo - Pietro Mascagni..
Liebestraume - Liszt

Wonderful..


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## alan sheffield

*Music that moves to tears*

This is very subjective of course and varies with context. The first I can remember for sure being moved to tears was while watching a performance of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony conducted by Leonard Berstein on TV in the mid 70's.

Other pieces that do this most times I hear them are:

Janacek - Taras Bulba last movement violin solo near the end.

Malcolm Arnold - 5th Symphony Last Movement "big tune" near end

Samuel Barber - 1st Symphony climax of slow section

Benjamin Britten - War Requiem (quite a lot of it)

Sibelius - 7th Symphony climax on high violins near end


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## World Violist

alan sheffield said:


> Sibelius - 7th Symphony climax on high violins near end


That is indeed one heck of a climax. I remember one recording in particular--Bernstein/NYPO--in which the whole orchestra was blaring that chord for a whole measure, and then the violins shot way up into the high register and it was very literally every bit as loud as the whole orchestra was just a second before. It is so haunting, so beautiful. It gives me goosebumps, the sheer intensity of this part. I've been very close to tears while listening to this (as in, tears in my eyes)!


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## Rondo

On the note of climaxes, there is another that comes to mind. On the Maazel/Pittsburgh recording of _Finlandia_ there is a very nice part the violins play during the diminuendo right after the cymbals during the coda. Maazel brings it out much better than any other performance I've heard!


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## Music lover

This is fascinating, but power to the music that moves anyone to tears. There's nothing on the list that affects me so - but Verdi's Ave Maria from Otello does.

I find that if music moves me it is usually because it has been blended with some other medium somehwere along the line e.g. music from 'The Man who Cried' a sad movie about the treatment of jews in Paris during the war. there's a piece of music from one of Mozart's opera - hear it now and I rain buckets!

Music lover from down under


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## Music lover

What about Schubert's 'Death and the Maiden?' Is it so powerfully moving because of the name?


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## Edward Elgar

On that theme, I try not to let "Pavane for a dead infant" affect me too much simply because of it's name. I think it was naughty of Ravel to choose such a suggestive title, because he knew people would respond to the piece with more emotion.

Since this piece, I pay very little heed to the titles of pieces and just listen to the music as music.


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## tahnak

*Music that moves me to tears*

Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony - Finale
Rachmaninov's Adagio from Second Symphony
Borodin - Third Movement from Second Symphony
Chopin - Second Movement of Second Piano Concerto
Berlioz - Royal Hunt and Storm from Les Troyens 
Beethoven - Adagio from Choral Symphony
Bruckner - First and Third Movements of the Ninth Symphony
Mahler - Third Movement of the Fourth Symphony, Adagietto from the Fifth and the Third Movement from the Sixth Symphonies.


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## FlyMe

Good to see The Adagio from Beethoven's 9th in tahnak's list, I am surprised it does not feature more in these lists. There is nothing sad about it to me but it so achingly beautiful it brings tears to my eyes.


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## Habib

*Elgar Cello Concerto*



World Violist said:


> Elgar: Cello Concerto, first movement


I agree the Elgar Cello Concerto is a very moving piece. I remember being at a concert where it was played, and I was just sitting there holding back the tears. Its very sad especially knowing that Elgar had all the soldiers who died in WWI on his mind when he wrote it.


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## World Violist

Britten's first church parable "Curlew River" features some mesmerizing and immensely moving music; I found myself on the edge of tears listening to it last night. Oh, such beautiful music!


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## mueske

You people are right on Sibelius' 7th symphony, but at the wrong point. The climax with the lower brass (trombones) is much more moving than the violin climax. At least to me.


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## World Violist

mueske said:


> You people are right on Sibelius' 7th symphony, but at the wrong point. The climax with the lower brass (trombones) is much more moving than the violin climax. At least to me.


I think that we can pretty much unanimously agree on one thing: the last 5 minutes or so of Sibelius' Seventh packs one heck of an emotional whopper.


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## mueske

World Violist said:


> I think that we can pretty much unanimously agree on one thing: the last 5 minutes or so of Sibelius' Seventh packs one heck of an emotional whopper.


Not so much as the first 7 or so!


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## Composer1992

Adagio for Strings by Barber is the only piece of music that has reached me that deeply, but I was in the right mood at that time.


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## patrick_mozart

hi all! 

Beethoven Symphony No.7 in A Major (1st mvt)
Beethoven Symphony No.9 in Dm 'Choral' Ode to Joy (so sweet..it's great!)
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor


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## mueske

patrick_mozart said:


> hi all!
> 
> Beethoven Symphony No.7 in A Major (1st mvt)
> Beethoven Symphony No.9 in Dm 'Choral' Ode to Joy (so sweet..it's great!)
> Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor


I know what you mean on the seventh, I was taking a walk, looking at the trees, with the first movement going around in my head, it was beautiful. Not emotional, just beautiful.

The ninth has also moved me to tears, though, with this one, I don't know what it is. It has such power, such raw emotion, that I just cannot take it anymore, and start to 'cry' out of clear joy!

Already mentioned Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto, it trully is something else. Such melancholy, jet such beauty.


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## ncherone

Here are some of the pieces I listen to when I need a good cry...

Adamo, Little Women, "Have Peace Jo"
Adams, The Wound Dresser
Bach, Goldeberg Variations, Aria
Barber, Violin Concerto, Mvt. I
Elgar, Engima Variations, Nimrod
Gorecki, Symphony #3
Part, Cantus in Memoriam of Benjamin Britten
Penderecki, St. Luke Passion
Shostakovich, Piano Concerto #2, Mvt. II
Shostakovich, String Quartet #8
Shostakovich, Symphony #5, Mvt. III

I love allowing myself to be absorbed by the emotions in these pieces (and those like them). There is something very honest in letting oneself react in the most visceral of ways in the privacy of music.


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## agenbite

How does one not mention Bach's Cantata "Ich habe genug"(esp. the Fischer-Dieskau versions). Everytime! Every single time!


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## Music lover

*Music that triggers the emotions*

There is lots of music that moves me to tears. But what I can't understand is why? My thoughts are that it is not simply the music itself that titivates the emotions, but the experiences one has had in the past that triggers off deep emotion. There are pop tunes, traditional songs, bagpipes, even some brass band music that literally sends shivers up my spine. Music that can move me as deeply as Mozart's wonderful short religious music or Beethoven's adagios. Do others have the same experiences?

And then there's the music that makes one literally get to one's feet to dance. Or musci that cheers. Sometimes it can be the lyrics, but usually it is the beat, the tune, or just the sheer beauty of the tune. What is it?


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## alan sheffield

*Nielsen Fifth Symphony*

How could I forget this one in my original list? I heard Nielsen's Fifth at a concert in Sheffield recently. The whole of the piece is wonderful but the 1st Movement climax when the orchestra sweeps away the side drum leaves me wrecked emotionally.


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## JTech82

Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2 and Ravel's piano concerto get me everytime.


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## livemylife

Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 3rd movement!
and Barber Adagio for Strings.
Elgar Cello Concerto.


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## JoeGreen

Butterfly's Entrance in Madama Butterfly By Giacomo Puccini


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## Lang

alan sheffield said:


> How could I forget this one in my original list? I heard Nielsen's Fifth at a concert in Sheffield recently. The whole of the piece is wonderful but the 1st Movement climax when the orchestra sweeps away the side drum leaves me wrecked emotionally.


Yes, surely one of the most wonderful moments in music.


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## xJuanx

Maybe it was mentioned before, but the Kyrie Eleison opening Bach's Mass in B minor is breath-taking. At the end of it I'm emotionally exhausted. 
The same goes with Bruch's second movemenet from his first violin concerto.


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## jamzky

Puccini La Boheme, mimi's introductory aria sung by callas, the central part where she sings "when spring comes, the first kisses of April are mine".... or something to that effect. 


Second appearance, I think of the main melodic theme in Mvt 2 of Sibelius second

Return of the second theme now in the tonic in finale of Tchaikovsky's pathetique symphony

"softly and gently" from Elgar's Dream of Gerontius

Bach is so perfect sometimes it causes me to come close to tears.... like A minor violin concerto

there are quite a few others too... they don't always bring me to tears but they have done more than once.


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## FlyMe

Listening to this at the momnt, sniff, sniff.....


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## Scented Letters

Beethoven's Symphony No.7, mvmt. II, or Chopin's "Tristesse" always seems to do it for me. -- Such feeling in the both of them.


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## Elgarian

FlyMe said:


> Listening to this at the momnt, sniff, sniff.....


Yes, I watched their Boheme DVD a couple of days ago ... guaranteed to generate a weepfest.


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## silmarillion

Great thread. For me:

Faure's op.24 Elegie for Piano and Cello
Mozart's Requiem mass, especially the Confutatis-Lacrymosa sequence and the Lux Aeterna
Maybe Vaughan Williams' Thomas Tallis Fantasia
Barber's Adagio for Strings

I'm not very often or easily moved to tears by music but these pieces do get to me sometimes.

Not really moved to tears, but the finale of Mahler's 2nd symphony can be very overwhelming as well.


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## kratos

I will read the whole thread later (I've got nothing to do right now at work), it's a big effort to me, because of my poor English...

But I'm gonna say what almost moves me to it. I put them in order more or less (from higher to lower emotion):
- Brahms: Quintet for piano, 2nd movement
- Beethoven: 9th's last movement
- Górecki: 3rd Symphony
- Brahms: Trio for piano, 1st movement
- Sibelius: 5th last movement

Of course, they depend on the version...


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## Margaret

Mozart_Oboe_Beethoven said:


> * Moonlight Sonata * (mainly 1st mvmt)


Instrumental music doesn't generally make me cry. It takes the sound of the human voice to do that. But Moonlight Sonata is the one instrumental piece I've ever listened to that will have me tearing up.


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## Fsharpmajor

Shostakovich's 13th Symphony 'Babi Yar' (about a Nazi atrocity).


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## hdk132

To name a few
Elgar Serenade for Strings mvm 2
Nimrod from Enigma Variations - Bernstien with the BBC Orch does some very expresive things
Beethoven Op. 132 mvm 3 (look at my screen-name)

For some reason, I don't find solo music very expressive _to listen_ to, probably because I am so pickey about the interpretation. Playing music is a different story (Faure's Elegie for cello; Appassionata sonata mvm 2)


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## Marco01

Resurrecting an old thread here, but I would say V.W's Thomas Tallis Fantasia. The opening 5 minutes are not of this earth ... perhaps the closest to heaven I will ever get.


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## handlebar

Mahler's 4th-Ruhevoll, poco adagio
Mahler's 10th-Andante - Adagio:
Barber-Adagio for strings
Chopin-Ballade #1
Schindler's List-Violin and piano solo

Jim


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## Margaret

Margaret said:


> Instrumental music doesn't generally make me cry. It takes the sound of the human voice to do that. But Moonlight Sonata is the one instrumental piece I've ever listened to that will have me tearing up.


Recently I've noticed that I have to add the first movement of Elgar's Cello Concerto as the only other piece that makes me cry. It's so associated with Jacqueline du Pre in my mind and about a month ago I read her tragic story. Now I can't listen to _anyone_ playing it without crying as that first movement is so sad and filled with a sense of grief and loss anyway. Combine that with the du Pre story and I'm reaching for the tissues.


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## Bach

Beethoven's C sharp minor quartet. To understand music of this immeasurable depth is to see the face of god.


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## PostMinimalist

Bach said:


> Beethoven's C sharp minor quartet. To understand music of this immeasurable depth is to see the face of god.


Agree with that 100%. As a bass player I was lucky enough to have played this in a string orchestra arrangement in 1991 in a recording released on RCA. It has since been deleted but I will try to find a copy and put it up here as an mp3. 
FC

The only reference I can find to that CD is this:
http://www.greek-music.net/thom25.htm


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## Bach

Oooh, I'd be very interested to hear such an arrangement. Not sure I entirely approve, but It's be muy interesante..


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## SalieriIsInnocent

I miss this thread!!!!
As of now I would have to say, Concerto For Flute and Harp by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.


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## Herr Direktor

I haven;'t read the entire thread, but here are a few of my tearful (goosebumps) favorites:

Mahler 9th symphony - finale
Tchaikowsky 6th - last 10 minutes of the 1st movement and the entire finale
Brahms violin sonata #1 second movement
Mozart - Lacrimosa from the Requiem
Mascagni - Intermezzo from Cavelaria (a little popsy but still a tear jerker if played right)

HD


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## World Violist

Virtually the entire last two movements of Dvorak's cello concerto
the last movement of Mahler's 9th
the last movement of Mahler's 3rd
Sibelius' Andante Festivo (when it's done well!)
Wagner: Brunnhilde's Immolation


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## mamascarlatti

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, Lenski's aria
Mozart: Nozze di Figaro, Porgi Amor and Barbarina's aria (yes, what tragic music to write about losing a pin1)
Mozart, Cosi fan tutte, Soave sia il vento
Strauss, Rosenkavalier, Presentation of the rose and final trio
Handel, Hercules, Dejanira's aria: where shall I fly
Verdi, Rigoletto, Cortegiani, vil razza dannata
Puccini, Tosca, E lucevan le stelle
Marcello, Oboe concerto in D Minor, Adagio


----------



## Il Seraglio

That very long duet from Act II of Tristan und Isolde
Siegfried Act III
La Boheme Act II
...and of course Schubert's _Der Müller und der Bach_


----------



## TresPicos

The *Air *(Andante religioso) from *Grieg*'s *Holberg suite* really affects me. It's extremely sad.

I almost picture Grieg mourning a loved one. He's alone. All is lost. His loved one will never return. Then, halvway throught the movement, minor switches to sweet major, as if he allows himself to briefly reminisce the love they shared and the joy he felt, but after a while, major goes back to minor and he's alone again. And the strings cry out in agony.


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## Aramis

There is no piece that always make me cry. Sometimes I listen to a piece that didn't move me at all last time and I feel like cryin', but! I don't cry too often, this is not one of my basic reactions for music. Anyaway, some of tear-jerkers that worked with me:

Prelude to first act from Verdi's Traviata and few arias/duets from this opera
Finale from Mahler's No. 1
Various stuff by Rachmaninoff
Tallis Fantasia by RVW
Vesti la Giubba from Pagiacci


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## Herr Direktor

> La Boheme Act II


Oh come now. The second act is a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day! 

HD


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## SalieriIsInnocent

*Neptune: The Mystic - Gustav Holst*. It isn't really sad, but I get tears because of the awe I am in. It really is beautiful. 
*
Pictures At An Exhibition: The Great Gate Of Kiev - Mussorgsky/Ravel* It isn't sad, but when I watch this performance 



, I get moved because it is one of Karajan's last.

*Le Nozze Di Figaro- Finale (Contessa, perdono)* Mozart's most comical work always had a way of turning into such beauty.

*Don Giovanni- Commendatore's death (Ah, soccorso! son tradito!)* That was such beautiful work. Mozart wrote the best music for such a death.


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## lricardo

... I can recall very well the first time I listened the American Quartet (Dvorak op. 96). The second movement moved me to tears... I couldn't help it.

Of course when I am alone in my room I find many pieces very moving, but that time i was sorrounded by a few 10-12 kids (that were a bit noisy) despite that, the music touched me (great musicians, I assume)... the tears were from happiness, I felt so good!


----------



## xuantu

I am not a person with particularly strong nerves, but I can't recall myself shedding tears while listening to Chopin or Tchaikovsky's music (perhaps I should hear more from them to justify the money I paid for the paper tissues ). Nevertheless, I have a soft spot for _touching transitions_ in music, transitions where the composer changes the mood or brings about a new idea in an unexpected, yet well-prepared way. For example, *the second movement of Beethoven's symphony No.3, 'Eroica'* has just the right onion for me. It starts as a sullen dirge (with dignity, of course), but then this comforting hymn-like theme is introduced at around 4'00 to oppose the gloom, which takes me by surprise even after I've heard this piece many many times. This transition elevates my spirits so much that I just couldn't hold my tears any longer and normally I would keep crying _silently_ until the dirge returns.

People here have already mentioned "the shepherds' song" from *the finale of Beethoven's symphony No.6, 'Pastoral'*. But its brilliance and perfect timing warrants me to bring it up again. Coming right after the thunder storm, this idyllic melody goes round and round and brightens up every place that it touches: under its spell, all is full of thanks and praise. It's just such a beautiful picture, and you know there is only one thing I can do...(Oops, I can't find the right smiley!)

Another work that "breaks me down" in recent memory is *Dvorak's cello concerto*. Its first movement is blessed with two of the most beautiful themes in any Romantic concerto, the first heroic (but not aggressive) and the second lyrical (yet the sentiment is truthful and believable). They are presented and then developed in their own characters--everything goes together pleasantly. All of a sudden, the composer decides to show his tender feelings by giving the first theme a nostalgic quality when it's repeated at 9'40 (or so). This move softens my heart enormously (I have no option but cry) and Dvorak is by no means done. Later in the second movement he disrupts the bitter-sweet (if not unsettling) opening with a ferocious outburst of the orchestra (at about 3'00); what follows, however, is a meltingly sorrowful melody that compels me to get deeply involved with the emotions of this music. My tear gland is at the point completely at the composer's mercy and could only wait for the playful finale coming to its rescue!


----------



## dafnis

have not read all nearly 200 responses, but from my point of view a couple:
- Barber's adagio for strings
- Mozart's 2nd movt. from the Sinfonia concertante K.364


----------



## Vidar

I have only started listening to classical in the last decade or so. I dont have a huge repertoire of knowledge like you all have, and have barely heard of a lot of what you are using. so, keeping in mind my limited knowledge, i will simply list a couple of the ones that have moved me tremendously.

have to start with, i believe it was ravenscroft, and the song three ravens

dowland's flow my tears

a few choral works by, i think, vivaldi (sit nomen, Laudate pueri, especially Gloria RV589)

purcell's oft she visits as done by bott

and now i have many more to try thanks to this thread.


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## starry

Surprised nobody mentioned the slow movement of Brahms 4th symphony, I get it leaves everyone unmoved.


----------



## SPR

Haydn String Quartet Op 76 #5, 2nd movement II. (Largo ma non troppo, cantabile e mesto).. 

Caught me completely unaware. One minute I am enjoying gorgeously rendered music - the next minute i had tears in my eyes. Totally surprised me.

Ode to Joy is another, and couldnt be more different... could it?


----------



## mueske

starry said:


> Surprised nobody mentioned the slow movement of Brahms 4th symphony, I get it leaves everyone unmoved.


Not at all, I'm greatly moved by it. I find the whole symphony to be a very emotional piece.


----------



## starry

I wonder if there is some difference in a response to an orchestral piece which can be overwhelming and to a chamber piece which is more intimate?

We just take it for granted but it is peculiar how music can evoke an emotional response in a way that perhaps no other artform can. Film can, but then it uses music as one of its means of expression.


----------



## thatperson

- Mahler symphony 5 - adagietto (4th movement)
- Bloch Prayer From Jewish life (for cello)
- Mahler 8 - last movement
- Barber Adagio for strings
- Tchaikovsky Francesca da rimini (not very saddening, but it is very shocking and leaves a big crater in my heart)
- Mahler 6 - last movement (MAKES MY WHOLE BODY SHUDDER)
- Elgar Enigma variations: BGN varation
- Ma mère l'oye: last movement
- shostakovich string quartet 8
- Copland Appalachian Spring
- Sibelius Valse triste
- Dvorak Symphony 9 - 2nd movement
- Dvoark cello concerto


----------



## World Violist

thatperson said:


> - Mahler 6 - last movement (MAKES MY WHOLE BODY SHUDDER)


Oh yes... Most extraordinarily visceral thing out there. Three hammer-blows or two?


----------



## JAKE WYB

THREE - mahler is dead so the superstition is irrelevant and the music can be restored to its properly shattering conlusions - its the uncompromising expression of mahr 6th that _i_ find so effecting -

there are only two pieces of music to have ever brought moisture to my eyes -

*VW - tallis fanrtasia *- it is the greatest distillation of all the pleasant culturally familiar english things and Gloucester Cathedral where it was premiered is my favourite building -

*The Rite of Spring* - In concert for some reason i got a huge lump in my throat very near the beginning and was so impressed that i had to wipe my eyes further on - hasnt happened since


----------



## KaerbEmEvig

This: 




Just give it a listen.


----------



## mueske

KaerbEmEvig said:


> This:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just give it a listen.


That was fine, until he started singing...


----------



## David58117

Ya'll know the classical stuff, here's some of my nonclassical downers:





 - about their mother who passed away.


----------



## alan sheffield

Most recent example was at a concert with Nielsen 4th Symphony last movement. The music is so exhilarating.


----------



## StlukesguildOhio

There are endless moving passages in music. This is a favorite from an opera I am currently listening to... it is from the final moments of _Le Nozze di Figaro_... in which the count asks his wife for her forgiveness for all his philandering... and she absolves him in the most exquisite few moments of music... one of those moments which arise in Mozart again and again:


----------



## Sid James

For me, the smaller the forces, the more moving the experience can be, especially at a live concert. It's not so much a matter of what music's being performed but the intimacy of the venue & how close I am to the stage, etc. I'm pretty sure that seeing Ravi Shankar performing one of his ragas can be just as moving as, say, seeing the _Moonlight Sonata _by Beethoven or something like that. I was at a concert on the weekend where I was literally a few metres from the musicians (a piano trio) & it was one of the most moving concerts of my life, honestly...


----------



## Marc

Some returning examples of 'wet eyes':

*Byrd*: "Agnus Dei" _Mass for four voices_
*Josquin*: "Kyrie" from _Missa Beata Virgine_
*Monteverdi*: "Ave maris stella" from _Vespro della Beata Vergine_
*Purcell*: "When I am laid in earth" _Dido and Aeneas_
"Fairest isle" _King Arthur_
*Bach*: opening choir _Johannes-Passion_ & Aria "Zerfließe, mein Herze ...."
Choral "O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß" _Matthäus-Passion_
Sarabande from second Suite for Violoncello
Passacaglia & Fugue in C-minor for organ BWV 582
Organ choral "Aus tiefer Not schrei' ich zu dir" BWV 686
*Händel*: "I know that my Redeemer liveth" _Messiah_
*Pergolesi*: "Quando corpus morietur" _Stabat Mater_
*Mozart*: Duetto "Ah perdona al primo affetto" from _La Clemenza di Tito_
"Qui tollis" and "Sanctus" from _Mass in C-minor_ KV 427
Sonata for Violin & (Forte)piano in E-minor, KV 304
*Schubert*: various songs of _Winterreise_
*Chopin*: Berceuse
*Bizet*: Aria Micaëla "Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante" and final duetto from _Carmen_
*Tchaikovsky*: Sixth Symphony: Adagio lamentoso
*Mahler*: final chorus "Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n ...." of Second Symphony
Lied "Wenn dein Mütterlein ...." from _Kindertotenlieder_
Lied "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" (_Rückert-Lieder_)
*Rachmaninov*: "Nynje otpushayeshi" (Nunc dimittis) of the _Vespers_
*Poulenc*: Salve Regina and the _Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël_
*Stravinsky*: Elegia for viola
*Britten*: "Balulalow" _A Ceremony of Carols_
*Duruflé*: "Tota pulchra es" _Quatre motets gregoriennes_
*Pärt*: _De profundis_ and parts of _Te Deum_

And all of those I forgot .... 

Oh, btw: tears don't mean sadness in my case. It's just that the music moves me and enables me to release my emotions .... in fact, afterwards, I always feel very good and comforted.


----------



## saltyseaweed

Well, I'm a big Mozart fan . . .

Sonata for Piano and Violin in e minor, second movement

Requiem in general but start of Lacrimosa

Great Mass, Kyrie

Magic Flute, "Ach, ich fühl's" by Pamina

Piano Concerto 20, Romance

Piano Concerto 23, Adagio

The final scene of Don Giovanni (not the jovial one)

I also like Schubert's Unfinished . . .


----------



## Josef Anton Bruckner

Elgar, Cello Concerto, movement I

Schubert, Death and the Maiden String Quartet, Movement II, (final melodic swell where the cello carries the main theme)

Bruckner, Symphony No. 7, Movement II

Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5, movement II, Symphony No. 7, movement II

Just a few


----------



## Guest

Tallis - Spem in Alium


----------



## Poppin' Fresh

The "two lovers sit on a park bench" bit at the end of Philip Glass' _Einstein On the Beach_ is the biggest tear jerker I've ever experienced in my life. I weep like a woman every time.


----------



## SalieriIsInnocent

Now that I have been away for a while I can come back and say some new tearful masterpieces.

*Night on bald mountain*- Yes I said it. Once you get past the hellish phrases, it ends in such a beautiful way. I was washing dishes listening to Stokowski's interpretation, and I had never heard it in that way.

*Daphnis Et Chloe* - I am glad I took a chance one day when I picked this up. It looked so inviting, and I didn't really know what I would think of it, until I popped it in, and I heard what I needed to hear. This music can't be possible. It seems as though Ravel had a glimpse of both heaven and hell. 
*
New World Symphony* - The second movement is glorious. I get misty eyed by it.

*Nutcracker "Waltz of the Snowflakes"* - I dunno, I just love it. It makes me think of happier times.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja

Glazunov

I rarely get chills from his music. I just cry, and cry.

To be really honest, one of the strongest points is his 3rd movement in the 5th symphony.

Petit Adagio from the Seasons: 




The "Sun shining" theme from tone poem The Sea (pitiful use in the video):


----------



## Herkku

I tried to quickly glance through all the messages posted before and was surprised to see that most of the compositions mentioned were instrumental. There was one message though, where a member wrote that to move him to tears, human voice was needed. I think that it's the same thing with me.

I certainly remember the first time I was moved to tears by music. It was while listening to Verdi's La Traviata for the first time. The recording was the Cotrubas-Domingo-Kleiber one. And the actual point where I cried was Violetta's desperate outburst: "Amami, Alfredo! Amami quant'io t'amo!". It was not only the music or the singing, but the unfairness of Violetta's sacrifice. It has affected me in the same manner ever since.


----------



## janne

The epitaph of Seikilos.
A simple but touching melody. Beautiful lyrics. And composed for someone who must have been very special.
"Seikilos carved the song on a grave pillar in dedication to his wife."


----------



## SuperTonic

Cyclops said:


> One CD I have yet hardly listen to is Gorecki's Symphony #3,book of sorrowful songs. I wish I were stronger emotionally so I could listen to this but it gets inside me and can be overpoweringly emotional.


Absolutely! And thats such a good description of what it's like too! The climactic moment at the end of the vocal solo in the first movement just gets into your soul and rips the emotion right out of you. This is the only piece that consistently brings me to tears, even when I'm not particularly sad or depressed. It's such a cathartic experience.

The ending of Mahler's 2nd Symphony gets to me sometimes too, but not in a sad way. Its more like awe and exultation.


----------



## Keikobad

1) Wotan's Farewell to Brunnhilde, Act III of Die Walküre. Both the earlier vocal section as well as the Magic Fire Music. Wagner achieves a throbbing intensity to the climax which, to my mind, never fails to make me sob (if only inwardly).

2) Mahler's Adagietto movement from his Fifth....also the main theme of his 10th, and the Andante from his 6th. All have, over the years, acquired the most dazzling hold over me.

3) and from Korngold's "Das Wunder der Heliane", the heroine's aria "Ich ging zu ihm". I will always cry at the end of it.


----------



## Mozartgirl92

1. Mozarts Lacrimosa from Requiem
2. Debussys Prelude to the afternoon of a faun.
3. Brahms Hungarian Dance number 4.


----------



## NEF

There are the obvious ones:

Mozart's Requiem esp. the Lacrimosa. Brahms' German Requiem "Denn alles fleisch...". Part's "Tabula Rasa". 1st movement of Gorecki's 3rd. Shosta PC2 mvt 2.

BUT, one that melts me every time like I'm some hopeless idiot ??? The second theme from the 2nd movement of Rachmaninov's 2nd symphony...

Check it out - 1:14


----------



## Chris

For me, nothing is as overwhelming as the Ritual Dances from Tippett's Midsummer Marriage


----------



## Norse

I don't really ever tear up, but of my "lump in throat" moments, the first thing that comes to mind is the Mahler's 2. Symphony finale. That music is so "big" and touching at the same time.


----------



## Earthling

Poppin' Fresh said:


> The "two lovers sit on a park bench" bit at the end of Philip Glass' _Einstein On the Beach_ is the biggest tear jerker I've ever experienced in my life. I weep like a woman every time.


Oh, good-- I thought I was the only one that teared up hearing that!  That is quite a lovely moment...


----------



## afterpostjack

No music does. But Sibelius Lemminkäinen suite got sort of close.


----------



## Glaliraha

One of the best and saddest melodies ever written.


----------



## jhansen_violin

Well, there are two pieces that never fail to bring tears to my eyes (well movements of pieces)

The slow movements from the Bruch Scottish Fantasy and the slow movements from the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1.
Especially the Shosti. It is so lonely and heart wrenching. I can't help but feel such a horrible sense of pity for the poor man. 

The Scottish Fantasy on the other hand is just the pure beauty that brings me to tears.


----------



## World Violist

As far as Western music is concerned, I've definitely teared up during some of Bach's sacred works. I'm not a Christian and I don't speak German, but still there is something unbelievably beautiful about it.

Mahler 2 has always been on my list, especially Bernstein's DG. He doesn't speed up into the last chorale (organ entrance), but makes it feel more akin to the gates of heaven gradually, ever so slowly opening right in front of you. Unforgettable, and gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

With Eastern music, nothing gets under my skin like Nikhil Banerjee. Ravi Shankar is great and all, and definitely plays very well, but Banerjee takes his time and lets everything unfold with such emotional and spiritual depth. Just a few moments of listening are spine-tingling.


----------



## Il Seraglio

Schubert's piano sonata no. 21 in B-flat major really does something to me, as does Beethoven's piano sonata no. 32 even more. I am gaining a whole new appreciation for Beethoven's late works now and realise his 9th symphony and Missa Solemnis scarcely skim the surface.


----------



## Ravellian

I cannot physically listen to Wagner's _Liebestod_ (especially the orchestral version) without crying. I remember about a month ago I was lying in my dorm room with my roommate in the bed beside me, both of us awake late at night, and I decided.. what the heck, I'll play it (preceded by the prelude to the opera). To my embarrassment I was all-out crying by the end of the piece. He didn't say anything.. but he was probably questioning my sanity. Anyways, I can't explain exactly why the piece is so moving to me, but it probably has to do with the futility of life and impossible love, as signified in the opera..


----------



## Meaghan

I had the opportunity to play the _Vorspiel und Leibestod_ a couple of years ago; it was a my first time playing Wagner and was a very moving experience. (Unfortunately, I now associate parts of it with the very weird surrealist film _Un Chien Andalou_ which I had to watch in my French class and which uses it as a soundtrack)

The 2nd movement of Corigliano's _Clarinet Concerto_ ("Elegy") is very sad and very, very beautiful in a way that's reminiscent of a lot of Shostakovich's slow movements.

And whenever I really need to cry and can't, there's nothing more reliably cathartic than the finale of Mahler 2.


----------



## mueske

Ravellian said:


> I cannot physically listen to Wagner's _Liebestod_ (especially the orchestral version) without crying. I remember about a month ago I was lying in my dorm room with my roommate in the bed beside me, both of us awake late at night, and I decided.. what the heck, I'll play it (preceded by the prelude to the opera). To my embarrassment I was all-out crying by the end of the piece. He didn't say anything.. but he was probably questioning my sanity. Anyways, I can't explain exactly why the piece is so moving to me, but it probably has to do with the futility of life and impossible love, as signified in the opera..


The music itself is beautiful enough to make one cry. I've never heard the opera in full (though I have a recording with Bohm), and I know very little about the story, but the Liebestod also makes me cry most of the time.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja

mueske said:


> The music itself is beautiful enough to make one cry. I've never heard the opera in full (though I have a recording with Bohm), and I know very little about the story, but the Liebestod also makes me cry most of the time.


Same for me! I don't think I've actually cried from it, but I get very moved by that work, more than any other Wagner work. Wracked with chills. The Prelude is equally moving to me.

The story is a little similar to Romeo & Juliet, in that 2 lovers from enemy families come together because of a magic spell, and both die, though differently. The Liebestod, which is "Love-Death" in German, is the Aria that Isolde sings for her dead Tristan (who died from a battle wound), and she dies of a broken heart at the end of the piece, and it's also how the opera entirely ends.


----------



## Rasa

Don't listen to this anymore... afraid embarassing scenes might follow.
These four last songs...


----------



## Siegmund

Ah I have this recording as well - beautifull 

I can also completely agree on the Liebestod but would like to add the naming of Siegfried in Die Walküre: 



 ,the immolation scene from Götterdämmerung (Fliegt Heim irh Raben), and Siegmund heiss ich, und Siegmund binn ich from the Walkure again.

Also, the St. Matthew Passion, especially the ending chorus


----------



## KeyserSöze

Two small pieces of music by Khachaturian and Bach:





and





Both absurdly beautiful


----------



## tapio

Faure Requiem - Introitus and "Libera me" when the choir in the end comes in.
Sibelius - Tapiola ending, Swan of Tuonela
Bruckner - the Adagio for Wagner in the seventh
Beethoven Eroica - Marcia Funebre
Mahler 2nd, "...wird mir ein Lichtchen geben, wird leuchten mir..."
RVW Tallis - ...at the violin solo accompanied by the viola.
Elgar - Sospiri
Allan Pettersson Symphony No. 6 ending.

And many more.


----------



## ChopinBlock

Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 29 3rd Movement anybody?


----------



## Huilunsoittaja

This piece, pretty much. :'(


----------



## Chris

Thanks Huilunsoittaja. That's one ballet that's going onto my CD wish list.


----------



## Il Seraglio

CARLOS KLEIBER's rendition of Beethoven's 7th symphony. I have never been moved by the 7th in such a way before.


----------



## Ian Elliott

Sibelius symphonies, Debussy tone poems, Janacek's Taras Bulba and his 2 string quartets, Martinu symphonies 1 - 5, Enescu symphony no 1 and suite for orchestra no 1. Among others. One weeps not from sadness but from profound gratitude at having experienced such beauty.


----------



## myaskovsky2002

None!!!!

Marin Pitchon


----------



## Vivace

Having just joined this forum, I enjoyed reading through all your contributions.
Pieces that move me that have been mentioned:
- a lot of Beethoven, especially 5th piano concerto
-Mozart requiem
- Bach's St Mathew Passion
-Chopin's funeral march and both piano concertos
- Elgar Enigma variations "Nimrod"

Pieces I haven't seen mentioned:
- "Mir ist so Wunderbar" from Beethoven's Fidelio
-"Bist du bei mir" JS Bach
- Schubert's Impromptu no 3


----------



## Vaneyes

Tchaikovsky - Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture, Philharmonia/Muti (EMI)
Elgar - Enigma Variations, Halle/Barbirolli (EMI)
Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 2, Argerich/London Sinfonietta (EMI)
Ravel - Piano Concerto in G, Michelangeli/Philharmonia/Gracis (EMI)
Britten - Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, New Stockholm CO/Csaba (BIS)


----------



## Gymnopédie

Largo from Handel's Xerxes.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja

myaskovsky2002 said:


> None!!!!
> 
> Marin Pitchon


awww, not even those lovely Russian composers?


----------



## Vivace

I forgot to say (and don't yet know how to edit) the 2nd movement of Bach's double violin concerto


----------



## sixamsedna

it would be great if people just started posting youtube links to their suggestions, I know I could practically search for them myself, but still.


----------



## carontes

Das Lied Von Erde, from beggining to end. How come it has been mentioned? it was designed to do just that.


----------



## Ian Elliott

*Thanks*

I want to thank everyone here for broadening my taste. The Gods know it needed it! I began on this forum by wanting to toot my own horn but discovered I have become pretty narrow over the years. From now on I am going to concentrate on exploring the music recommended by the rest of you. I think I will start with Das Liede von der Erde, because I have always affected to despise Mahler without knowing much of him. Pretty shallow of me.

"I am not very musical. I only know two tunes. One of them is 'Yankee Doodle'. And the other one isn't." - Ulysses S. Grant


----------



## Webernite

I don't really cry during any music. The beginning and end of Schumann's _Papillons_ comes close, when played sentimentally. You're supposed to picture the finishing of a masked ball, as the clock chimes.

In this video, it's from about 2:43 onwards:





There are some other moments in Schumann, here and there, that are almost as exquisite. The outbursts of frustration in Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 also get to me.


----------



## Xaltotun

I think that in all art, it's those rare expressions of happiness that are more likely to move me to tears than expressions of pain or sorrow. The latter are the main wellspring of all great art of course - everyday life is sort of sorrowful anyway - but the former seem to be excruciatingly difficult to produce for human beings. An age-old example is that Dante's and Milton's writings of Heaven are pretty boring when compared to their visions of Hell.

But when an artist succeeds in illustrating true happiness, that's when I start shedding tears. It's extremely rare, but it happens. Last time, it was the moment in Das Rheingold when the Rheingold itself rises from the waves, and the Rhinemaidens bask in its glory.


----------



## myaskovsky2002

*Music?*

pressing my ba... with some crocodile clips! It hurts!

Martin, crying


----------



## Saturnus

I'm very easily moved to tears by music so I can't recall even half of the pieces. But here are those who first came into mind of those who have consistently brought tears to my eyes.

Holst - Saturn & Neptune from The Planets
Bach - 2nd movements from Oboe d'amore, double violin & oboe/violin concertos
Bach - The Air
Bach - Ich habe genug BWV 82
Bach - Chiaconne from 2nd solo Violin partita
Britten - Peter Grimes, from the 3rd interlude and onwards
Bartók - Balada from the 15 hungarian peasant songs
Bartók - Adagio religioso from the 3rd piano concerto
Liszt - h minor sonata
Handel - Dixit Dominus, 7th movement "De torrente in via bibet"
Zelenka - Liteniae Lauretanae
Sibelius - Symphony nr. 5, 2nd movement
des Prez - Mille regretz
Beethoven - Violin sonata nr. 6, 2nd movement
Schumann - songs nr. 1, 4, 7 & 12 from Dichterliebe
Schumann - "Alte Laute" from 12 Gedichte
Haydn - 2nd movement from symphony nr.26


----------



## myaskovsky2002

Moved by Holst...

Maybe...just maybe I'm moved by this....Let's listen to it, my friends (mai druzia)






Just moved....

with a smile

Martin Pitchon


----------



## myaskovsky2002

*Are you patient?*

Русская песня (Glinka)

Что, красотка молодая,
‎Что ты, светик, плачешь?
Что головушку, вздыхая,
‎К белой ручке клонишь?
Или словом, или взором
‎Я тебя обидел?
Иль нескромным разговором
‎Ввел при людях в краску?

Нет, лежит тоска иная
‎У тебя на сердце!
Нет, кручинушку другую
‎Ты вложила в мысли!
Ты не хочешь, не желаешь
‎Молодцу открыться,
Ты боишься милу другу
‎Заповедать тайну!

Не слыхали ль злые люди
‎Наших разговоров?
Не спросили ль злые люди
‎У отца родного;
Не спросили ль сопостаты
‎У твоей родимой:
«Чей у ней на ручке перстень?
‎Чья в повязке лента,
Лента, ленточка цветная,
‎С золотой каймою;
Перстень с чернью расписною,
‎С чистым изумрудом?»

Не томи, открой причину
‎Слез твоих горючих!
Перелей в мое ты сердце
‎Всю тоску-кручину,
Перелей тоску-кручину
‎Сладким поцелуем:
Мы вдвоем тоску-кручину
‎Легче растоскуем.

1823
________________________________________

======================================
Words by Anton Delvig

Why, young beauty,
Why, darling, are you crying?
Why are you sighing and lowering
Your little head to your white hand?
Or with a word or glance
Did I insult you?
Or did indiscreet conversation
Make you blush in people's presence?

No, a different sorrow lies
In your heart!
No, another grief,
You keep in your thought!
You don't want, you don't desire
To reveal it to this fine fellow,
You are afraid to relate
To a dear friend your secret!

Have not evil people 
Heard our conversations?
Have not evil people
Asked your native father?
Have not enemies 
Asked your own mother:
"Whose ring does she have
On her finger? 
Whose ribbon does she have
In her hair?
Ribbon, colorful ribbon,
With golden border?
Who a ring with niello design,
And pure emerald gave to you?"

Don't torment yourself, 
Reveal the reason
For your bitter tears!
Pour into my heart
All your grief and sorrow.
Pour all your grief and sorrow
With a sweet kiss:
Together, we will more easily
Sort out your grief and sorrow.










Well. Here you have:
======================================

. A song by Glinka in Russian;
. A translation in English;
. The video of the song (you Tube);
. Rimsky-Korsakov composed a concerto for oboe based on this song (you Tube).
======================================================

I find this very touching...it touches my very soul...a simple and maybe stupid soul, but my very soul.

Martin, in love with Russia and Russian music and Russian litterature and Russian language...


----------



## Huilunsoittaja

*Muahaha!*



myaskovsky2002 said:


> Moved by Holst...
> 
> Maybe...just maybe I'm moved by this....Let's listen to it, my friends (mai druzia)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just moved....
> 
> with a smile
> 
> Martin Pitchon


Cuz Russians rule! I love cello... Glazunov made a Cello Concerto too, by the way. Equally as beautiful as this.

Haven't cried to music in a while, the last thing was like... Prokofiev's Cinderella, the ending.


----------



## Nix

Only live music has ever moved me to tears... so far that being Mahler 2 and the Chaccone from Bach's d minor partita.


----------



## myaskovsky2002

Prokofiev? I laughed looking at Liubov k tri apelsinam (love for 3 oranges) or the Betrothal in a monastery...I love War and peace (voina y mir)...Simeon Kotko is not my cup of tea...nor my vodka...LOL about the story of a real man...nice but to much communist...His short operas are interesting.

Martin


----------



## myaskovsky2002

I think nobody listened to my Glinka song...your bad, it is a wonderful song and so is R-K variations on it for oboe...High class music! You lose it!

Martin


----------



## Kopachris

Strauß's _Also Sprach Zarathustra_, esp. "Von den Hinterwäldlern" and "Das Nachtwanderlied," though every measure of the opus holds a special place in my heart.


----------



## myaskovsky2002

Nutcracker makes me cry...it is so bad!!!!

MARTIN


----------



## Huilunsoittaja

myaskovsky2002 said:


> Nutcracker makes me cry...it is so bad!!!!
> 
> MARTIN


I think that belongs on the "Bores me to tears" thread.


----------



## myaskovsky2002

*About chessnutbraker*

It moves me to tears....it is not boring, it is like watching a soap opera....very very very very corny with all Danielle-steel-kind-characters. This is not necessarily boring, it is dramatically ridiculous...is the dithyramb of mediocrity. It kills me!

I could die while watching it at the theatre....it makes me really sick, I promise you...

Martin

:lol:


----------



## Ian Elliott

Tchaikovsky suffers from over-exposure. If he had been neglected and as obscure, say, as Spohr or Berwald, one might enjoy discovering him for a short time. The same I think is true of Wagner. Regarded as one of the greats, he tends to bombast and can be pretty boring at times, though he has his moments when he seems so ultramodern as to be musical science fiction! But I found it helped to regard him as an important minor composer of the mid-19th century. There is something about being told one must worship at some artist's shrine that takes all the fun out of listening to his music.


----------



## Keikobad

*A minor composer? Really?*



Ian Elliott said:


> Tchaikovsky suffers from over-exposure. If he had been neglected and as obscure, say, as Spohr or Berwald, one might enjoy discovering him for a short time. The same I think is true of Wagner. Regarded as one of the greats, he tends to bombast and can be pretty boring at times, though he has his moments when he seems so ultramodern as to be musical science fiction! But I found it helped to regard him as an important minor composer of the mid-19th century. There is something about being told one must worship at some artist's shrine that takes all the fun out of listening to his music.


Over-exposure for Tchaikovsky? I'm not so sure about that at this point in time. Surely, there was a time in the recent past when Tchaikovsky's star was in the ascent, when Overture 1812 was used to sell cereal, when the Symphonies No. 5 and 6 were more frequently programmed in the concert hall, and The Nutcracker was reliably trotted out for a Christmas outing. Recently, though, (it's just a feeling, mind you) it seems as though PIT resides more upon some back burner.

Then, too, there are a host of PIT's compositions which are programed rarely and, truth be told, surely deserve far more attention than they have received.

How about his Manfred Symphony, or his operas Mazeppa and Eugene Onegin, the Second Piano Concerto in G major, or any number of his chamber works (the String Quartets, the Piano Trio)? These are gorgeous works within the canon and I daresay that far fewer people know they even exist.

We all have our own personal tastes, developed along the course of time and based on who knows what; but I could never regard Wagner as a 'MINOR COMPOSER of the mid-19th Century" even if I disliked the man's music. By the way, Wagner lived from 1813 - 1883; his last opera Parsifal premiered in 1882. He lived far beyond the mid-19th Century; and his later operas paved the way for the music of Mahler, Bruckner, Strauss (to name but a few) and directly influenced the early years of Arnold Schoenberg (before he brought forth his dodecaphonic style).

A MINOR COMPOSER? I hardly think so, Mr. Elliot.


----------



## Chris

How about this:


----------



## myaskovsky2002

*Ugh!*

How about this:






Not nice.

The ladies are ugly, the guy sings ok but a bit to high pitch...They sing in English I think, th eworse language for classical music

But this opinion is very personal.

I'm sorry.

Martin


----------



## Chris

myaskovsky2002 said:


> They sing in English I think, th eworse language for classical music


The words, composed by a freed negro slave, are:

Steal away, steal away,
Steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home,
I ain't got long to stay here.

My Lord, He calls me,
He calls me by the thunder;
The trumpet sounds within my soul,
I ain't got long to stay here.

Steal away, steal away,
Steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home,
I ain't got long to stay here.

Green trees are bending,
Poor sinners stand a-trembling;
The trumpet sounds within my soul,
I ain't got long to stay here.

Steal away, steal away,
Steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home,
I ain't got long to stay here.

My Lord, He calls me,
He calls me by the lightning;
The trumpet sounds within my soul,
I ain't got long to stay here.

I doubt you could translate this into another language without losing much of its poignancy and yearning.


----------



## myaskovsky2002

*Nice*

Nice to have the words... Things become meaninful now.

Martin


----------



## s3raphim

THIS has moved me to tears multiple times:


----------



## the_emptier

jacqueline du pre playing elgars cello concerto

the first time i heard pavarotti, nessun dorma. i was just wowed. also subsequently i have been moved to tears by many things he has done...vesti la giubba, ave maria, and watching his la boheme dvd was to much for me. it was amazing. 

chopins etudes, particularly the last two of op 25...a lot of feeling overwhelm me because i listened to those a lot in a difficult period of time. 

as far as classical i think that's it


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## Pieck

Chopin - 3rd etude
Chopin - 1st nocturne
Brahms - String quintet Op. 111 3rd movement. IMO maybe the most beautiful piece ever written.
Brahms - String quratet no. 2 1st and 4th movements.
Brahms - 3rd symphony 1st movement.
I'm sure there's more from Brahms but I dont keep track of it.
Bach - Violin concerto No. 1 BWV 1041, unbelivablely beautiful piece.
Dvorak - Dumky 2nd movement.
Vitali - Chaconne Heifetz playing.


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## Art Rock

Mahler's Kindertotenlieder.


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## Norse

As mentioned, I don't really tear up (or very rarely), but here's a few more in the extra touching category:

*The slow movements from Brahms' piano concertos both have some very touching moments.
*The 5th and 6th 'movements' from Rachmaninov's Vespers.
*The majestic brass-dominated section at the end of Mahler's 5th. (I'm a sucker for those kinds of things)
*Mahler 9th, last movement.
*Spem in Alium (Tallis)
*The Withsun Hymn from Peer Gynt (Grieg)
*In diesen heil'gen Hallen (Die Zauberflöte)
*May no rash intruder (Solomon - Händel)
*Big parts of the first act of Monteverdi's Orfeo. Especially the choir parts.
*Prokofiev - Alexander's entry into Pskov (Alexander Nevsky - cantata version) Nothing sentimental about it, but very powerful
*Shostakovich, 2. piano concerto, 2. movement.
*Brahms: Intermezzi op. 117
*Borodin - From the Steppes of Central Asia


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## Leogoldseed

I am just a bit surprised Tchaikovsky's Pathetique hasn't been mentioned more. Although maybe I shouldn't be surprised, since I had been listening to it for years, liked it, but never really moved me as much as it did about a year ago. I don't have anything else that moves me in the same way as this. Not even close. For me this is the holy grail of music expression. For the rest, I like pretty much everything else mentioned here very much. Mahler and Bach especially.

Let's just say that the last movement hit me so hard, it made me forget I existed for several minutes, and the only thing that existed I n those few moments was the music and all the wisdom it carried, and nothing else. Since I forgot I existed, therefore my ego dissolved within the music, and cried my eyes out every single time like a baby that was just born minutes ago. I confess I still do many times, after so long. Not of sadness, but absolute awe at how beautiful it is, and even of gratitude for having such opportunity to live and experience this. It sounds crazy, right?

Not all recordings cause the same effect, but the best ones only. See the threads for excellent recommendations.

I should clarify, this didn't happen while being buzzed, drunk, high or on any kind of drugs, since I am not really a user of any the former. The only thing I can say that precipitated this, was a disposition of absolute attention and relaxation (meditative state of mind?) while I listened to this piece during a live concert, and subsequent listening sessions. Just that, and it surprised me more than anyone else, that after listening to so much classical music after decades this could happen, without being a particular big fan of Tchaikovsky.

Anyway, this is a fantastic thread. I wish more people would contribute to it. Because it's making me very enthusiastic about discovering and rediscovering some wonderful music. Thanks to all for such great gifts.


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## hpowders

The Ives Concord Piano Sonata. What an extraordinary work!


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## shangoyal

The finale of Beethoven's 5th symphony.


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## mcaparula

Ravel- Feria from Rhapsodie Espagnole, Daybreak from Daphnis et Chloe, Asie from Scherazade
Poulenc- ending from Gloria
Beethoven-ending of Symphony 9
Stravinsky-ending from The Firebird
Part- ending from Passio
Strauss- Tod und Verklarung (especially the Verklarung!)


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## hpowders

Debussy's Piano Etudes when peeling onions.


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## brotagonist

Classic rock: do I have to hear _that_ again!?


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## Dim7

Classic rock.... now that's some mundane stuff.


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## Le Peel

The third movement of Beethoven WoO 36, No. 3 always seems to get to me.


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## Leogoldseed

Abaddo's Mahler's 9th Adagio. Death portrayed in a romantic and transcendent way. Brings me many times to tears as well.


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## gardibolt

Agreed on the Tchaikovsky Pathetique. Saddest music in the world.

Others: Barber's Adagio (which I became familiar with long, long before it was trendy, having played it in a woodwind choir arrangement in high school), and the Lachrymosa from Verdi's Requiem.


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## dwapluskoci

ZUN - Voyage 1969
It's thrifty (but in a totally perfect way IMHO) but not overly simplistic. I try to not listen to it more than once or twice in a year.


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## Azol

Leogoldseed said:


> Abaddo's Mahler's 9th Adagio. Death portrayed in a romantic and transcendent way. Brings me many times to tears as well.


I watched his performance of Mahler 9 the day I learned of Abbado's passing. The way everyone keeps most profound and awed silence after the last notes of Finale dissolve in the hall...

There are several other pieces that move me to tears... 'Giusto ciel' as performed live by Beverly Sills. Finales of La Boheme and Fanciulla del West.


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## Guest

Gorecki 3 has been known to coincide with an attack of heyfever.


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## SCHLEMO

Elgar's first movement of his first Cello Concerto is ecstasy without the pill.


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## LezLee

Edward Elgar said:


> On that theme, I try not to let "Pavane for a dead infant" affect me too much simply because of it's name. I think it was naughty of Ravel to choose such a suggestive title, because he knew people would respond to the piece with more emotion.
> 
> Since this piece, I pay very little heed to the titles of pieces and just listen to the music as music.


I'm sorry to disillusion you (but might make you feel better about it) but 'infante' translates to 'infanta', the Spanish for princess, and refers to Spanish customs of the 17th century when the pavane was a popular dance at court. It's obviously still a sad piece but nothing to do with children. It was much used on the death of Princess Diana.


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## Ariasexta

L Couperin`s allemande de la Paix in 2012. However, I think too much tear for music is cheap, I have resolved not to weep to music anymore since last year.:tiphat:


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## Tallisman

Not once has a piece of music brought me to tears. I love music with an intense passion, but it is too abstract to move me to tears. Only literature or film has that power.


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## Tallisman

... But if any music were to hypothetically affect me in such a way at some point, I'd have to say Kindertotenlieder


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## Sloe

Azol said:


> Finales of La Boheme


Agree.


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## Pugg

Last act of La Traviata, when Violetta realizes she 's going to die anyway despite waiting for Alfredo.


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## manyene

The slow movement section of the Schmidt 4th Symphony- a searing elegy I found comforting after a close family bereavement.


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## manyene

Oh, and the Lachrymosa section from the Mozart Requiem, wondering what else he might have achieved if nature has been kinder to him.


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## DeepR

Wagner's Liebestod sung by Jessye Norman was the last piece that had such an impact on me.
There's a theory that there always has to be something extra-musical that triggers emotions when listening to music (such as memories, personal circumstances), something I believe a former member used to say, well, I don't agree with it. Of course it happens inside of me, but there's nothing but the music itself that stirs it up.


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## alan davis

William Gomez..."Ave Maria" sung by the divine Elena Garanca.


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## Oakey

Mozart - the Requiem part of Requiem and Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras from Brahms' Deutsches Requiem (especially since its use in the excellent BBC documentary The nazis, a warning from history)


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## Janspe

Abrahamsen's _let me tell you_ is my current go-to tear jerker. It's an unbelievable piece. By the time the soprano (Barbara Hannigan, that is) hits the high note in the last movement, singing the _snow falls_ bit, tears just start running down my cheeks. There's something so evocative and nostalgic about the music, I feel a great sense of calm and resignation when I listen to the piece. It's really hard to put it into words...

Also, Strauss and his _Vier letzte Lieder_.

And basically all of Mahler's symphonies. The _Urlicht_ bit from his 2nd and the _Alles Vergängliche_ finale from the 8th are guaranteed to make me bawl. But also his 6th, my favourite.


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## Pugg

. 
Ave Maria - G. Caccini / Brinums - Inessa Galante

Always in my heart grandad.


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## JosefinaHW

"A hero is an ordinary person who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."

_Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5_, Krystian Zimerman, Leonard Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic

I miss you, Jamie.


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## KenOC

From Dmitri Shostakovich, no hero he. “For some reason, people think that music must tell us only about the pinnacles of the human spirit, or at least about highly romantic villains. But there are very few heroes or villains. Most people are average, neither black nor white. They're gray. A dirty shade of gray."


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## dreadnought

Jessye Norman's "Morgen" never fails to move me.


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## mathisdermaler




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## vamei

Calliope Tsoupaki: St. Luke's Passion


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## DaveM

dreadnought said:


> Jessye Norman's "Morgen" never fails to move me.


Beautiful piece. Here's a piano transcription:

View attachment 2STRAUSSmp3.mp3


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## Mozart555

The final trumpet chorale of Mahler's 3rd.

Also some honorable mentions would be:
1.Mahler's great song from his Ruckert-Lieder, Ich bin der welt abhanden gekommen.
2. Good Friday music from Wagner's Parsifal.
3. A good performance of the Liebestod from Tristan in the context on the opera, seen live, can be shattering.

I also have a soft spot for Faure's requiem, for the slow movement from Schubert's last piano sonata, and for the slow movement from his string quintet.


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## Urban Strata

gardibolt said:


> Agreed on the Tchaikovsky Pathetique. Saddest music in the world.


I honestly don't hear it that way -- at least not the entire work. I've often wondered if people project the emotion of sadness onto Tchaik 6 because of the French mistranslation "Pathétique," but Tchaikovsky really called it "Патетическая" ("Pateticheskaya"), which in English is closer to "passionate" and "emotional." Passionate and emotional can encompass a broad range of intense emotions, not just sadness.

Before you say, "But Urban Strata! The fourth movement is adagio lamentoso! That's_ SAD!_" Yes, the fourth movement is sad. But the symphony is more than one movement. Is the passionately romantic first movement sad? Is the blazing scherzo of the third movement sad? I'd argue no. But they _are_ passionate and emotional; they _are_ "Pateticheskaya!"

Tchaik 6 is no sadder to me than any other work with one mournful movement. Just my $0.02, probably worth less.


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## cleyes39

I like Le Banquet Celeste by Durufle.


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## The Deacon

Vaughan-Williams- Tallis
- Lark Ascending


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## endelbendel

Surprisingly, Ravel's Bolero. But only by Munch, BSO.

Un Bel Di and the humming chorus from Mdme Butterfly - always.


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## Fredx2098

Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello: Feldman's final piece before his untimely death. There are no happy moments here to soften the blow. To me, the piece sounds like his acceptance of death and the final notes, his death. It gets me every time, even just thinking about those final notes.


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## les24preludes

Mozart Clarinet Quintet when I was a teenager. Wouldn't work now.


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## bfBrian

I cried a few tears during the second movement of Beethoven's 9th in concert, but I don't typically have such a strong reaction to a recording of it.

However, the 1st and 2nd movement of Saint Saens Piano concerto #5 will get me even on a recording... even in the car.

Also, The Old Castle from Pictures at an Exhibition is quite moving. I'm going to see that live next month for the first time, and I fully expect tears.


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## Samehada

The last piece to evoke tears in me was Beethoven's piano sonata No. 32 Op. 111. If you know this piece, you probably know what part did it for me... the one where in the span of 10 seconds Beethoven transcend this mortal earth, rocketing through the stratosphere before an inevitable but sweet descent to reality. 

I also listened to Brahms' first piano concerto for the first time just a little over a month ago. Hearing the first movement was a pretty emotional experience, I definetely hit it off with that piece faster than the second piano concerto.


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## Norman Gunston

Anything pre 4th October 1899


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## leonsm

Bach - Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582

Especially on the transition between the Passacaglia and the Fugue.


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## Eusebius12

The slow movement of the Emperor
The end of the variations in the C Minor Piano Concerto of Mozart
The end of Figaro
The transition to a slow tempo in the last movement of k482
Im Abendrot
The slow fugal passage 'Ihr Stuertz Nieder' in the last movement of the 9th
The slow movement of Schumann's piano trio no.1
The slow movement of Faure's Piano Quartet no.1
Dalla sua pace
Soave sia il vento
Ach ich fuehl's
Erbarme Dich
The John Passion in general
Ich Habe Genug
Weinen Klagen
Nacht und Traueme
Chopin's Nocturnes op.62


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## drmdjones

This is such a long thread that I'll admit I haven't read every entry, so I hope I'm not repeating what has already been said. Several works of Brahms move me to tears.

First movement of the Requiem.

Slow mvt of the piano quartet op. 60.

I believe the slow mvt of the first symphony has been mentioned.

I would add the slow mvt of the second symphony.

The Adagio of the first piano concerto has been mentioned. This movement has more than a passing similarity to the slow mvt of Beethoven's op 135 string quartet, which also makes me misty.

Since I've moved away from Brahms I will add the "In Paradisum" from Faure's Requiem.


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## Dorsetmike

Purcell, Dido's lament - When I am laid in earth.


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## ojoncas

Hmm...

I guess I’m the only one to get to tears with Bruckner’s music. *more tears*


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## nobilmente

This is great:


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## millionrainbows

When I heard this, I was moved to tears...I didn't say *why,* though.


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## DeepR

ojoncas said:


> Hmm...
> 
> I guess I'm the only one to get to tears with Bruckner's music. *more tears*


No, you're not. Also, it doesn't seem like you properly searched this thread.


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## millionrainbows

DeepR said:


> No, you're not. Also, it doesn't seem like you properly searched this thread.


Is that little smiley face supposed to lighten the blow? :lol:


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## chu42

Many Franck pieces are particularly moving. Specifically Franck's Violin Sonata and his Prelude, Chorale and Fugue for piano.


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## radiodurans

Tears of joy, sadness, or . . .? Off the top of my head, I have been emotionally wrapped up in Wagner's Tannhäuser overture, the first movement Beethoven's Piano Sonata 14, Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro Sull'aria, Requiem Lacrymosa, and Great Mass Kyrie. My eyes have gotten watery at live performances for pieces I've heard many times before with little reaction but the context of the performance made it moving. I can recall a couple times like that in Venice and Vienna for example, or Church music performed in an old Church. I generally need to surrender thought and let my mind wander with music.


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## BachIsBest

Mahler's 10th. Anyone who listens to that flute solo with dry eyes has no soul.


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