# doomy funeral music in classical



## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

What is uber doom, im not talking doom metal, but *primal doom classical doom*, music of sadness and sorrow.Music in other words that is really sad and reek pain and human suffering, something that bring cold tears on the cheeks, music of depression...

I dont know why but *Erik Satie *gnoscienne fit in here so is *Gorecki* and* Lutoslawsky* works in general, but what other obscure composer fit somewhere in there that reek sadness , hopelessness,something that not a barrel of laught. like ''Albinoni's adagio'' fameous piece by grazzioto.

*What are the bleakest classical composer and there symphonies?* 
:tiphat: i hope you enjoy this post


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Chopin is *sad*.
Sometimes, anyway.
No symphonies, I'm afraid.


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## jtbell (Oct 4, 2012)

Sibelius's Fourth Symphony. In Swedish some people called it the "barkbröd" symphony because it reminded them of times when people were so poor that they had to peel the bark off of trees and make bread out of it.


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## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

Or movements from symphonies - funeral marches? Beethoven comes to mind. Alkan. Mahler.

Stand alone funeral marches? Grieg - Funeral March for Rikard Nordraak.. I'm sure there are more but at this early hour only these come to mind.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Mahler's 10th, dude. Mahler's 10th


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

deprofundis said:


> What is uber doom, im not talking doom metal, but *primal doom classical doom*, music of sadness and sorrow.Music in other words that is really sad and reek pain and human suffering, something that bring cold tears on the cheeks, music of depression...
> 
> I dont know why but *Erik Satie *gnoscienne fit in here so is *Gorecki* and* Lutoslawsky* works in general, but what other obscure composer fit somewhere in there that reek sadness , hopelessness,something that not a barrel of laught. like ''Albinoni's adagio'' fameous piece by grazzioto.
> 
> ...


Schubert is generally a pretty melancholic composer - try his Unfinished Symphony (No. 8). The slow movement of Beethoven's Eroica symphony also comes to mind. Michael Haydn's Requiem in C minor is another great example:






Mozart's Requiem as well, of course. Also try Joseph Haydn's The Seven Last Words:




(here in the quartet version, there are also orchestral and oratorio versions of the piece)


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Rachmaninov's "Isle of the dead" comes to mind. And, er, just about everything else he wrote. 

Barber's Adagio for strings.

Some of Shostakovich's symphonic movements.

The Elegy from Bartok's Concerto for orchestra.


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## stevens (Jun 23, 2014)

1) Rachmaninoff: "Vocalise"

2) J.S Bach: "Erbarme dich"

3) J Sibelius "Valse Triste" 

4) Maurice Ravel - Pavane for Dead Princess

5) Sibelius "The Swan of Tuonela"


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Suk's Asrael Symphony and Mahler's Kindertotenlieder!

/ptr


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Tchaikovsky's 6th, _adagio lamentoso_.

Bruckner's 7th, _adagio_

*Non-symphonic*

Tchaikovsky - Piano Trio in A minor, _"In memory of a great artist"_

Rachmaninov - Elegaique Trios

Grieg - Peer Gynt #1, _The Death of Ase_


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

Some late Shostakovich works:

Symphony 14 - essentially a song cycle about death.
String Quartet no. 15 and the Viola Sonata - both said to be about his own impending death.
Six Poems by Maria Tsvetaeva - from texts by a poetess whose husband was executed and son was sent to a gulag. She hung herself - to death.


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2014)

Odd that someone opened up a thread for Allan Pettersson at the same time, and no one's made the connection over here


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The obvious response would be the funeral march from Beethoven's Eroica symphony.

I would also offer up Allan Pettersson's entire 7th symphony, a non-stop dirge of utter sadness and anger.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

The finale of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6. The closing bars are as powerful a depiction of the last dying heartbeats as anything. The most painful B minor you will ever hear.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

maestro267 said:


> The finale of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6. The closing bars are as powerful a depiction of the last dying heartbeats as anything. The most painful B minor you will ever hear.


Correct. I find it almost unbearable to hear, it's such a personal statement of despair.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

elgars ghost said:


> Some late Shostakovich works:
> 
> Symphony 14 - essentially a song cycle about death.
> String Quartet no. 15 and the Viola Sonata - both said to be about his own impending death.
> Six Poems by Maria Tsvetaeva - from texts by a poetess whose husband was executed and son was sent to a gulag. She hung herself - to death.


I forgot about the SQ No. 15 but yes, it's almost unbearably intense at times.


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## ProudSquire (Nov 30, 2011)

Mozart's Maurerische Trauermusik, K.477/479a springs to mind as well.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

Elegy for Solo Viola - Igor Stravinsky:





Trauermusik - Paul Hindemith:


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Wagner, "Siegfrieds Funeral March" from "Gotterdammerung"




Wagner, Prelude to "Tristan und Isolde"




Purcell, "When I am laid in Earth" from "Dido and Aenas"




Purcell "Funeral Music for Queen Ann"




Chopin "Funeral March" Bb minor sonata




Rachmaninoff, Prelude in C# minor




Bach, Finale, unfinished fugue from "Art of the Fugue"




Bach, Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor




Tchaikovsky, Andante cantabile from String Quartet




Dowland "Flow my Tears"




Foster "Hard Times"




Mozart "Lacrimosa" from "Requiem"




Mozart Second movement from "Clarinet Concerto"




Puccini "E lucevan le Stelle" from Tosca




Leoncavallo "Vesti la giubba" from "Pagliacci"
Translation
Go on stage, while I'm nearly delirious?
I don't know what I'm saying or what I'm doing!
And yet, chin up! I'll try harder.
Bah, you think you're a man?
You're just a clown!
On with the show, man, and put on your white-face.
The people pay you and you must make them laugh.
And if Harlequin should steal your Columbine,
laugh, you're Pagliaccio, and the world will clap for you!
Turn into banter all your pain and sorrow,
and with your clown's face hide grief and distress...
Laugh loud, Pagliaccio, forget all your troubles,
Laugh off the pain that so empoisons your heart. 
Bartok "Bluebeards Castle" the whole thing. 




Holst "Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age" from "The Planets"




Grieg "Ase's Death" from "Peer Gynt"




Beethoven Second movement from Symphony #7


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Sadness, sorrow, pain, suffering, doom, gloom, depression, despair, hopelessness...

Would I be a spoilsport to point out that these words refer to several different emotions? I'd say there are plenty of pieces of music that might seem sad but neither gloomy nor hopeless, or might project sorrow without depression or a feeling of impending doom. About the only thing that all these states of mind have in common is the absence of happiness. Yet even there it's possible to have happy and sad feelings simultaneously, to experience suffering as cathartic, or to feel an inner strength despite the pain of outward tribulation.

Music may not be capable of conveying complex concepts, but it can, I think, convey complex feelings, and in the hands of great composers usually does so. For example, I can think of very few pieces of music that suggest true hopelessness. I'd agree that Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" ends up there, and some late works of Shostakovich feel utterly bleak to me. But even Rachmaninov's _Isle of the Dead_ contains passions, glimpses of joy, and an aura of mystery that paradoxically speak of the love of life even in inevitable resignation to its end.

It's as wrong to oversimplify the expressive meaning of music as it is to deny it.


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

The first time I heard the Swan of Tuonela was on BBC Radio 3. I didnt hear the beginning so I didnt know what it was. I thought it was the most beautiful soaring piece of music I had ever heard. Still do. Strange how we perceive music ourselves when we aren't told how we should by others.


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## Avolon (Sep 14, 2014)

John Adams, "On the Transmigration of Souls"


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> But even Rachmaninov's _Isle of the Dead_ contains passions, glimpses of joy, and an aura of mystery that paradoxically speak of the love of life even in inevitable resignation to its end.
> 
> It's as wrong to oversimplify the expressive meaning of music as it is to deny it.


Well said. Just as Bocklin's picture has elements that are not gloomy within a somewhat gloomy overall canvas


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Shostakovich - Symphony 14.


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