# Your Miserable List (Miserabilist)



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

What are the pieces or composers whose music makes you feel miserable? Or even make you like the way they make you feel miserable?

Currently I'm reading This Will End in Tears: The Miserabilist Guide to Music, a recent book by Adam Brent Houghtaling.

This books covers 'miserabilist' music across all genres, including classical but also much rock, pop, folk, jazz, r&b and so on.

There is no one definition of what a 'miserabilist' is. There is a quote by one of my favourite singers of the past, Edith Piaf, which kind of encapsulates for me how miserable, dark, depressing, melancholic (etc.) music often effects me as a listener:

"I feel happy when I sing a sad song and sad when I sing a happy song. When you sing a song that is up, where can you go but down? But if you sing a song that is down, where can you go but up?" (p. 228)

So every cloud has its silver lining, in other words. You've got to sink to the bottom of the barrell before you rise to the top. Or you can call it something fancy like catharsis, poignancy or pathos. Whatever.

At the end of the book, Houghtaling gives his own 'miserabilist' list of _100 Saddest Songs_ across all genres. Following are the classical items on the list only, ordered from top to bottom.

_Adagio for Strings_ - Samuel Barber (#1 on the whole list)
_Dido's Lament _- Henry Purcell (#5)
_Prelude #4 in E minor _- Frederic Chopin (#11)
_Mille Retretz_ - Josquin des Prez (#21)
_Sym.#3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)_ - Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki (#27)
_Der Abschied (The Farewell) _- Gustav Mahler (#34)
_Dies Irae _- Thomas of Celand (#37)
_Rothko Chapel _- Morton Feldman (#39)
_Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man)_ - Franz Schubert (#41)
_Con onor muore (To die with honor)_ - Giacomo Puccini (#53)
_Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten_ - Arvo Part (#66)
_Adagio in G minor_ - Albinoni [but really by R. Giazotto, based on a mere fragment by Albinoni] (#89)*

Other classical composers discussed throughout the book are Sibelius and Pettersson (not surprisingly, me thinks).

*So what I'm asking is for you to give us some music or composers whose music makes you feel miserable or like a 'miserabilist.' Let us know things like why you listen to this music, how often, whether you like it a lot or just a little (or avoid it like the plague, don't want to 'go there') and so on.*

The link I put above to the book at Google Books includes extracts if you want to read more into this.

* My correction in square brackets.


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2012)

Mine is a simple answer. As I have no moral soul, it's only music from other genres that has the capacity to make me miserable. Classical can move me, but not make me miserable.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

How about Shostakovich's last quartet? Or (even worse) Schnittke? Moussorgsky's "Song and Dances of Death" or its counterpart, Shostakovich's 14th Symphony? Better put a lock on that knife drawer!

Added: Not meaning to pick on the Russians here...

Re Allan Pettersson, mentioned in the OP: "...a musical testament of a spiritual longing faced with the existential void that we see in the faces of the homeless, the sick, and the beaten-down." Bring those dancing shoes!


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Allan Pettersson. That guy's symphonies are intriguing for being so unique in their own right, but to listen to most of his symphonies all the way through is to experience more stress than I'm usually comfortable with.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

clavichorder said:


> Allan Pettersson. That guy's symphonies are intriguing for being so unique in their own right, but to listen to most of his symphonies all the way through is to experience more stress than I'm usually comfortable with.


Hahaha that is too true. I like them though because I'm a tormented soul.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

And here is a true classic of a sad song, by John Dowland:


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

I think the Samuel Barber piece listed above takes the prize.


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

Tchaikovsky's 6th. Of all Classical I know that is the only one.


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## Schubussy (Nov 2, 2012)

of course





and it's not classical but I think the thread still needs this


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

Bach, the chorale prelude "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" BWV 639. I first encountered it in Tarkovsky's film Solaris, and I find it's one of the most haunting pieces I know.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Like Johnny Cash's Home of the Blues, Marty Robbins' Knee deep in the Blues and 'Cuts like a Knife' song?

And as my Body is nothing but a corpse and my true identity is my Soul, I also can add this one:

Paul Lawler - Tragedy (no YT available)


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## Praeludium (Oct 9, 2011)

I don't find the Barber's piece particularly sad... ? Kind of meditative and soft. It's not very climactic, either. 

Mozart's Qui Tollis from his Great Mass in C minor. Or Fauré's Elegie for Cello&Piano. Two quite common examples but those are the ones I'm thinking about right now.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

No music has that power. Back when the world and I were young, I allowed a woman or two that privilege.


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## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

From Shelly's _Ode To A Skylark_

We look before and after,
And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.​


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Can it get much sadder than "Senza Mama" from Suor Angelica? That aria cuts me in two. Outside of classical, "Two for Tragedy" and "Creek Mary's Blood" are achingly melancholy.


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Sid James is an EMO? Well I never...

EDIT: My only two immediate suggestions that haven't been suggested so far are Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht and A Survivor from Warsaw.


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2012)

Hilltroll72 said:


> No music has that power. Back when the world and I were young, I allowed a woman or two that privilege.


I love the last part, but disagree with the first. There is music that can, and has, made me miserable, but I already bared my soul on that one in another thread, and I don't need to start a habit of being confessional!


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

KenOC said:


> How about Shostakovich's last quartet? Or (even worse) Schnittke? Moussorgsky's "Song and Dances of Death" or its counterpart, Shostakovich's 14th Symphony? Better put a lock on that knife drawer!
> 
> Added: Not meaning to pick on the Russians here...
> 
> Re Allan Pettersson, mentioned in the OP: "...a musical testament of a spiritual longing faced with the existential void that we see in the faces of the homeless, the sick, and the beaten-down." Bring those dancing shoes!


Yes,but Russians really enjoy being miserable!


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

'La Mamma morta' from "Andrea Chenier",Schubert's 'Winterreiser' and Kenny Rogers' 'Ruby,Don't Take Your Love To Town',now they're pretty darned miserable.


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

I don't know about miserable, but sad, because I know the history about this clip


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

A correction of my opening post:

After Barber's _Adagio _on Houghtaling's list, between that and Purcell's_ Dido's Lament _I missed out typing:

*In Darkness Let Me Dwell - John Dowland (#3 on the list)*

Thanks for all contributions so far, I will be back later!


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Ramako said:


> Tchaikovsky's 6th. Of all Classical I know that is the only one.


Agreed on Tchaikovsky 6! The last movement, and particularly the last minute is the worst. I love it, and hate it at the same time.

Also, Shostakovich's 5th symphony, the end of the 1st mvmt, with that icy celesta thing, and then the Largo, both give me really edgy, pained emotions. Then the 8th String Quartet, also the ending of that one.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Now for my miserable list:

These are ones with which I like that cathartic effect, that kind of emotional release:

*Shostakovich *- a lot of his things, I often get very emotional with his music
*Tchaikovsky* - _Piano Trio_
*Schoenberg* -_ Violin Concerto_
*Bernstein* - Lenny's music has same 'emo' effect on me as Shosty's - good one cmoorhead! - eg. _Sym.#3 'Kaddish' _; but also _Somewhere_ from _West Side Story_, or the ending with mezzo-soprano of_ Sym.#1 'Jeremiah' _
*Berg* - _Wozzeck_
*Rachmaninov *- _Trio Elegiaque #2_
*Elgar *- _String Quartet in E minor, Op. 83_
*Messiaen *- _Quartet for the End of Time_

Ones where its the case of 'I don't wanna go there' - these cut too deep, so I hardly listen to them:

*Sibelius* - _Sym.#4_ - depressing as hell, once you think you are at the top of the mountain at the end, he plunges you back down into the crevasse. Devastating portrait of depression/misery if there ever was one.
*Tchaikovsky* - _Sym.#6 'Pathetique' _(I'm not the only one on that, it seems!)
*Mahler* - _Sym.#9_
*Bruckner *-_ Sym.#9_
*Schubert* - _Winterreise _(same as Moody and the book!)

My top 'miserabilist' performers of non-classical (whose stuff I like - Merrill is the only one not in the book) :

Nina Simone
Edith Piaf
Helen Merrill
Billie Holiday


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Of the second category of Sid's, to me, much of Brahms is very depressing. I like Brahms, and his depressing sound, but when I listen to it for extended periods of time, I feel burdened and almost claustrophobic. Tchaikovsky's music may be equally or more depressing, but there are many episodes of grandiose day dream like episodes that give it a freeing quality.


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

Comes to my mind Arvo's Spiegel im Spiegel. After having some very difficult time this oeuvre made me shade tears deeply. Nowadays I have found this same piece beautifully touching.

The video below is a really beautiful moment of sublime meditative and peaceful contemplation.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I have to agree with Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful songs.

Non-classical, a trio from Frank Sinatra:

Send in the Clowns
Softly as I Leave You
I'll Be Seeing You


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Sonata said:


> I have to agree with Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful songs.
> 
> Non-classical, a trio from Frank Sinatra:
> 
> ...


Ah, "Send in the Clowns". Doesn't make me _miserable_, but it's certainly a downer.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

It's largely the meaning I attach to it. When I was growing up, my family would go out to dinner to a place that had live music, and Sinatra songs were a staple. My parents loved to dance together there. And this song in particular describes the nature of their recent split so well:

"Me here at last on the ground, and you in mid-air." And later "One who keeps tearing around and one who can't move"

My mom is happy to be moving on, my dad is crushed. So I'll always think about the contrast between the then and now with them whenever I hear the song.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Ah, "Send in the Clowns". Doesn't make me _miserable_, but it's certainly a downer.


Whenever I hear it, I think of a George Lucas movie...


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Sonata said:


> It's largely the meaning I attach to it. When I was growing up, my family would go out to dinner to a place that had live music, and Sinatra songs were a staple. My parents loved to dance together there. And this song in particular describes the nature of their recent split so well:


That's so sad. That kind of thing is when we realize happy-faced clowns don't work.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I'm surprised Rothko Chapel made the list. I don't see it as miserable. Sure, it's written in memory of Rothko after his suicide, but it's more evocative than miserable.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

I'll proclaim this, *Love a Rabbit Day*.

View attachment 9646


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Ah, "Send in the Clowns". Doesn't make me _miserable_, but it's certainly a downer.


We sang a choral version of that in my choir last spring. Many in our choir found it depressing.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

The lament at the end of Carissimi's Jephthe (starting at 4:23) is sad. Paul McCreeesh's version is _very_ sad. I would listen to it more, but McCreesh doesn't make that part a separate track.






One song which makes me absolutely miserable is the Beatles' If I Fell in Love With You. When it was a hit, I had a 104+ fever to the point of hallucinations. To this day, when I hear that song, I'm back in bed in my room with my forehead on fire, seeing things.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

clavichorder said:


> Of the second category of Sid's, to me, much of Brahms is very depressing. I like Brahms, and his depressing sound, but when I listen to it for extended periods of time, I feel burdened and almost claustrophobic. Tchaikovsky's music may be equally or more depressing, but there are many episodes of grandiose day dream like episodes that give it a freeing quality.


Yes, Brahms is sometimes like that. Esp. his_ PIano Quartet #3_, started at the time Schumann was going through his final decline, and Brahms could not make himself complete it. He completed it 20 years later. Brahms was reading Werther at the time, hardly uplifting. He was depressed, also about not being able to get Clara. The slow movement is seen as conveying his feelings for her. The ending is a kind of dark Hungarian gypsy dance, not at all happy as in the first piano quartet. He broke with convention and ended in C minor, not C major. Conservatives let him know about that! THis is one of those heartbreaking works, and it would go on my first list, I like the release it gives, the story it tells, etc.

Another one like that is R. Strauss'_ Metamorphosen_, which saw Strauss finally drop his rock solid mask and write a piece of music about his emotions - the backdrop being the tragedy of WW2.

Then there's Janacek's _On an Overgrown Path_, written after his daughter died aged only 20, its in memory of her, and one of the movements is titled 'in tears' which reflects the state of mind Janacek was in when he wrote this work, full of memories and emotions about the worse situation for a parent, when your child dies before you. That one is one I don't listen to often but I don't entirely avoid it either.



Sonata said:


> I have to agree with Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful songs.
> 
> Non-classical, a trio from Frank Sinatra:
> 
> ...


Ol blue eyes gets a section devoted to him in Houghtaling's book. At the end of that, a list of his 'miserabilist' songs. A fact that is quoted in the book (which I did not know) is that one of Sinatra's songs ('My Way') is the most common piece played at funerals in Australia. Anyway, this is the list at the end of the book's Sinatra bit:

1. I'll never smile again
2. I get along witout you very well
3. I'm a fool to want you
4. Only the lonely
5. One more for my baby
6. The september of my years
7. Rain in my heart
8. Didn't we
9. Watertown
10. A long night

I didn't see Frank as being super 'miserable' (unlike eg. Nick Cave) however his song 'I did it my way' has always kind of connected with me. Even though he says he's got 'too few to mention' regrets in that song, its ironic how it comes across as a song full of regret, or at least seeing yourself in not the most positive light when you look back at your life.



crmoorhead said:


> Sid James is an EMO? Well I never...
> 
> EDIT: My only two immediate suggestions that haven't been suggested so far are Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht and A Survivor from Warsaw.


Yes, overall Arnie is no walk in the park, but his _Violin Concerto _tops off my 'miserabilist' re what things I've heard in his output. But I don't listen to him on a whim, I have to be in the right kind of mood receptive to his stuff. It can be confronting and rewarding at the same time.



Manxfeeder said:


> I'm surprised Rothko Chapel made the list. I don't see it as miserable. Sure, it's written in memory of Rothko after his suicide, but it's more evocative than miserable.


I've not heard that work but I will look in the book and tell you on this thread later what it writes about it. Eg. why it got on the list.


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

Grieg - Aases Death
Gorecki - Symphony of Sorrowfull Songs
John Williams - Schindlers List


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Lullaby Set by Shira Kammen. She is a celtic musician, and the song is with piano and violin. No lyrics but so wonderfully poignant.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

There is poignant, melancholy, and downright sad music, but for a spell of true, unrelenting misery, for me it's the Shostakovich 8th symphony.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Sid James said:


> I've not heard that work but I will look in the book and tell you on this thread later what it writes about it. Eg. why it got on the list.


Thanks. I'm interested in what he says.


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

> Then there's Janacek's _On an Overgrown Path_, written after his daughter died aged only 20, its in memory of her, and one of the movements is titled 'in tears' which reflects the state of mind Janacek was in when he wrote this work, full of memories and emotions about the worse situation for a parent, when your child dies before you. That one is one I don't listen to often but I don't entirely avoid it either.


I forgot about this one. 


> Yes, overall Arnie is no walk in the park, but his _Violin Concerto _tops off my 'miserabilist' re what things I've heard in his output. But I don't listen to him on a whim, I have to be in the right kind of mood receptive to his stuff. It can be confronting and rewarding at the same time.


The only reason I didn't this is because I haven't heard it yet, but I'll promse to do so soon.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

I think that 'Revenge,Timotheus Cries' from "Alexander's Feast" if pretty ultra miserable.


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## palJacky (Nov 27, 2010)

"grimes, grimes"....gets me every time...vickers over Pears...
perhaps the entire despair of the opera is off topic...
but that little horn call just....

in shostakovich, the saddest for me is the 13th symphony. I don't think it has been mentioned.
I know and I really want to see that Jerry lewis concentration camp clown film anyway..


and has 'der abschied' from 'erde' been mentioned?..
EWIG......just thinking about makes tear up

five minute edit....'erde' in the OP---oh well i second it---


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Manxfeeder said:


> Thanks. I'm interested in what he says.


Well, here it is (from the 100 Saddest Songs list at the end of Houghtaling's book) :

_*39. Rothko Chapel - Morton Feldman*
Houston's Rothko Chapel - an ecumenical bunker of "contemplation and action" that contains fourteen of painter Mark Rothko's massive, dark, monochromatic color-field canvases - was completed in 1971, though Rothko never lived to see it, having committed suicide in February of the previous year. Soon after, Rothko's close friend, the large, boisterous composer Morton Feldman, crafted Rothko Chapel in his honor, to be performed in the new space. The strings weep, the timpani rumbles, and the wordless chorus ebbs forward from a fog as fragments of mourning occur and dissipate in brief instances of sublime melancholy - an atomized lament - before a final, perfect gesture is offered and a glowing celesta figure introduced a majestically sad, pastoral viola melody, which Feldman had written decades earlier, during World War II. Rothko once said "I'm interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom..." and Feldman, who searched only for the "very few essential things" within vast expanses of sound and silence, looked to him - and other New York painters - for inspiration. As such it's only fitting that the composer's most heartfelt work should be so directly inspired._


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## Renaissance (Jul 10, 2012)

My top #1.


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