# Music Expressing/Exporing Fear



## entelechyengine (Nov 28, 2011)

Dear everyone,
For a course, I am presenting a short paper on (to oversimplify) the use of fear in governing. I am looking for suitable music to accompany it, yet I am drawing a blank. Normally, I prefer more joyous works.

Do you have any suggestions? No such thing as too long or too short; I can use multiple pieces or fragments or a larger one.

I am annoyed at the indifference of the people in this course. It is almost impossible to get them truly involved in anything. I want to move them, to draw them in, to inspire them to feel _something_.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. 
Thank you kindly,


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)




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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Fear may be too specific, at least in my personal definition it requires an object. If you'll settle for alarm, there must be several candidates. The shower scene in the movie Psycho scared the bejassus out of me, first time I heard it. The Boulez/NYPO recording of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra is, for me, a build-up of unease approaching alarm, that tapers off some in the 4th movement but isn't fully relieved until the music takes me home during the finale. I admit that a little cannabis heightens the effect.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Well, are we making a difference between music that induces fear or actually explores fear, per the intent of the composer?

A fearful/creepy piece could be Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste by Bartok. I definitely get a sense of unease from it. But it is absolute music as far as I know; the composer does not explicitly state that it is an exploration of fear.

The ever-ready Sibelian in me immediately thinks of Sibelius's 4th Symphony. One of the popular interpretations of this piece is that is explores the composer's feelings of dread when he was diagnosed with throat cancer. While none of Sibelius's symphonies are programmatic, and the composer himself never specifically endorsed this interpretation, it seems likely that there was some amount of fearful outpouring in this work. After all, Sibelius did say (and I paraphrase) that " a symphony is a confession of one's self at a certain point in ther life." Taking that statement into consideration, I most certainly feel that Sibelius is expressing and exploring fear in his 4th.


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Tapkaara said:


> Well, are we making a difference between music that induces fear or actually explores fear, per the intent of the composer?


I believe he's simply looking for a generic "frightening" piece that would be able to keep a (probably musically novice) audience interested.


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## entelechyengine (Nov 28, 2011)

My main goal is to keep people from sitting comfortably and zoned out. The piece cannot be too intrusive, and I have no problem with subtle effects. In fact, a creepy disease, aimless aniexty, or little tightness at the back of the throat might work better than crashing terrors. 
I am inclined to believe that a good piece written to actually explore fear, per the intent of the composer, would, even if its only subconsciously, produce some sensation of fear. So a deliberate exploration of fear work as well (I am not finished listening to all your suggestions yet, but they are generally excellent. Thank you.
And yes, the audience is musically novice, I'm barely an initiate myself, and one person in the class actively dislikes classical music (I have a secret mission to win him over).


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## jalex (Aug 21, 2011)

Pierrot Lunaire is the one to go for.

Others which come to mind are the scherzo of Mahler 7 and parts of Shostakovich's SQ #11.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

entelechyengine said:


> My main goal is to keep people from sitting comfortably and zoned out. The piece cannot be too intrusive, and I have no problem with subtle effects. In fact, a creepy disease, aimless aniexty, or little tightness at the back of the throat might work better than crashing terrors.
> I am inclined to believe that a good piece written to actually explore fear, per the intent of the composer, would, even if its only subconsciously, produce some sensation of fear. So a deliberate exploration of fear work as well (I am not finished listening to all your suggestions yet, but they are generally excellent. Thank you.
> And yes, the audience is musically novice, I'm barely an initiate myself, and one person in the class actively dislikes classical music (I have a secret mission to win him over).


I recommend, then, the 4th Symphony of Sibelius, 1st movement.


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

Ligeti's Lontano might be a good candidate. 





Something else that comes to mind is the Tarantella movement from Corigliano's 1st Symphony.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I don't know if this is entirely relevant to your needs, but I should mention it, it's generally relevant imo.

The scene towards the end of the opera _Don Giovanni _by *Mozart,* where the Commendatore sends the Don to hell is said to be the first time fear was expressed in an outright in your face way in music. It's been a while since I saw it on TV, there's a giant statue involved. It is very powerful stuff and puts a lie to some who say Mozart's music is just a kind of effete parlour music. Sometimes or maybe often it is, but in this case definitely not.

The second movement, the funeral march, of* Beethoven's *_Sym. #3, Eroica_, has always talked to me about a kind of fear. About every dog having his day. I wonder whether Beethoven was predicting Napoleon's demise in that? It certainly speaks to me of that, esp. when those horns come in, speaking of defeat, gloom, dread, etc. The movement is a masterpiece in itself, this is my favourite Beethoven symphony...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

& I agree with Hilltroll, *Bernard Herrmann's *film music, incl. the score to _Psycho,_ does speak to this topic strongly. Hitchcock was not the only master of suspense, this composer writing the music to his films was no less that as well. I've been listening to his string quartet titled _Echoes,_ and towards the end of it's 20 minute expanse, these jabbing rhythms come in, quite reminiscent of_ Psycho._

*Re Bartok*, another work is his _Divertimento for Strings_, the middle movement, which moves far out of tonality, into regions of distant or maybe atonality, it speaks to troubling thoughts about the inevitable war that was to come by the end of the year it was written, 1939.

Another one is *Penderecki's* _Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima_, or his choral _Dies Irae _(aka,_ Auschwitz Oratorio_)...


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

entelechyengine said:


> Dear everyone,
> For a course, I am presenting a short paper on (to oversimplify) the use of fear in governing. I am looking for suitable music to accompany it, yet I am drawing a blank. Normally, I prefer more joyous works.
> 
> Do you have any suggestions? No such thing as too long or too short; I can use multiple pieces or fragments or a larger one.
> ...


Welcome.

What type of sounds are you looking for to use? Tonal, 12-tone, mixture, industrial noise? Classical music is very, very broad indeed.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Sid James said:


> Another one is *Penderecki's* _Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima_...


Seconded.......


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## Igneous01 (Jan 27, 2011)

I was going to suggest Schnittke, any of his early concerto grosso. But I think there are enough good suggestions here already.


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)




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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

The recent film starring Leonardo Di Caprio, _Shutter Island_, had a soundtrack entirely made up of post-1945 music, and given the film's spooky vibe, it fits the topic of this thread.

The soundtrack is out on a 2 disc set, one which I'm thinking of picking up, some composers mentioned here are featured - Cage, Penderecki, Ligeti, Schnittke, Feldman, etc. It would also serve well as a good introduction to some significant post-1945 composers and their music...


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Classic.


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