# Specific parts of classical works which have moved you to tears



## WeThotUWasAToad (Mar 17, 2015)

What are some _specific segments_ of classical works which have moved you to tears?

I have many but two that evoked that response just this weekend are:

• Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1, 2nd Movement - I think it's the 2nd solo theme (at about 2:20 with the bassoon in the background)

• Mendelssohn Elijah, Part 1, 9th Movement: "Blessed are they who fear the Lord"


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

I don't usually like Scriabin but I recently discovered this prelude and the entire thing could be my answer. In the spirit of the thread I particularly like the moment at 0:44.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Always give me goosebumps .


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## lextune (Nov 25, 2016)

Debussy - Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Tchaikovsky's Sixth symphony, last movement.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Literally to tears? None.

Strong emotional response to Mahler (Kindertotenlieder, Das Lied von der Erde), Schubert (Winterreise), Bach (St Matthew's passion), Gorecki (Symphony 3).


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Art Rock said:


> *Literally to tears? None.*
> 
> Strong emotional response to Mahler (Kindertotenlieder, Das Lied von der Erde), Schubert (Winterreise), Bach (St Matthew's passion), Gorecki (Symphony 3).


It is very rare for me as well. I think it has only been at live performances, anyways, when I think the music has a much more powerful effect.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Below are some examples for me:

Bach - Passacaglia and Fugue, BWV 582;
Bach - Partita for Violin No. 2, BWV 1004, final movement;
Bach - Mass in B minor, BWV 232, Kyrie and Agnus Dei;
Mozart - Symphony No. 38 "Prague", K. 504, second movement;
Mozart - Ave Verum Corpus, K. 618;
Mozart - Requiem, K. 626, Lacrimosa;
Beethoven - Sonata No. 23 "Appassionata", Op. 57, first and third movements;
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 7, Op. 59 no. 1, third movement;
Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral", Op. 68, second and fifth movements;
Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor", Op. 73, second movement;
Beethoven - Sonata No. 31, Op. 110, first and third movements;
Beethoven - Sonata No. 32, Op. 111, second movement;
Beethoven - Missa Solemnis, Op. 123, Kyrie and Sanctus (with Giulini);
Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 "Choral", Op. 125, third movement;
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 12, Op. 127, second movement;
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132, third movement;
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 13, Op. 130, sixth movement (Große Fuge);
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131, first and fourth movements (with Bernstein, arr. for orchestra);
Schubert - Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished", D. 759, both movements;
Schubert - Fantasie "Wanderer", D. 760, second movement;
Schubert - Piano Sonata No. 21, D. 960, first movement;
Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 35 first movement (played by Guiomar Novaes);
Wagner - Tannhäuser overture;
Wagner - Lohengrin, second act;
Wagner - Das Rheingold (particularly, the first and the last 30 minutes);
Wagner - Die Walküre;
Wagner - Tristan und Isolde;
Wagner - Götterdämmerung (first 30 minutes of act I, last 50 minutes of act III);
Wagner - Parsifal, second act;
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 5, Op. 64, second movement;
Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66, first act;
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 "Pathéthique", Op. 74, first movement;
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 75 (performed by Fedoseyev/Pletnev);

*Beethoven - String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131 (arr. for orchestra) - Bernstein:*


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## WeThotUWasAToad (Mar 17, 2015)

Thank you for the responses.



Tchaikov6 said:


> It is very rare for me as well. I think it has only been at live performances, anyways, when I think the music has a much more powerful effect.


Out of curiosity, can you identify the reason(s) for that being the case?

Some possibilities: 
• the environment of a concert including the visual input, 
• being more focused on the music when attending a live performance, 
• the audio disparity, regardless of the quality of one's speaker system, between a live and reproduced performance
• others?


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

WeThotUWasAToad said:


> Thank you for the responses.
> 
> Out of curiosity, can you identify the reason(s) for that being the case?
> 
> ...


All of what you said, definitely. And I guess in a way it has to do with the "energy" produced at a concert, something that makes many concerts greater than recording: I'm struggling to put it in words, but it definitely affects me tremendously.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Poulenc - Trois Novelettes pour piano #1


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## jameslewitzke (Dec 4, 2018)

Might be a bit of a boring choice, not sure, but I want to mention Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 Finale, and the Ode to Joy theme, however not the main choral variation everyone normally points to.

I specifically find the first introduction of the theme from the Cellos and Basses, and the way it flows into Violas, and then eventually to the Violins, especially moving and powerful. I even pay some tribute to that section in my first Symphony. Definitely enjoy that part pretty well.


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## 13hm13 (Oct 31, 2016)

Mozart's intention, literally, when writing his Requiem's Lacrimosa.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Schumann's Symphony No. 4 in D minor, op. 20. starting at 11:52, there is a "sad" melody stated by a cell and an oboe, but the part that really gets me is the harmonic chord change at 12:35, and again at 13:46. This doesn't make sense on the surface; a melody is supposed to "get" you, but in this case the chord change does it for me.

Then, at 14:00, the achingly beautiful violin melody in sixths: whew! Wanna see a grown man cry? Bernstein is excellent in this; look how emotive he is. A beautiful man! But my "go to" version is this KOCH CD:


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## Littlephrase (Nov 28, 2018)

My recent listening to Bach's Chaccone, I'm not the least bit embarrassed to say, got me weeping like a baby. 

Beethoven's Heiliger Dankesgesang and the Adagio from Schubert's String Quintet always blow me away, as well.


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## WeThotUWasAToad (Mar 17, 2015)

This is wonderful! Please keep the suggestions coming.

Thanks so much to those who have contributed comments as they have brought to mind several exquisitely beautiful compositions which I haven't heard for a while and, perhaps of even greater value, pointed me towards some new pieces with which I have not previously been familiar.

Another work which came to mind since my last post and which belongs on the list is:

_Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, Op. 11_


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

WeThotUWasAToad said:


> This is wonderful! Please keep the suggestions coming.
> 
> Thanks so much to those who have contributed comments as they have brought to mind several exquisitely beautiful compositions which I haven't heard for a while and, perhaps of even greater value, pointed me towards some new pieces with which I have not previously been familiar.
> 
> ...


I would also recommend _Albinoni's Adagio in G minor_, by Remo Giazotto. It was composed by the end of World War II and is in my opinion one of the saddest and most beautiful pieces that I know from the twentieth century.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde "Liebestod", which I've known for not so long, is the last piece that moved me to tears. It happens during the final couple of minutes. Without paying much attention to the text and its meaning in the context of the opera. The music is enough for me.





I also remember the first piece that moved me to tears: when I was discovering classical music through a classical radio station (age 14): the ending to the adagio of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2. Classic tear-jerker for classical newbies.





Anothere special piece I'd like to mention is the Andante of Scriabin's Third Piano Sonata:


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Howard Skempton's "Lento" does it for me, and yet I don't quite know why. The theme that starts at 2.43 is so heartbreaking...
I honestly consider this work to be a masterpiece.


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## WeThotUWasAToad (Mar 17, 2015)

Add this to my list: 
Giulio Caccini : Ave Maria for Cello and Strings - Julian Lloyd Webber


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

WeThotUWasAToad said:


> This is wonderful! Please keep the suggestions coming.
> 
> Thanks so much to those who have contributed comments as they have brought to mind several exquisitely beautiful compositions which I haven't heard for a while and, perhaps of even greater value, pointed me towards some new pieces with which I have not previously been familiar.
> 
> ...


Sibelius Symphony 4, 3rg movement climax:


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