# The longest musical phrase in classical music



## Rasa (Apr 23, 2009)

So I was listening to Tchaikovsky's romeo and juliet ouverture and thought to myself, by god, this is an amazingly long phrase.

Any other phrases / melodies that just keep on going?


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Does the repetition of a musical phrase count? Is so what about...DRUM ROLL...Bolero?!


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Tchaikovsky is the culprit again in the middle section of Francesca da Rimini. Clearly, once he learned that he was a master of melody, not form, it went straight to his head!


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## TWhite (Feb 23, 2010)

Polednice said:


> Tchaikovsky is the culprit again in the middle section of Francesca da Rimini. Clearly, once he learned that he was a master of melody, not form, it went straight to his head!


I can think of two: The long lyric second theme of the finale of the Mahler First Symphony is supposedly 110 measures in length.

And the clarinet theme in the third movement of the Rachmaninov Second Symphony has a pretty epic breadth to it, also (thankfully!).

Tom


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## Falstaft (Mar 27, 2010)

Interesting question. I think it's hard to deny the practitioners of the *bel canto* style Italian opera were the undisputed masters of the long-breathed melody, Donitzetti and Bellini in particular. The most famous example is the luscious two minutes it takes to run through the tune from "Casta Diva" of Bellini's _Norma_ - man, it just stretches on forever. In fact, long, elaborately ornamented, irregularly phrased melodies were a hallmark of bel canto, as audiences seemed to demand ever longer, more virtuosic "melodie lunghe."

I'd also mention Berlioz's _idee fixe_ from the Fantastique, which to my ears is quite Italianate in its construction as well.



Polednice said:


> Tchaikovsky is the culprit again in the middle section of Francesca da Rimini. Clearly, once he learned that he was a master of melody, not form, it went straight to his head!


No doubt! I think the slow movement of the 5th also qualifies, even though it's only 16 measures long, those may be the longest 16 measures in existence (depending who's conducting of course  ).

Now, if you're looking for a different aesthetic, of melody where transition is erased, I think "unendliche melodie" is a fair place to look. Obviously the Tristan Prelude counts, esp. once the Gaze motif begins to unfurl. I think your Mahler example would fall in this stylistic category as well, TWhite. My Mahlerian friend says that Mahler's 1st/4th mvt contains a melody of similar, if not greater breadth. I'd guess the precedents for these melodies are in some of those never-ending Beethoven slow movement subjects, more than from Italian opera.

One of my favorite examples is the beautiful "Jupiter's Departure" from the relatively obscure Strauss opera _The Love of Danae_, which, while not exactly humable, is essentially 5 minutes of uninterrupted through-composed melody for orchestra.

I think some of John (Coolidge) Adams work also falls in this Wagnerian category; IIRC, one of the movements of his _Naive and Sentimental Music_ fits this bill, of a non-stop, ever evolving melody.


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## nefigah (Aug 23, 2008)

The first movement of Beethoven's op. 101 sonata has a melody with a rather "unending" quality to it. That could well be just my perception, though.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Coda of Langgaard's Symphony No. 6 ends with extremely long chord with persussive effects, it is very impressive and memoriable coda.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

John Cage's 4'33" has a phrase that is as many bars long as you want it to be, as long as it's within a little bit over four and a half minutes.

Also, I heard the end of Richard Strauss' Death and Transfiguration the other day, which featured some pretty long phrases...


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

nefigah said:


> The first movement of Beethoven's op. 101 sonata has a melody with a rather "unending" quality to it. That could well be just my perception, though.


Hmm.. maybe THAT's what I should have been thinking about.. I played the 1st and 2nd movements of that sonata for a couple competitions a few years ago, but I could never get the melodies first movement to fit together quite right. The first movement is one of the most difficult, musically, of all Beethoven's pieces.

On topic, I think either Mahler or Wagner has to be the ultimate winner.. probably Wagner, since it can be argued that his operas consist of one very long melody


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## TWhite (Feb 23, 2010)

Speaking of Wagner--Walther's "Prize Song" from "Die Meistersinger" has a HUGE, long-contoured melody that seems to go on (thankfully) forever. In the Opera, it is interrupted several times by choral comments, but when transcribed as an uninterrupted tenor solo for recital purposes, it can almost exhaust both soloist and accompanist. 

Another VERY long-contoured melody for Tenor is the First Act aria from Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier." And certainly the great Trio from Act III of that same opera does two things for the listener--makes you want it to go on forever, and at about four minutes, is WAY too short!

Tom


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## Sebastien Melmoth (Apr 14, 2010)

The most famous of course is the Eb-major intro to Das Rheingold consisting of 136 bars, developing more and more into a triad, describing the Rhine River and launching the cycle.

The MET will stage a Ring Cycle this fall in the 2010-11 season, and it's a great opportunity (via the Saturday mainée live broadcasts) to discover this immortal work.


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## Edward Elgar (Mar 22, 2006)

The 1st mvt. of Scriabin's Piano Concerto. I haven't counted the notes in the first melodic phrase, but they must be nearing 50!


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

The theme of Sir Edward Edgar's First Symphony seemingly goes on forever but not in a bad way. When the full orchestra comes in with it, I find it a rather moving theme. Rather.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Elgar's opening is used to great effect in the beginning of _Greystoke_, a version of Tarzan of the Apes. His ancestral home...


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2018)

contains one of the longest sustained notes...


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Not by actual measures, but by psychological effect, I've always thought the opening theme of the Third Brandenburg Concerto doesn't want to end.


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