{"id":35956,"date":"2016-04-07T14:33:46","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T18:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=35956"},"modified":"2020-02-21T15:38:32","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T20:38:32","slug":"liszts-10-saddest-classical-music-pieces-ever-written","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/04\/07\/liszts-10-saddest-classical-music-pieces-ever-written\/","title":{"rendered":"LISZTS | 10 Saddest Classical Music Pieces We Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-66705\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/04\/10-Saddest-Classical-Music-Pieces-We-Know.jpg\" alt=\"leonardbernsteinconducting\" width=\"1199\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/04\/10-Saddest-Classical-Music-Pieces-We-Know.jpg 1199w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/04\/10-Saddest-Classical-Music-Pieces-We-Know-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/04\/10-Saddest-Classical-Music-Pieces-We-Know-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/04\/10-Saddest-Classical-Music-Pieces-We-Know-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1199px) 100vw, 1199px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There are countless tear-jerkers in classical music: The Fourth movement of Mahler&#8217;s 9th symphony; Schubert&#8217;s <em>Winterreise<\/em>; <em>Erbarme Dich<\/em>, from J.S. Bach&#8217;s St Matthew Passion. The list goes on and on, and it&#8217;s impossible to choose just ten without leaving out so many other amazing woebegones. Feel free to suggest your contributions to the list in the comments section below.<\/p>\n<p>Pure misery transcribed into sound \u2014 here we go:<\/p>\n<h2>1: Henry Purcell &#8211; Dido&#8217;s Lament (When I Am Laid In Earth, from Dido and Aeneas)<\/h2>\n<p>Number one on our list is Purcell&#8217;s devastatingly beautiful <em>Dido&#8217;s Lament<\/em>. Taken from his opera, <em>Dido and Aeneas<\/em>, the melody perfectly captures the moment as Dido comes to terms with her imminent death.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/S9xwlWfHWv4?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>2: Arvo P\u00e4rt- Spiegel im Spiegel<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s simple and perfect. <em>Spiegel <\/em>im<em> Spiegel<\/em> carries a rare openness that allows the music to function as an open vessel for the listener to pour their emotions into. P\u00e4rt composed it using his famous Tintinnabulation technique influenced by the composer&#8217;s mystical experiences with chant music.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TJ6Mzvh3XCc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>3: Robert Schumann- H\u00f6r&#8217; ich das Liedchen klingen (nach Heine)<\/h2>\n<p>If this doesn&#8217;t move you, then you&#8217;re built of stone. &#8220;I hear the dear song sounding That once my beloved sang. And my heart wants to burst so strongly From the savage pressure of pain.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ihZJKw43IhA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>4: Henryk Gorecki &#8211; Symphony #3<\/h2>\n<p>Why this piece isn&#8217;t programmed more often is beyond me, but Gorecki&#8217;s Symphony #3 \u00a0has become an instant masterpiece of chilling saddness. Gorecki used the text in the second movement from words etched into the walls of a Gestapo prison by an 18-year-old girl during the Second World War.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AKy5tt3izAA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>5: Finale of Tchaikovsky&#8217;s 6th symphony<\/h2>\n<p>Tchaikovsky seemed to embed a little bit of sadness in almost everything he wrote. This movement is dedicated to his nephew, the object of his forbidden desire. This music is so full of loneliness and despair\u00a0you just might\u00a0find yourself in the fetal position\u00a0on the kitchen floor crying into a dish rag.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3ebQYH6EpJ8?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>6: Mahler: &#8220;Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen&#8221; (&#8220;I&#8217;ve Become Lost To The World&#8221;)<\/h2>\n<p>Mahler was an emotionally lumbering composer, and even by his own standards, this piece is particularly foreboding. Pair that with contralto Kathleen Ferrier&#8217;s 1952 performance, and you have one of the more moving musical experiences ever recorded on record.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p77JoONFX8U?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>7: Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings<\/h2>\n<p>Adagio for Strings will put a lump in your thoat faster than swallowing an\u00a0artichoke. \u00a0After a life of alcoholism and depression, Barber said all he needed to say in this 10-minute\u00a0masterpiece of melancholy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KylMqxLzNGo?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>8: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart &#8211; Requiem Mass in D minor &#8211; VI. Lacrimosa<\/h2>\n<p>Solemn and stirring, the opening measures of this movement are some of the last notes Mozart ever wrote. In this clip, you&#8217;ll hear John Eliot Gardiner conduct the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir to perfection.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CQUFQ_N0JI8?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>9: Nimrod, from Elgar&#8217;s Enigma Variations<\/h2>\n<p>There&#8217;s a good reason this piece is so often played\u00a0at funerals&#8230; Elgar was a master of sweeping heartsick melodies. For another example of his talent for sentimentality, check out the slow movement from his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gZt2BIbmGvw\">cello concerto<\/a>. Not a dry eye in the house.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sUgoBb8m1eE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>10: Beethoven, slow movement of his 4th piano concerto<\/h2>\n<p>Music that comes from the place with no name; where no one understands how you feel except for Beethoven.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_3Pq0Q86Bbw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>Bonus: David Lang: Death Speaks<\/h2>\n<p>Turn the light down low, and just listen.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qqscp5vhDtU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3><b><i>LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i><br \/>\n<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><i>Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? 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