Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner most haunting and/or longing melodies/motifs

Not necessarily in order:

1. Clarinet solo - Rachmaninov symphony no. 2, second movement

2. I'll have to agree on the second movement of the Mendelssohn violin concerto.

3. Oboe solo - Brahms violin concerto, second movement.

I'll mention Sibelius and say Swan of Tuonela, since he hasn't been mentioned yet.

[this was anticipated]

Only to be expected from our local aesthetic fundie.

I was not in the crowd that threw the tomatoes. I was merely commenting on the fact that they hit. Let me further point out that the crowd was consisted of regular people, not fundamentalists.

Well, until a negative reaction to the Schoenberg (besides the implied one in yours) comes in, I'll consider that no others have been thrown. I agree with you that they're inevitable.

Wow that is beautiful, I think it takes the prize so far for me

The Schubert is beautiful as well...

Oh and since someone mentioned a contemporary/popular piece, I'd have to throw in "Schindler's List" and "A Window to the Past" (the latter being Lily's theme from Harry Potter) by John Williams. I've heard Williams is known for...borrowing...classical themes to use in his works, does anyone know if those particular ones are inspired by more traditional pieces?

For hauntingness/longingness I am currently quite taken with the beginning of this (and various other parts throughout). I noticed that my local sheet music emporium had it in stock[1], so I made a detour on the way home the other day

-Michael B.
[1] Their website now features a full catalogue with real-time availability, online ordering, etc. Hurrah!

Most haunting / longing melodies? No question, it has to be Berlioz. Examples? Some or the songs from "Les Nuits d'Ete" ... or Marguerite's airs from Faust - "Le roi de Thule", or "D'amour l'ardente flamme".

Those long, entwining melodies. Simply gorgeous! Just thinking of them brings tears to the eyes.

g# minor prelude Rachmannoff

Poulenc two piano concerto: second movement (theme in D minor where the melody is a descending series of slow suspensions).

Rachmaninoff D minor sonata: second movement.

Taneyev: John of Damascus*

*recently discovered on Pianoworld!

Rachmaninoff's first movement of his first piano concerto is awesomely creepy.

Also his elegie will remain as one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces i've ever heard.

Just the melodies?? Cause the melodies are "haunting" depending on their accompaniment.

Mahler : Fifth Symphony "Adagietto"

Strauss, R.: Der Rosenkavalier: Act III : Final Trio, starting at "Hab' mir's gelobt"

Regards,

Mahler's Kindertotenlieder - particularly the 2nd and 3rd songs:
2nd song - the phrase beginning "sieh' uns nur an ..."
3rd song - phrase beginning "O du ..."
But I agree with hopinmad - part of the haunting/longing nature is in the harmony, and in this case, in the context.

- The Adagio from Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez.

- Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto, 1st movement, halfway past the middle of the movement (don't have the part), when the theme is played by a lone English Horn...

- The theme from Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht Adagio

- The first theme from Dvorak's Slovanic Dance no.2 (in Em)

- In Paradisum from Duruflé's Requiem

Etc...

Great choices, BruceD. I wish I had thought of them. Particularly the Strauss.

I would also add the hymn-like theme of the last movement of Mahler's 3rd symphony, particularly when the solo trumpet plays it pianissimo a few minutes from the conclusion. I don't know how "haunting" it is, but it's one of those moments that I stop and listen to no matter what else I'm doing.

I don't think thats necessarily true; "Ashokan Farewell" is the best counter-example I can think of - often times it isn't even played with accompaniment.

Note that I did specify harmony/accompaniment was okay. What I meant to exclude are pieces with an unimpressive melody that is nonetheless developed well such that the piece itself could be called pretty.

I love Rachmaninoff's Elegie, and listen to it all the time, and think it's beautiful. But despite how many times I've heard it, I couldn't sing the melody to you. Compare that to the opening theme of his 2nd piano concerto, and that's the distinction I mean by "melody".

Mahler, again, but this time a single phrase : the very last phrase of the song "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" :
"In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied."

Then, of course, that's followed by one of the most beautiful orchestral closes with several slowly resolving Mahlerian suspensions that finally resolve into a tonic chord with a plaintive oboe playing a sixth resolving to the fifth!

Regards,

Wow. Now there's a terrific example. I think I need to put that CD in the player. Incredibly beautiful...

No, it's not. Think of that long cor anglais solo shortly after the start of the 3rd act of Tristan. Some 40 bars.

Worth quoting Ernest Newman from his excellent book "Wagner Nights" (Published in the States as "The Wagner Operas"):

This long unaccompanied cor anglais melody is one of the strangest and most poignant ever imagined by man.

Right-O, and it fits the subject of this thread so perfectly.