passages that make you tear up every time

got any?

I have never cried from music. But here's the one for me that is probably most relevant to this topic.

12:04 - end.

There are no passges that get me every time, over and over again. Nothing ever really hits me hard unless there's some element of genuine surprise to it: maybe it's a piece I've never heard before, or a piece I haven't heard in a long time (so that I've forgotten some of the details), or maybe the presentation is sufficiently different to catch me off guard.

If I know exactly what's coming -- which is the case with recordings -- then my reaction goes a bit meta, as in "oh, here comes a crushingly beautiful moment, and there it goes" which just isn't the same thing as being crushed.

(Exception: sentimental reactions to music that I associate with some life event. Mostly pop songs, in my case, but I don't think the OP is asking about this sort of reaction.)

1:50 til 3:05

Particularly the moment at 2:40

Sorry, I have no specific passages in mind. The closest I can come to answering your question is this:

I can't play the 1st mvmnt of Schubert's D960, nor the 2nd movement of Beethoven's Op 10#3 without becoming a bit of an emotional mess.

The last cadenza to Ravel's piano concerto for the left hand...

Schmachtend:

Nice choices.

I don't think people have a specific piece that sets them off every time. Like someone mentioned, sometimes it's the element of surprise, the mood you're in, etc.

But all the times that this has happened to me, it's been at a live concert. There's something absolutely magical about a (really good) live concert - it's like transcending to a completely different world and state of mind.

Debrucey, you know how much I love that section. (My favorite part is at 2:20).
Mr. Ferguson, no matter how many times I hear it, it still manages to touch me very deeply.

Pogorelich, I agree. A few years back I heard a live performance of the Turangalila. It was an extraordinary experience. You do not know how close I was to jumping up and dancing in the aisles during the Finale.

I do........

How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place - Brahms Requiem

As a chorister I've performed the entire Requiem twice (served as rehearsal accompanist leading up to one performance) and have sung this particular selection on several occasions. It always has a profound impact on me.

http://youtu.be/aZcxpl30NOw

Mark Salman

08:11 to 08:50

This passage

is like the summary of my whole life.

The second movement of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto - when the reprise of the beautiful main tune by the clarinet comes in pp with throbbing string accompaniment, my eyes well up.....

Does anyone know where to get a free score for this online?

Most of the musical passages that really "get to me" are from vocal music, particularly opera or vocal with orchestra.

There are moments in the final scene of "Der Rosenkavalier" which are so heart-rending, both dramatically and musically, that it's difficult (for me) not to be profoundly moved by them : "Hab' mir's gelobt..." and "Ist ein Traum, kann nicht wirklich sein."

There is another "gotcha!" moment in Mimi's third act aria ("La Bohème, of course!) "Donde lieta uscì" where the tonality changes from A major to D-flat major (Mimi goes from a G-natural to an A-flat while the orchestra changes the tonality from a dominant VII on A to D-flat, with the soprano's words soaring upwards to a high B-flat : "... se vuoi, se vuoi serbarla a ricordo..."

As my third example, I can't decide whether it's the final vocal phrase in the closing measures of Mahler's "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen," "In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied" or whether it's the final orchestral measures of the same work: the long-held English horn's G before resolving to an F over the orchestra's already established B-flat major tonality; it is so poignant!

There are others, but : Basta!

Regards,

2:30 - 3:20

not to mention, 1:50 - 2:24

BruceD, a man of exquisite taste.
But I do not tear up to "sad" music but rather to joyful things or to a brilliant solo or a gorgeously rendered coloratura passage or a gloriously resonant orchestra. I am particularly moved when an artist gives his/her best and both he/she and the audience (I) know it.

I guess that's why the last movement of the Schubert Octet always brings a tear. If ever music could be profoundly joyful, well that is it.

Like Bruce, most of the music which most moves me is non-piano, particularly organ, choral (in or out of church) and solo vocal.

Here you go!
http://imslp.org/wiki/Elegie,_WWV_93_(Wagner,_Richard)

Well it's not piano, but this gets me every time. Mirusia has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TkY9HtwXNU8

THANKS!!!

Beethoven Symphony No. 7, 2nd Movement This always grabs me from the first chord all the way through:

http://youtu.be/vCHREyE5GzQ

Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (18th variation):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQVi5MFt5M8&feature=related

Mozart Concerto 20, 2nd movement
I find the return to the main theme after the sturm und drang middle section very affective:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_33zTtiWPA

Lacrimosa from Mozart's requiem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-kJVmEWWV8&feature=related

Brahms Requiem (all of it, sang in the choir for a university performance back in the day, unforgettable experience)

Oh, and this.

14:12 - 47:02. The movement preceding it (0:00 - 14:12) is pretty profound too - not only its music but in its influence on Wagner. If you know your Parsifal you'll hear it.

Yes! Absolutely. I had to grab a tissue just now from hearing it in my head (really).

I grabbed a tissue when I posted the link this morning. !!

Bach Goldberg Variations Aria
Schumann Traumeri
Chopin Nocturne No 21
Schubert Piano Sonata no 21 1st movement
Beethoven Bagatelle no 5, opus 57 2nd movement, Piano Concerto no 5 2nd movement
Brahms Piano Concerto 2, 3rd movement
Liszt Ballade no 2

My short list

Schubert: D960 second movement
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, last movement - many places, but particularly the ending. Ewig, ewig ...
Mahler: Symphony #3, last movement. I'm not a great brass lover, but when the brass come quietly in with the main theme about 5 minutes from the end - it gets me every time.
Strauss: Beim Schlafengehen
Berg: Violin concerto, at the end where it all begins to dissolve.

That's the first music I thought of when I saw the subject line of this thread. I can't even listen to it anymore if the performance is any good, it's just too painful.


Yes, the Berg... Interestingly, I just read that Christian Tetzlaff sees the dedication to Manon Gropius as a smokescreen, and that the concerto is really a kind of self-requiem.

Speaking of string music, the last couple of minutes of the Dvorak cello concerto...

Nothing hits me hard every time, but the final section of Mahler's Tenth (from the reappearance of the catastrophe chord) gets me surprisingly often, though only in the context of listening to the entire work, since the section dispells the tension that gathers from Purgatorio onwards.

Also, the finale of Mozart's Figaro, another wonderful resolution (and again, only in the context of listening to the entire work).

The Adagio sostenuto of Beethoven's Op. 106.

They come and go in periods.

Right now (again): Rachmaninoff no. 3 concerto by Horowitz, live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5mxU_7BTRA&t=11m38s
(Starts at the right time. Wait till at least ~13m30s)

It's not perfectly played, yet perfect mind state he is in. The feeling, and he's got the right idea. I prefer this interpretation to many of his recordings. I think he was nervous.

Mahler - Symphony #2, the choral finale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYCHOB25F7o

Scriabin - Piano Concerto - Andante, the last part starting at 7:25
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooIt_I1ETpk

For me, the "Kyrie", "Pie Jesu", and "In Paradisum" from Maurice Durufle's "Requiem". As I mentioned in another thread, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Barber seem to be especially gifted at inducing teary moments:

Brahms -- 3rd Movement of Piano Concerto #2
Intermezzo 119/1
Rachmaninoff -- Vocalise
2nd Movement of Piano Sonata #2
Barber -- Conclusion of "Knoxville -- Summer of 1915"
Conclusion of aria "Do Not Enter Yet, Anatol" from
"Vanessa"

Maybe a few surprises:

Prokofiev -- Conclusion of Violin Sonata, Op 80.
Lowell Liebermann -- Conclusion of Nocturne No 8

4:20-5:00 One of the most beautiful passages for me.

Fugato at the end of 'Hostias' in Mozart's Requiem
the return of the Aria at the end of Bach's Goldbergs
the 2nd movement of Mozart's KV 488
'La chanson des vieux amants' by Brel
'Hallelujah' by Cohen, sung by Jeff Buckley
Andante from Mahler's 6th symphony
Adagio from Rachmaninoff's 2nd symphony

not entirely passages, but I need a handkerchief all the same.

I remember in those old Horowitz-Dubal interviews Horowitz had said Rokhmoninov used to tear up during the final chorus of the Faust.

Very special. If you ever visit Paris be sure to see Durufle's church St-Étienne-du-Mont.

For churches, Paris is utterly unbelievable -London cannot match it- but don't waste your time at Notre Dame or Sacré-Coeur, visit Saint-Eustache, Sainte-Trinité or Saint Clotilde.

Which Bagatelle no. 5? Opus 126?

Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118, No. 2 does it for me...

http://youtu.be/1h4Re5WBEAc

For me, there is something so compelling about this piece. Full of love and longing. Moments of excruciating beauty and tenderness. Gets me every time.

Maybe too obvious... but maybe I'm a too-obvious kind of guy...

... and as others have said, not every time...
the return of "Ist auf deiner Psalter..." in Brahms's Alto Rhapsody

Chopin "Nocturne in D flat Major" - toward the end where those 7 1/2 step intervals fall, (do -fi, ti-fa etc)

There's also a hornpipe in Handel's Water Music that always gets me - maybe not a tear, but def. a throat lump.

I have even been known to break down in a church at hearing "Jesus Saviour Pilot Me".

I am starting to feel a bit odd here. Do you guys really (Really) "tear up" at these passages??? or are we using the term very loosely? or may be I am taking it too literally?

In my situation, the first few times, yes, literally. Now I know what's coming and I don't.

I don't discount the idea (already mentioned) that what was happening in my life at the time may have had as much or more influence on my emotional reaction than the music itself did.

yep.. the first few times, may be. But that must have been a decade or two (?more) ago for most of us here..

I still often tear up at the final cadenza to Ravel's Concerto for the left hand whenever I am listening to a great performance of the piece all the way through, and I am concentrating on the music and letting my mind fall into the bliss.

- The slow section at the end of the first movement of Schumann's Fantasy.
- The "big tune" with variations in the Liszt Second Ballade.
- Brahms' Intermezzo in B minor, Op. 119 No. 1 - the central waltz. Deeply poignant.
- Also Brahms - several passages in the Ballade Op. 10 No. 4, if well played.
- Chopin - the Prelude in F# major, the middle section. Often imitated, never duplicated.

I feel extremely fortunate that I have the ability to play all these pieces and bring out the desired effect.

Elgar Sea Pictures, as sung by Janet Baker. In particular "because your voice has faltered" in Sabbath Morning at Sea and "God surely loved us a little then" in The Swimmer.

All in all a wonderful cd: it's coupled with the Du Pre Elgar concerto with Barbirolli.

Also Elgar: "Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers and a singer who sings no more" in The Music Makers, which surely meant so much to Elgar, his close friend August Jaeger having died 3 years' before.

I had already thought of that sublime moment from Mahler's 3rd when I got to your post. I will confess to being a brass lover, but that is just stunningly beautiful.

One more of many. The final movement of the Vaughn-Williams Hodie, when performed with full orchestra, gets me every time.

YES.

Also, Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna. It gives me goosebumps and brings tears to my eyes at several points .

what gets me sometimes is motion picture scores.. currently listening to the main suite from Forrest Gump and Schindler's List main theme

nothing better than listening to these pieces while, of course watching the movie, and thinking of other things in your life that may have sentimental value.

Too many to be mentioned publicly...
Sometimes when I listen to one of these passages I feel the Weltschmerz shatter me to such a degree that I am unable to resume what I was doing before playing or listening.

Clichéd maybe, but Albinoni's Adagio in G minor, Alkan's Op. 15 and, for some reason, Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated have made me shed tears each and every time I've heard them in their entirety...um...Andromaque...does nothing (music-wise, of course ) make you cry anymore? I find that notion...
Xxx

A lot of the more obscure music I have found, for me (I live for the kinds of pieces that hit you in that place inside...):

Stanchinsky - Prelude en Mode Lyrique
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5fvk5wR-xM&feature=related
(this recording is a bit too slow, and the only other recording I heard cuts a significant part out of the middle and isn't that good, so a special part of it for me is playing it myself the way I actually hear the piece and knowing that I might be one of the only people in the world playing it the way that triggers that feeling in me)

Stanchinsky - 12 Sketches No. 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WefKt57w3...ture=plpp_video
(particularly from 0:34 on)

No. 6 (I think this one uses one of the ancient Greek modes...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8elza_7Ab...ture=plpp_video
(from 1:06 on)

No. 7 (whole piece is striking in its fragility, but the transition at 0:56 is great)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uGZm2NZ5...ture=plpp_video

Vladigerov - Nocturne Op. 59 No. 4 (until 5:05, if I were playing the set I would never do an attaca into the next movement, after all, it's not exactly indicated in the score...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Iui4JrpgIE&feature=related
(this is like the Stanchinsky Prelude, I hear this piece in a way I haven't heard it ever performed, so it's these two pieces are quite special to me in that sense).

Erik Satie: Air du Grand Prieur (simple but timeless. Favourite part at 1:51, but only in context of what came before)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tZXdhLLs...ture=plpp_video

As for music people have heard of before... well, nothing beats a solid Ravel - Le Gibet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhpX-CyTv...ture=plpp_video
(the moment at 4:15 after everything that came before it particularly strikes me)

Finally, something way off the radar (but may be appreciated by those into minimalism)
Ryuichi Sakamoto - In The Red (Rhodes Piano)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCSwqXwSB...ture=plpp_video

These pieces have all put a tear in my eye at one moment or another, but the most consistent is the Sakamoto.

The Lauridsen has the same effect on me. Also speaking of Elgar, the Nimrod variation touches me in a very profound way, each and every time I hear it.

That and Elgar's incandescent setting (with divided strings, who would have thought of that?) of Newman's words from Gerontius:

I can no more, for now it comes again;
That sense of ruin, which is worse than pain;
That masterful negation and collapse
Of all that makes me man

Speaking for myself only, yes, I literally tear up at hearing many pieces of music. I just assumed we all meant it literally, but maybe I'm wrong, and I'm the oddball here.

Liszt Consolation No. 3.

This morning I played Chopin's Op.30 No.2 and suddenly felt sooo sad....

why?

Many pieces do this for me. Some of the late Beethoven quartets, for example.

Relatedly, there are pieces that don't necessarily bring tears to your eyes, but make you realize you have experienced something that leaves you in awe. There are lots of pieces in this category, too. I think of Stockhausen's Gruppen, Tenney's Forms I-IV, and probably the Turangalila Symphony (though I've heard it only once).

Well, I was already in the mood for sadness...

Sometimes when I play Bach BWV 849 I get a little of the tearing up feeling...not always though. Still working on getting it to come through every time.

Interesting topic - these are some pieces where I have actually physically produced tears, excepting the first choice.

By the end of Chinary Ung's "Spirals 1" for Piano, Cello, and Percussion, I am emotionally drained, though not teary.

David Lang's "The Little Match Girl Passion" is devastating.

I'm not sure why, but listening to all of Rzewski's "Coming Together" can sometimes make me tear up by the end, at least on Eighth Blackbird's recording of it.

"I Will Come Back" from Louciana Souza's "Neruda" album.

"Joy Spring" from Bill Carrother's "After Hours, Vol. 4" is so understated and piercing, that it can really mess me up if I'm in the right place.

Also, this recent recent youtube release from Nancy Zeltsman, purely because of the Borges text she adds at the end. It's extremely sentimental/nostalgic and really got me the first time I heard it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt5J8o_jsJA

Nothing does it every time, it depends a lot on my mood.
The last few minutes of Lynn Harrell's recording of the Dvorak cello concerto is quite likely to do the trick.
Also Perlman's recording of the Shostakovich 1st violin concerto slow movement.
The emotion in these pieces is one of nostalgic regret, to my ears anyway.
Then there are pieces that can make me cry through sheer ecstatic joy.
Typical of these is Kempe's recording of the sunrise from the Alpine Symphony.

Christmas music... But not because I find it emotionally intense. I just cannot stand it...

Including -but not confined to- the Hodie of Vaughan Williams, the Saint-Saens Christmas Oratorio, and the services from King's College?

That seems a shame. (Notice I didn't mention that ubiquitous thing of Handel, I'm rather tired of it. )

But if you're referring to all the 'pop' Christmas songs, well, you have a defensible point. And yet... 'Winter Wonderland', 'The Christmas Song' (too many others that I'm not in current mode to recall), I do love them and always play to great acclaim at holiday parties. But 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' is rather past bearing.

No, I was referring to the Christmas music in shops and supermarkets... It makes me feel like walking out. And they start sooo early here. They were already playing some of that music in a shop today... I mean, please, we have more than 3 months to go!

You ARE kidding?

That's just plain insanity. Can't we at least get through Halloween?

No, really. I was surprised myself, although they do start very early here. And many also celebrate Christmas in July... In other words, it is always Christmas here!

Land of never ending [Christmas] music I suppose?

ChopinAddict, you just reminded me that we're about to be bombarded with pop versions of O Holy Night from anytime now until 25th Dec. aaaaaaaaughhh!!!!!!!!! One of the down sides to summer.
How can we have the first shopping centre O Holy Night when we haven't even had The First Blowfly yet (not at my place, anyway), or The First Cicada, or even the first media reference to the country being a "tinder box"...

Anyway, another piece that I forgot to mention is Mahler's Kindertotenlieder. Partly the subject matter, I suppose, but the ending of the last song ...

I've teared up to the slow movement of Beethoven's late A minor quartet.

And the last movement of Mahler's 3rd.

And the Brahms op.118/2.

Those were all a long time ago. The only things that have recently caused a tear (or, really, a tear-like pang) are the resolution of Mozart's Figaro (just like Mr. Sachs), and Strauss's Four Last Songs.

-J

Kindertotenlieder was the last Mahler work I came to love, partly because of the excruciating tempi of the Hampson/Bernstein recording. And yes, its conclusion is breathtaking (especially the effective and original celesta/string doublings). Do you feel strongly about whether a male or female sings it? I'm more used to males, but listening to the von Otter/Boulez recording is very refreshing. This of course brings to mind the baritone option of Das Lied, Bonney's recording of Dichterliebe, female performances/recordings of Winterreise and Vier ernste Gesänge, and the fact that Julius Stockhausen (a good friend of Brahms) performed Frauenliebe regularly.

A few years ago I read of a country where Christmas decor and music are unleashed by September 1. I forgot which country (thank Osiris), but I'm pretty sure it isn't Australia. In any case the practice doesn't strike me as a particularly sensible one.

Oh, and Festivus for the rest of us! Or Saturnalia (whose hijacking by early Christians helped create the Godzilla we're all too familiar with).

I first came to it via the Janet Baker recording. I don't feel super strongly either way, and at least one of the songs is definitely the father's perspective. Fischer-Dieskau is, as usual, just about perfect.There I'm more strongly biased to a kathleen Ferrier or Christa Ludwig.A male singing Frauenliebe seems a bit odd, but I could handle all the others, even if not my first preference. Carey has a recording up in the members' recordings section of him playing Berg's Seven Early Songs with a tenor. First time I'd ever heard them done by a male singer. I think it works, but I still prefer the female voice there.

How about Chopin Prelude in E maj, the Liszt transcription of Schubert's Ave Maria, or the 2nd mov of the Rach 3?

Liszt's transcription of Schubert's Ave Maria is beautiful but I actually prefer Liszt's own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1gV2qtb71w

Oddly enough, the last time was hearing Prokofiev's Violin Sonata no.1 performed by a certain Pogorelich. and her friend...

Hey! I was just going to mention this sonata (not by Pogorelich. though). I heard it this evening in a recital, in the 4th movement right at the transition back into the recap of the muted rapid violin passagework material from the 1st movement. One of those moments where I hoped nobody was looking at my trying to hold back the tears.

Richter Oistrakh Prokofiev Violin Sonata 1

If you're on a limited time, starting at 4:00 gives a flavour of the 4th movement, 4:30 begins what I'm calling a transition, and then 5:27 =

Have you seen this? I never realized her English was so superb. What a charismatic lady!!

Aw really?? Haha that was not a very prepared performance though.. the one from our concert 3 weeks later was much better! (I put it on www.myspace.com/swaypiano)

(I had just had a realization about some crucial thematic material in the last movement, ONE DAY before that concert, it gave me chills when we were playing it. I really should've known that before, though.. kind of embarrassing to not have known........)

Any late Beethoven will do the trick for me.

Passages from resurrected old PW threads such as this usually do it for me.

Chopin often gets to me.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP8MW6WE9R4

Ahahaa I stilled really enjoyed it. And it was live too! Live performances are always the most powerful. Let me listen to the later recording....

Speaking of unprepared performances, I'm going to be giving an unprepared performance of the Ballade 4 this Tuesday..hahaa. Hope it works out!

Bach B minor mass, Agnus Dei

“Tear up” must be some ghastly American expression for “cry” ... (complete with snotty-nosed handkerchief ... or sleeve with us peasants) ... everything went down in the Colonies after George Washington took over.

In Afrikaans we say “huil” for “cry” (blubber)
(pronounced like iced raindrops ... but properly said with a posh “u” like you were going to say “oops)

In good Olde England “tear up” means “to shred”.

PS My dog (bitch) howls whenever I play the piano ...
but could be that G string, which needs tightening.

btb, in my definition of "tear up", there's not enough crying to generate a "snotty-nosed handkerchief", maybe just a slight sniff.

True - but I believe the Brits also say say "tears welled up in his/her eyes"....which in my book of ghastly American slang means "tear up."

For me, it's most of the Mass. But I agree that the Agnus Dei is the ultimate tearjerker.

I would also add that worn-out favorite, Air on G String, the Chaconne, and the Largo from his Double Violin Concerto. If I'm reaching for Kleenex, I've either got a a cold, or I'm listening to one of my Bach favorites. There are other composers who can move me to tears, but not as often as Bach does.

The "Kyrie," "Crucifixus" and "Gratias agimus tibi" get me every time.

Just listened to snippets of each on youtube. Gotta get away from the computer for a few minutes and compose myself.