Is There a Piece of Classical Music Which Makes You Extremely Emotional? What is It?

Question

There are several pieces of classical music that really move me, but now, more than 20 years since I first heard it, Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" still makes me cry. The actual "painting" parts don't get me, but the main theme, which is repeated between the separate paintings, is so moving I still cry when I hear it. I remember thinking once, while listening to it, that the ability to make music which sounds like that must surely be a gift of the highest order.

Is there a piece of classical music which moves you so much you feel absolutely transported when you hear it? If so, what is it?

And please note, I am not asking about contemporary music. I am asking specifically about that which falls into the category of classical. However, classical music with vocals, like Handel's "Messiah" are okay for the purpose of this question.

Thanks for your input.

Pursonal:

I get a kick out of your answer! If I had a personal theme, it would most likely be "In the Hall of the Mountain King", though when I am in a bad mood it just might be Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" ;)

And Quirkee:

No genuine emotion is ever cliche--if it moves you, it moves you. Anyone who tells you it's cliche is lying.

Answer 1

Piano Concerto No. 2 in F, 2nd mvmt - Shostakovich

Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde - Wagner

Adagio for Strings - Barber

Amahl and the Night Visitors - Menotti

Brother James's Air - Gordon/Baine/Marosa (all 3 had a hand in it)

Love Divine - Goodall

Symphony No. 2 - Sibelius

Claire de Lune - Debussy

Fantasie Impromptu - Chopin

J'eau deux - Ravel

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini - Rachmaninov

Cantata 80 - Bach

Chaconne from Partita in D minor - Bach

Sleepers Awake - Bach

Solo Violin Concerto in A Minor - Vivaldi

Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine - Whitacre

Cloudburst - Whitacre

Armed Mass - Jenkins

Gloria - Vivaldi

They're emotional for me because most of these pieces remind of when I lived abroad, and I so want to go back to Europe.

Answer 2

The last movement of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony always gets me. The whole symphony has been an ode to nature and life, and the final moments sort of sum up the thrill of it all -- while also, to me, hinting at the temporary aspect of everyone's life.

Though you pooh-poohed contemporary music, I nonetheless also vote for Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings." It's just moody and atmospheric and always make me feel melancholy. The way the strings lurch upward at the end into those four climactic long chords, it sounds like humanity trying to claw toward the divine.

In the opera "La Boheme," Mimi's first aria suddenly shifts gears and goes into passion overdrive -- wrenchingly bittersweet, with a harmonic sucker-punch. You just know that since she feels life, she's a-gonna croak. :-) Gets me every time.

And you can't find a recording of it anywhere, but I did an opera by Carlisle Floyd called "The Passion of Jonathan Wade" in which the female lead, cradling Wade's dead body at the end, starts quietly singing about "was there no other way this could have ended?" The aria grows and grows exponentially until it's a ragged non-verbal cry to the heavens, with the orchestra crashing in with a rhapsodic theme that was very soft in an earlier part of the opera. It was emotionally devastating [I stood in the wings every performance to experience it].

Answer 3

Yes I do, I play classical guitar and one of the first pieces that I played has a special place in my heart because as a child I always wanted to learn how to play it and when I achieved it it felt really special it's called Spanish Romance, you can hear it on youtube played by Peo Kindgren only he uses the more formal name, Jeux interdits: aka, Romance.
But the music that really made me emotional is the Opera Album by Andrea Bocelli, I love every love song on this CD, except the first one, there all love songs, and believe me they are from the heart, the emotion in this CD is awesome. Someone came to my house one day, and by the way they hate opera, and said, omg what is that, and she had tears in her eyes, she said that was the most beautiful thing that she ever heard, that says a lot to me because as I said she hates opera. If you ever get a chance to hear this CD you'll see what I mean, you won't be disappointed even if your not into tenors.
Barbers, Adagio for Strings played on classical guitar is another one.
And one more that I have to include is Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, the second movement, also for classical guitar.
I forgot, I have to include Vivaldis Four Seasons, I love all twelve movements !!

Answer 4

Oooohh, I would consider one of the following Symphonie Fantastique - Berlioz Pictures at an Exhibition - Mussorgsky (sp?) Night on Bald Mountain - same These are romantic pieces that stories, mimiced in music. For example, in the Symphonie Fantastique's 4th movement "March to the Scaffold" the main character is being led to the guillotine. A solo oboe sings the motif of another movement (which is his girlfriend's theme) just before the guillotine cuts his head. The basses then mimic the "dropping" of the head into the basket shortly thereafter. You could easily get 800 words out of that. Also consider, Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev (another work written for children.

Answer 5

Tchaikovsky's Marche Slav is just an all-around awesome piece, I always get an adrenaline rush listening to it. That one Adagio in G min. for organ and orchestra (I think it's by Albinoni or something?) is so sorrowful, it makes me want to cry when I hear it.
Ooh, I just remembered one that makes me so emotional when I hear it- the "Nimrod" variation from Elgar's Enigma Variations.
And the main theme from the fourth movement of Amy Beach's symphony is sooo romantic... I love it!
(If you couldn't tell, I'm really into the Romantic period music!)
Thanks for the great question!

*EDIT* How could I forget the Elgar cello concerto?? That piece is also so emotional, I love it!
I think my personal theme song would have to be the Marche Slav I mentioned above, just because it goes through so many moods! ;-)

Answer 6

To The Spring and the Two Elegiac Melodies, both from Grieg, absolutely intense, which can touch your emotions in an incredible way, depending on your mood or interpretations. Personally, I am transported to the Norwegian fjords and I spend some minutes out in the country with my father, who passed away 5 years ago, so it's really magical for me.

Answer 7

Yes I love Hilary Hahn's- Bach Violin Concertos Especially. No. 2. But my FAVORITE is Jean-Yves Thibaudet 's A Postcard to Henry Purcell, it's from the Pride and Prejudice Soundtrack, but don't let that stop you from listening. It has such a feeling to it. It's probably the song that most obviously creates a narrative to me as far as the different emotions that the song moves. Everytime I listen I get taken away. I know this is extremely cheesy or cliché, but it's like it is telling my life story. Ughh I still can't get over it.

Answer 8

The Rodrigo Concerto. That is probably the most emotionally incredible pieces I have ever heard, especially after I heard the story behind the piece. I have a very tough time listening to it without tearing up. It is also my favorite piece of music out of any genre.

Answer 9

two pieces for two different emotions:

String Quartet No. 14 in C sharp minor, opus 131: Beethoven...sadness mixed with beauty

In The Hall of the Mountain King: Greig...anticipation followed by whirlwind crescendo

And if i may add, check out Bear McReary, he did a piece called The Shape Of Things to Come, which is short, yet i think stunning in its simplicity. And no, i dont work for him or anything, just a fan.

Answer 10

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2