Has a piece of classical music ever moved you to tears?

Question

If so, which piece of music was it?
What is it about the song that brought such emotions?

I've been brought to tears by many classical pieces, but then again, i'm a sensitive girl and music affects me a lot.
=]

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Answer 1

Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. The opening gets me every time - so much yearning denied - and the ending just throws you into a whirlpool of despair unending. So much passion is denied in that concerto. First time I listened to it I had to hide from my friends - I cried!

Edit:

Barber's Adagio for Strings. Fell silent, drowned in tears until the sharp climax, then in tears again as the music died into nothingness.

Answer 2

Yes, it happens all the time. As for which piece of music does it, well they're really far too numerous to mention. Almost anything by Puccini will have some aria that gets me going, and I've recently bought a DVD of Fanz Lehar's 'The Merry Widow', and finding listening to that, to be a very nostalgic experience even though I'm not really old enough to have appreciated the music at the time it was most popular.

Certain singers seem to hit the right note with me as well, although its hard to pin down exactly what it is that causes the tearful effect. Pavarotti was of course a brilliant Tenor, but he only had that effect on me on rare occasions. Andreas Boccelli does it to me with almost everything he sings whether its classical or not..

There are of course some female classical singers who can bring on the tears too, but strangely perhaps, not so frequently, and probably more to do with the specific aria's they are singing. Maria Callas being one, particularly with her recording of Cattalini's 'Ebben? ne andro lontana' from La Wally; and occasionally Sarah Brightman, particularly with a version of Dvorak's 'Rusalka's Song to the Moon', both of which are on a Classic FM CD that I picked up for a couple of pounds in a charity shop, a real gem at a bargain price.

Judy Collins and Joni Mitchel are not perhaps classical singers, but they also seem to have that certain quality in their voice that has the ability to open the tear ducts quite easily. Its odd though isn't it?, that although there is usally a sorrowful element to the sound of these voices and accompanying music, and indeed to the words of the songs being sung, the tears that come are not tears of unhappiness, but of some sort of emotional release. Quite a pleasantt experience in fact!

Being a little bored one evening recently, I put on a DVD of the film, West Side Story. Quite amazing, just how well it stands up some fifty years after it was made, but I had also forgotten I guess, just how good the music was in that production. I never had a girlfriend named Maria for example, but I felt like I did have, while listening to the song by that title in the film.

I guess we're just a load of old softies eh?

Thank heavens I suppose, for having this music to help make the world a somewhat better place than it would be without it.

Answer 3

Anybody who loves and understands music is well aware of the emotional impact a piece of music can have. My eyes were watering just the other day listening to Allegri's 'Miserere' ( a 17th century choral work ) as performed by the Tallis Scholars.
Conversely, I have been known to laugh out loud listening to some particularly uplifting piece, whether ancient or modern.
Music is a powerful drug, a fact that some composers know well.

Answer 4

Adaigetto from Mahler's 5th
Elgar's cello concerto
Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde
The part of Finlandia used for Be still my soul (both the original orchestrated and sung versions)
Love duet from Bizet's Pearl Fishers
Prelude 15 Chopin
Fantasy on theme by Thomas Tallis -Vaughn Williams

Answer 5

Yes:

Nimrod from Elgar's Variations

Lachrymosa from Mozart's Requiem

Answer 6

Adagio for Strings ~ Samuel Barber

That piece is one of my favourites ~ one of the most beautiful I have ever heard ~ and it almost always moves me to tears.
I actually want to incorporate the opening notes into a tattoo ~ have them trailing along behind a butterfly :)

Also, Elgar's 'Cello Concerto' can have me crying.
I just listened to a song by Blackmore's Night called 'Ghost of A Rose' which was inspired by Elgar and Jacqueline Depre, and it samples part of the concerto ~ and makes me want to cry!

And Elgar's 'Nimrod'.
A personal favourite ~ especially moving as it is often used on Rememberance services.

Answer 7

I don't know if I have officially cried, but here are pieces that have made me come quite close to tears:

1. Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 2
2. Rachmaninoff - Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini (18th Variation of course)
3. John Tavener - Eternity's Sunrise
4. J.S. Bach - Double Violin Concerto in D minor, 2nd mvt
5. Samuel Barber - Piano Concerto, 2nd mvt
6. Joseph Schwantner - Black Anemones (as sung by Dawn Upshaw)
7. Gyorgy Ligeti - Piano Concerto, 1st mvt (strange choice, I know...I just find his music to be so intense...i am in awe of his genius.)
8. Chopin - Ballade No. 4
9. Chopin - Scherzo No. 3 (as played by Martha Argerich...it is the absolute best.)
10. Manuel de Falla - Nights in the Gardens of Spain (esp. when played by Alicia de Larrocha)

Answer 8

The Angels Farewell from Elgars The Dream of Gerontius
never fails(especially Dame Janet Baker on the version conducted by Sir John Barbirolli with Richard Lewis & Kim Borg as the other soloists & the Halle orchestra & Choir!)

Answer 9

Seeing the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra perform The Planets by Gustav Holst recently, and it was Venus, the second part of the suite. Hearing it live is quite something.

But another piece is the second movement of Bela Bartok's Viola Concerto. It is quite, well what can I say, yet it is followed by a much more uplifting last movement which is brilliant.

Answer 10

Verdi : chorus of hebrew slaves
Puccini vissi d' arte (tosca)
Puccini Un bel vedremo (Madama Butterfly)

cant explain why these pieces always bring the tears, i love classical music but these pieces reduce me to tears every time.
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