Ask Dave: What Music Makes You Cry?

Here are 10 pieces that never fail to make the tears flow. What are your musical triggers?
Handel: “Piangero” from Giulio Cesare
Vaughan Williams: Job
Haydn: String Quartet in C major, Op. 54 No. 2
Dvořák: “Dumky” Trio
Brahms: String Sextet No. 2 in G major
Mendelssohn: Prelude and Fugue in E minor, Op. 35 No. 1
Monteverdi: “Laudate Pueri” from Vespers
Ravel: Ma Mere l’Oye (Mother Goose) Ballet
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"
Janáček: Jenufa

[@elendil504]

Wotan's farewell. I have a daughter.

[@jovidec6274]

Exactly! Me too.

[@bbailey7818]

That scene tears me apart. Never fails.

[@valerietaylor9615]

I don’t have a daughter ( or a son), but that scene really gets to me, too. Especially the part when Bruennhilde sings “Der diese Liebe mir ins Herz gehaucht.” The instrumental phrase that starts when she sings the word “ Liebe”, pierces my heart every time I hear it. 💔

[@shpeale]

Richard Strauss 4 Last Songs always does it for me.

[@Bachback]

As sung by Lucia Popp? Or do you have someone else in mind?

[@shpeale]

Schwarzkopf preferred.

[@Mooseman327]

Same for me. Especially the Szell/Schwarzkopf, mostly because of Szell and the orchestra who play miraculously.

[@chrismckoy1102]

Beim Schlafengehen especially.

[@violadamore2-bu2ch]

Norman and Masur is THE best to my ears.

[@NemesisCOD]

Mozart gets the highest emotional responses from me, particularly the operas. He takes a situation that would normally be seen as silly or humorous and elevates it to the highest level of transcendence. It's this paradox where he sarcastically exaggerates his character's plight, while imparting them with great virulence and respect. He laughs at the human condition, but also non-judgmentally honors the emotions that are so real to these characters... One of Mozart's greatest gifts was his understanding of PEOPLE.

[@macklindsey4541]

For me it's the end of The Marriage of Figaro.

[@macklindsey4541]

Also, somebody here needs to mention Lauridsen, especially, for me, "Sure on This Shining Night."

[@NemesisCOD]

@@macklindsey4541 Definitely. The ending is an objectively ridiculous scenario, but when the Count takes that knee and starts to sing it's like time stops and the apology duet might as well be a conversation between Gods...

[@DaninMaine]

My boyfriend of 12 years died. He was an outstanding clarinetist. I still can't listen to the slow movement of Mozart's clarinet quintet without tearing up, and it has been 15 years.

[@davidmayhew8083]

1. The end of Wagner's Parsifal 2. The last movement of Mahler's Kindertotenleider 3. The adagio of Elgar's Enigma Variations 4. The end of Vaughan William's 5th symphony 5. Brahms Requiem 6. Last movement of Faure Requiem 7. Trio at end of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier 8. Adagio of Mahler's Fourth symphony 9. Copland's The Tenderland, finale 10. Barber's Knoxville Summer of 1915

[@yiannisvassilakis7005]

Vaughan Williams's "Serenade to Music". When the voices enter for the first time I..can't hold my self..Great bliss, joy and emotions that flow..

[@valerietaylor9615]

That piece made Rachmaninoff weep at its premiere.

[@JackJohnsonNY]

Mahler’s “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” - how could I forget. Gets me every time.

[@robertwilliams5071]

Absolutely. Just the English horn entrance on the new DGG recording! Also, the first mvmnt of the 9th symphony

[@josemilitano]

Thank you, Dave! My contribution is the coro a bocca chiusa from Madama Butterfly. The whole opera makes me cry, but the quiet and deep emotion of that scene, where Puccini makes the brilliant decision to have the choir sing without words, works perfectly every time for me. It's not just the music itself, but the place where he choses to use it. I find that sense of nothing left to say really powerful.

[@Fafner888]

I think the letter scene with Sharpless before that set to the same tune makes it sound even more poignant. Another example is the extremely moving little lullaby that Butterfly sings to her child shortly before Pinkerton returns.

[@compositortiagoprado]

.... e forse Buttefly non mi ramenta più... this is so touching!!!@@Fafner888

[@valerietaylor9615]

@josemilitano The Humming Chorus is lovely, but the moment in “Butterfly” that really makes me tear up, is “Un Bel Di”.

[@fulltongrace7899]

Dvorak Rusalka Song to the Moon aria always gets me sappy. She is sharing her feelings of longing for the prince, desiring to be human, to live beyond her watery world and risking the possibility of being mute and never to return to her previous life. But her desire, her love is greater than all the risks.

[@MisterPathetique]

As a piano person (originally), the piece that made me weep the most is certainly Schubert's last piano sonata, in B-flat major. This one was included in your "10 most emotionally draining piano works" video, and it really is the best way to describe it. There are two strategic spots that always tear me to pieces. The first is the development of the first movement, especially the transition with the recapitulation, as Schubert painfully crawls back to the home key, it's absolutely devastating. The second is the middle section of the second movement, which feels like the gates of Heaven are opening and the end credits are about to roll. It's really extraordinary. Besides, I have to mention Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony. The 6th may be the obvious choice, but the 5th has this comforting aspect which I can't resist. The second theme of the second movement is usually the moment when I start melting.

[@compositortiagoprado]

I've never cried listening to this Schubert sonata, but it's a truly touching piece. I find the range of feelings that go through this entire work impressive, it seems like Schubert is taking us on a journey.

[@valerietaylor9615]

@MisterPathetique I’m not sure I’ve heard Schubert’s last piano sonata, but I love Tchaicovsky’s Fifth. It was the first symphony I ever heard, still my favorite of Tchaicovsky’s Symphonies, and the second movement makes me tear up. I don’t like the “ Pathetique” as much; it’s a little too lachrymose.

[@franklehman8677]

The Romanza from Vaughan Williams’s Fifth. Several reasons, including the fact that is exquisitely beautiful and melancholic, another being it’s very strongly associated with a personally emotional and sad time in my life. In fact I listen to it very infrequently because I find it so emotionally incapacitating.

[@javiermarting]

So many pieces that usually make me weep, especially when listening alone and utterly concentrated but also in the concert hall or at the opera house, where music reaches even deeper and touches the soul in a manner that is irresistible. Sorry for the lengthy comment, I will split it in two or three parts. Mahler has the biggest number of works in my list. Symphonies 2, 3 and 8 are huge choral entities that contain many passages that shake me deep inside, especially the finales. Another one is his unnumbered symphony (he tricked because he did not want to outdo Beethoven and his 9 symphonies): Das Lied von der Erde. By the time the mezzo sings those tremendous “ewig… ewig…” I am in tears no matter what. Then we have Wagner. Yes, it might be weird for non-opera or non-Wagner people (there are many of those, especially the latter). The last few minutes of Götterdämmerung are very emotive, I have the feeling something enormous (the end of a civilization) is taking place while something anew is about to start. It is just terrific with the whole orchestra blaring as if the end of time was indeed occurring on the stage. And we reach to Parsifal. Oh, well, I know many people do not like it or do not understand it or do not enjoy it at all. There is a very simple reason for that: Parsifal is a religious opera, let us not just kid ourselves with weird ideas, it just speaks in a very straight manner about Christianism and faith. So if the listener has no faith, then the whole thing is nonsense and boring, very long and boring, yes. But for believers, Wagner created a masterpiece, a distilled piece with probably the most moving score ever put on paper.

[@davidatkinson-Music-and-More]

Hurrah! A shoutout for Wagner! Great choices, but the Liebestod is the big one for me.

[@javiermarting]

@@davidatkinson-Music-and-More Oh, well, I absolutely agree. Liebestod is yet another Wagner miracle, an enormous flow of desperate sensuality from Mild und leise through the highest peak of unearthly, desperate love to a serene conclusion, almost a redemption. Include Liebestod in my list and delete any other... or make them eleven instead!

[@davidatkinson-Music-and-More]

@@javiermarting I once travelled to Vienna just for a performance of Tristan und Isolde. What a blast! Right now, I'm listening to Karajan's Parsifal on DG. Truly wonderful.

[@javiermarting]

@@davidatkinson-Music-and-More Yeah I also travelled once to Vienna, it was for Parsifal under C. Thielemann. Mesmerizing, one of my strongest musical experiences.

[@WesSmith-m6i]

Thank you so much for directing me to Vaughan Williams' Job. I can't wait to listen to it.

[@dionbaillargeon4899]

"Adventures on Earth" by John Williams. For all the great classical and orchestral music I've listened through the years, nothing does the trick like the ET soundtrack. For me, the "farewell" part at the end goes to the heart of the whole human experience with such a total, unassuming, modesty and honesty. It's about accepting loss and "letting go", in the most beautiful and touching way imaginable. Sorry for this somewhat "cheap" choice, but it is what it is.

[@jsb818]

No apologies needed! It's a masterpiece for the reasons you mentioned.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I agree.

[@aclassicaldisaster]

This is actually quite a poignant question for me. Listening to music is one of the main ways that I manage my emotions so I’ve asked myself this question many times 1. Shostakovich symphony 8 My all time favorite piece of music. Particularly the pummeling that the universe of the first movement provides. The coda after all of THAT where he reharmonizes the first theme in such a delicate way and then slinks away in such perfectly tranquil dead C-major is absolutely shattering. And then to pick up and keep going only to die in C-major again at the end of the symphony. 2. Bruckner symphony 9 My favorite of the whole Bruckner symphony cycle. I’m someone who tends to think he wrote the same symphony 9 (11(150)) times and this is by far the best version. The coda of the first movement has never failed to give me goosebumps. The climax from the adagio is just sickening in its desperation and then it all calms down into gentle E-major. The symphony sort of feels like one emotional gut punch after another. 3. Mahler symphony 9 What I think of as one of the iconic “he dies at the end symphonies”. Although, I’ve always found the first movement equally (if not more) striking. The beautifully melancholy introduction of the first theme and lebhaft motif is usually where the waterworks start for me. 4. RVW symphony 5 A work that is even more devastating in the context of the works that surround it. Symphonies 4 and 6 are terrifying hellscapes but 5 is a pastoral island. The Romanza has such a beautifully wailing climax that it’s almost impossible not to be moved. 5. “Venus” from the planets Last year, according to my Spotify Wrapped, I listened to Venus 857 times. It’s so gloriously tranquil and one of the most touching pieces I can think of that doesn’t involve really a big screaming “oh my god” sort of climax. It just hangs in ethereal beauty. 6. Pettersson symphony 6 Pettersson’s music, while universally gloomy, typically isn’t particularly “tear jerking”. It’s violent and at times beautiful and always starkly sad. The 6th is the first of his 3 sort of “transcendental symphony” and it certainly delivers. The first half of the symphony is the sort of nightmare we expect from Pettersson but after that it dissolves into almost pure Bb minor with a repeated almost dance like motif repeated incessantly for the remainder of the symphony. Near the end, the music tries to escape into an island of lyrical major key music but is eventually brought back to earth so it may close in solemn Bb minor. It is a work made so impactful by scale and contrast without being as confrontational as most of Pettersson’s output. 7. Garuta Piano Concerto Perhaps a bit of an underrated “crying” sort of piece. The middle movement is a beautiful sort of requiem with a searing climax. It’s wonderfully melancholy music, even when it because acceptant. 8. Honneggar symphony 3 Very little music is as obliterative as this symphony. Almost the entirety of the first 30 or so minutes of the symphony (save a few minutes in the middle movement) are just pure torture until the ultimate destruction in the final movement. Now, by this point one my be shell shocked but they wouldn’t probably be near tears. The maneuver he pulls next, to go into a quiet almost peaceful but never fully settled closing in C#-major with a soaring flute part and a lyrical violin is where it is expected you start crying. It’s all too much to take in. It’s rather like the Shostakovich 8. You want to lie in that oasis forever to escape from the horror, but it has to end. 9. Tchaikovsky symphony 6 How could someone make a list like this and NOT include Tchaikovsky 6. It was the original “devastating ending” symphony and I’m not sure it’s been outdone since. Everyone has heard the catastrophic temper tantrum of the first movement and the lament of the finale but I’m not sure enough attention is paid to the middle movements. The subdued nostalgic longing of the 2nd and the sheer overwhelm of the 3rd. Not only do they serve as excellent counterbalances to the two “heavyweights” but they have their own important things to say. It’s a fabulous piece for when you’re feeling like some good devastation. 11. Walton cello concerto If I remember, someone said about that final movement that it is “only a stony heart that is not moved”. I think it’s appropriate. So much of the concerto is not particularly sad but definitely not happy. It’s rife with a sort of “tick tock tick tick” sort of feeling and the cello always seems to be looking for something. The middle movement is skittering and almost threatening in places. The finale is broad in scope and closes without really having brought resolution to the questions of the first movement. The clock simply disintegrates into the void.

[@Bachback]

If possible, please provide us with your favourite performance of each composition.

[@aclassicaldisaster]

@@Bachback Of course Shostakovich 8 - Kurt Sanderling/Berliner Bruckner 9 - Giulini/Weiner Mahler 9 - Boulez/Chicago RVW 5 - Kalmar/Oregon symphony Venus - Karajan/Berliner Pettersson 6 - Lindberg/Norrköping Garuta PC - Lakstigala/Liepāja/Reinis Zarinš Honneggar 3 - Karajan/Berliner Tchaik 6 - Either Solti/Chicago or Petrenko/Berliner Walton CC - Previn/LSO/Yo-Yo Ma

[@Kyle-ur4mr]

Totally agree about Walton, all 3 of those string concertos do it for me.

[@mosar55]

@@aclassicaldisaster Couldn't agree more. Except the Best Bruckner 9 th is Schuricht/Vienna for me personally. But Sanderling Shostakovich is truly great as well as Rozhdestvensky's recordings.

[@aclassicaldisaster]

@@Kyle-ur4mr I thought about the Violin or Viola concerti as they have a similar emotional affect but my being a cellist may have played a role in my decision making progress. Also good for this topic from Walton is the slow movement from symphony 1.

[@clementewerner]

Just one piece from a few because it has no parallels: the Adagio from Schubert's String Quartet. I can think of no more exquisite expression of pain, the pain of rejection, unrequited love, of life's disappointments, though it never succumbs to despair. I am always deeply touched by this music, it is truly special.

[@clementewerner]

Obviously I meant the String Quintet

[@twwc960]

I don't usually cry while listening to music, but the following is a list that induces tear-like emotions in me. They are listed in order of composition. 1. Bach: St. Matthew Passion (esp. the opening and closing choruses. Deeply moving). 2. Beethoven: String Quartet No. 7 in F, Op. 59 No. 1 (This is the first of the Razumovsky quartets and the slow movement gets me every time.) 3. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. (The second movement! What can I say? A door is opened to the beyond.) 4. Schubert: Impromptu In F minor, Op. 142 No. 1 (D. 935/1). (This has a pure, transcendant beauty that for me surpasses even his D. 960). 5. Schumann: Fantasie in C, Op. 17. (How can a major key sound so tragic??) 6. Mahler: Symphony No. 3. (That last movement!) 7. Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Okay, this is an obvious choice!) 8. Elgar: Symphony No. 2. (Achingly beautiful. Overwhelming tragedy, tempered by British stiff-upper-lip optimism. As complex and layered as a great red Bordeaux. A masterpiece!) 9. Rachmaninoff: Vespers (All Night Vigil). (Beautiful and deeply moving.) 10. Silvestrov: Symphony No. 5. (Hauntingly reverberant. A great cosmic journey.)

[@jockmoron]

Some wonderful choices, I know nothing about SIlvestrov- thanks for the nod....

[@arnausubiracanaleta3162]

Radu Lupu played D.959 two years before passing, I was at that concert and the tears didn't stop until one hour after the end of the concert

[@richardduffin7993]

Lupu was surely born to play Schubert. I only got to hear him once in concert and it was as though he was playing just to me. Just supreme. His boxed set of solo piano works would go with me to my desert island.

[@oldionus]

Oh, Schubert. So many teary moments. Can't even list them.

[@thomasdeansfineart149]

Counterintuitive though it may be, the last act of Verdi’s Falstaff. By the end of the final fugue I’m openly weeping. Embarrassing in the theatre. The sequences in Mozart’s piano concertos, e.g. mvt 2 of KV 488, and mvt 1 of kv 527, to name only two-both sequences in the major, which is where Mozart hits hardest. Sibelius 7th-I’m a mess from beginning to end. But the recapitulation and the final leading tone to the tonic resolution are the coup de grace. Vaughn Williams, Tallis fantasia. A surprising number of passages in Stravinsky’s work. Also, unlike pop music, perhaps, none of these pieces conjures nostalgia. They never evoke a personal event or situation. In that sense, they are inviolable. And I love that. Thank you Dave Hurwitz for sharing yours. 🙌🫶🙏

[@zevnikov]

I was told real men never cry. I can not imagine tears pouring down on Daves face hearing something beautiful. 😢

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

They don't pour, but they do drip.

[@zevnikov]

Hahahaha. I can imagine it 😂

[@RobertJonesWightpaint]

Yeah, but that's nonsense, isn't it? We were all told that - don't be a cry-baby, and so on. The older I've got, though - the more I've known that a bit of blubbing does you good, now and then. But not like turning on a tap....

[@TheVrajr]

The final minute of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture. Achingly beautiful. Chokes me up every time.

[@ScottHughes-n4u]

I know exactly what you mean. It's one of the most beautiful moments in all of music. It sounds like they're ascending to heaven and everytime I hear it I turn into a leaky mess. Tchaikovsky knew the perfect recipe to tug at our hearts and make us weep. I believe it's his masterpiece!

[@isqueirus]

No music makes me cry. Ever. Whenever I hear beauty, be it sad, melancholic, tragic, miserable ,whathever, I smile with true joy! I can't avoid it

[@ernstbrubaker]

Some pieces of music make me cry of joy!

[@kylejohnson8877]

These immediately come to mind for me: - Schubert: String Quintet, mvt. II - Finzi: Cello Concerto, mvt. II; Eclogue for piano and strings - Dvorak: Cello Concerto, mvt. II and the slow section near the end of the finale; Piano Trio no. 3, mvt. III - Magnard: Symphony no. 4 (the ending) - Schmidt: Symphony no. 4, mvt. II and the ending - Pettersson: Symphony no. 7 (the lyrical, hopeful sections) - Arnold: Symphony no. 5, mvt. II and the unexpected tragic ending - Prokofiev: "Death of Juliet" from Romeo and Juliet - Rachmaninoff: Symphony no. 2, mvt. III - Beethoven: Cello Sonata no. 5, mvt. II - Poulenc: Cello Sonata, mvt. II - Janacek: Violin Sonata (the more lyrical sections) - Barber: Violin Concerto, mvt. II - Elgar: "Sospiri" - Bax: "In Memoriam" (tone poem)

[@oldionus]

Certainly the Schubert... must be it for lots of people.

[@fransmeersman2334]

There two pieces of music that really shocked me, and became emotionally as you say a "puddle". The first is Beethoven's string quartet op.132 , the other is the 9th symphony of Mahler. It is really a wonder that a sequence of sounds can have such an effect and bring you in connection with something transcendental that is difficult to handle emotionally. English is not my mother tongue so I am a bit limited to express my feelings. Dave your talks are marvelous !

[@connykarlsson9969]

Brahms symphony no. 3 third movement always does it for me.

[@ScottHughes-n4u]

The final langsam movement of the Mahler 3rd Symphony is so profoundlly beautiful it turns me into a leaky mess. I just saw a recent performance on KZbin with Zubin Mehta and the Berlin Philharmonic and the performance was so sublime I went through five tissues sopping up the tears. Tears of joy!

[@fedegwagwa]

I cried to so much music that it would be useless to make a list, I'll just mention a few. But like you, it's almost never a cry from sadness or desperation but a cry from sublimity, it makes me feel like my life has suddenly been blessed by incredibke beauty, and I feel grateful for it. A piece that always got me was the Adagio from Mozart's Clarinet Concerto (even if it's in major like Piangerò), the Ballade n.4 by chopin, his nocturne op.48n.1 or 27 n2, Mendelssohn's 2nd Piano Trio (all of it), Bruch's Violin concerto (the slow movement), Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto BUT NOT the most obvious part, rather the last climax in the last movement, it feels like everything has finally been relieved and so satisfyingly.

[@stephenmarmer543]

What a great video. Though many of mine match yours or others but at least 30% are less familiar and this talk and comments made me want to hear all of them. Thanks for sharing this inspiring group of lists.

[@johnoliver533]

What a wonderful topic. You asked your viewers to respond with their personal favorites, and they've responded in spades. Thank you for following through on the suggestion that was proffered to you.

[@johnschwarze2807]

I’m not sure I can come up with 10, but… Faure Requiem - In Paradisum (while performing) Mahler 2 Finale Bruckner 9 3rd Mvt Berlioz Requiem - Sanctus Handel Messiah (while performing) Beethoven Missa solemnis - Benedictus Wagner Tristan and Isolde - Prelude and Liebestod (Norman/Karajan) Mahler 9 4th Mvt Bruckner 5 4th Mvt

[@LuBanchio]

Great video, Dave! The andante of Mahler's 6th always gets me in a very special, emotive, way. The same way with the first movement of Beethoven's 6th... I guess those are tears of joy. And of course, the passacaglia of RVW's 5th. The melody and the harmony cast a deep, melancholic aura. Cheers!

[@danieldroppa3170]

Yeah, Mahler 6 definitely (finale is total gut punch). End of Death and Transfiguration for some weird reason almost brought me to tears (it should be glorious, for me it is like....weirdly sad

[@danieldroppa3170]

Also Shostakovich 8th, Largo and Allegretto finale, i love it, it almost always drains me

[@jmwoods190]

Same for me. It was the very piece that got me pursuing a music career. And speaking of tears of joy- the finale of Rachminov Symphony No. 3 does it for me!

[@jmwoods190]

@@danieldroppa3170 The final big chord dying away in Mahler 6 always gets me emotional ever since I first heard it. I don't blame you for Death and Transfiguration- the ending was both glorious yet peaceful- and that peacefulness feels like the ending of some great suffering. But wait till you hear the ending of Die Frau Ohne Schatten- it's literally the ending of Death & Transfiguration on steroids!

[@auffieopc4711]

The Final Chorale of Bach's St. John Passion, "Ach Herr lass dein lieb' Engelein". The first time I heard it (after everything that preceded it) I just broke down in tears.

[@petermerelis7355]

same

[@hamnerk]

Total agreement with "Ma Mere l’Oye". I have the Munch recording. No words to describe this.

[@michaelhughes1504]

Strauss Four Last Songs, for me. Every time.

[@anthonycook6213]

Oh, I forgot to mention "The Sun Whose Rays are All Ablaze" from The Mikado just because it's sublime.

[@ocelotsly5521]

- Berg's Piano Sonata - Sibelius 7, if it's done properly - Bax' Tintagel - The march section of 'Festivals' from Debussy's Nocturnes - again, if it's done properly - The Menuet from Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin - Psalm 150 from Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms - And the first time I heard Wilhelm Kempff play the slow movement of Beethoven's Pathétique Sonata, I was drawn to tears. In contrast to 'interpretation' after 'interpretation' trying to tell me how to feel, Kempff just plays the thing. Semplice. Beautiful.

[@tom6693]

The finale of Mahler 2 for sure, a feeling of such exhilaration and a chest full of feelings that it can only produce tears (especially in Tennstedt's LPO live performance). But here's the first pieces off the top of my head that also make me well up every time (and I see that it's mostly a vocal list): Elgar 1, slow movement, Barbirolli/Philharmonia Elgar, Dream of Gerontius, "Angel's Farewell" Janet Baker/Barbirolli Strauss, Four Last Songs, "Beim Schlafengehen," Gundula Janowitz/Karajan Mahler, Kindertotenlieder #4 "Oft denk' ich" Janet Baker/Barbirolli Brahms, Op 91 "Gestillte Sehnsucht" Christa Ludwig Purcell, Dido & Aeneas, "When I Am Laid in Earth," Victoria de los Angeles/Barbirolli Massenet, Werther, "Va laisse couler mes larmes," Victoria de los Angeles/Pretre Chausson, "Le Colibri," Gerard Souzay/Bonneau Hahn, "Infidelite," Susan Graham/Vignoles Bach, Ich Habe Genug, "Schlummert Ein," Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Beethoven, String Quartet Op 130, Cavatina, The Lindsays

[@davidgroth26]

There are three highlight moments in the Mahler 8th opening screamathon that ALWAYS tear me up. Never fails

[@musicianinseattle]

The finale of Vaughan Williams' "Pastoral" Symphony. His farewell (at several years' remove) to the many young friends he lost in World War I is unbearably moving to me.

[@DeborahFocer]

Yes, it does get me as such a reminiscence of utter folly that happened in WWI. It's a wounded piece of music that we all need to feel before we attempt to go to war.

[@musicianinseattle]

Beautifully put, Ms. Focer. Thank you.

[@oldionus]

Have loved that piece since I bought the Angel recording when I was about 15. And that was a LONG time ago.

[@leoncohen2712]

A big reason I love the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams is because several of his compositions make me weep: "Flos Campi," the third movement of his "Phantasy Quintet," sections of "Job," sections of his opera "The Pilgrim's Progress," sections of his third and fifth symphonies, "Five Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus'", and others. That is also a big reason I love music from the Renaissance, especially the Credo of Palestrina's "Missa Brevis" with its wondrous concluding cascade of amens and the Gloria of Heinrich Isaac's "Missa Carminum" with its magical concluding minor to major change. And I agree with you about the Mahler Symphony 2 and the Ravel "Mother Goose" finale. In all those cases, the music makes feel like my soul wants to leave my body and soar.

[@dmntuba]

Thank you for creating & sharing with us your 10 personal moments in music. My God we all have these beautifully touching moments, and that's why We Keep on Listening 👍 I too feel the same way about Mahler 2, and add the adagio from the 10th...call me crazy 🤣

[@strqrt70]

Beethoven - 3rd mvmt of String Quartet No. 15 op 132. Bach - any number of his solo keyboard works. The perfection of the counterpoint in those works gives me so much joy I just tear up. Copland - Appalachian Spring, depending on my mood or the performance. I’m not sure why, but sometimes it hits me, other times it doesn’t.

[@georgesdelatour]

Absolutely agree about the Beethoven. I first heard it on the radio driving on the motorway. I had no choice but to pull over and listen. With Bach it depends on the performance. The slow movement of the A minor Violin Concerto makes me cry, if it's performed at a slow enough tempo.

[@TheUtke]

For me, it’s towards the end of act 3 of La Boheme. It’s the notion that they will stay together until it gets warmer in the spring, and all that. It’s just heart wrenching. (I think it has to do with a break up I was going through when I first learned the piece, and was playing it at the Royal Danish Opera). The Italian conductor, Francesco Cristofoli said that it would have to be a very bad performance for him to not cry in act 4, but at that point, I’m over it. Regarding Mahler 2: When we openened the new concert hall in Copenhagen with that piece, w Dausgaard, my sister couldn’t get out of her seat afterwards. She just wanted it to continue. But for me, it was a concert I played w The Malaysian Phil later, where the chior consisted of literally hundreds of young locals, who’d never done it before, and couldn’t believe what they were a part of. The look in their eyes when they first heard what was going on around them was so moving. Of course they weren’t that good, Ben Zander was ‘conducting’ and I was busy w my timpani part, so I wasn’t a puddle of tears, but the whole thing stays with me as an example of what music can do to people. Cheers!

[@josepholeary3286]

This needs to be divided into two categories: vocal and purely instrumental. Vocal has so many famous “if you have tears” moments it is impossible t pick out the tops. I’d go for the opening chorus of the St Matthew Passion (Klemperer), countess’s aria, the letter duet, the finale of Act II from Le nozze di Figaro, Die Winterreise (especially Die Nebensonnen and Das Wirtshaus), Ingemisco from Verdi’s Requiem, Micaela-José duet from Carmen, Finale of Gounod’s Faust, Faust-Helen duet in Boito’s Mefisofele, Brahms’ songs for viola and contralto (with Ferrier), Dawn duet from Götterdämmerung, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, Elgar’s Gerontiius, Glück, das mir verblieb from Die tote Stadt, Credeasi misera from I Puritani, Ah, non credea mirarti from La sonnambula, Duet in Act II of Maria Stuarda (Sutherland/Pavarotti), Letter scene from Butterfly, Finale of Andrea Chenier (Franco Corelli), Coro de los romanticos from Dona Francisquita, La Vida Breva, Close of Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Es muss was wunderbares sein (sung by Jonas Kaufmann). Instrumental? Just now I am thrilled by Mendelssohn op. 35.1 revealed by Dave Hurwitz, and also by his Piano Trios, then Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet and Kegelstatt Trio, Beethoven quartets op. 59.2, op. 127, Chopin played by Lipatti, Brahms Violin Concerto and Sonatas, Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever (Dudamel), Tchaikovsky, Serenade for Strings, Mahler’s Symphony 3 finale and Symphony 5 Adagietto, Rachmaninov’s 24 Preludes (Andrey Gugnin). Now looking at the other replies, it looks like the whole world agrees on a select set of sterling emotional moments, shared with us by the masters of music.

[@henkdem6756]

The describing of Jenufa was a miracle in itself; in just 5 minutes you gave the essentials of this masterpiece and I was very moved by it! I went 5 times to Aachen where they did the best production I ever saw. It will be forever in my heart!! Thank you so much!!

[@LucasFigueiredoBR]

Here's my list: Bach: Tocatta and Fugue in D minor(Both the original and Stokowski's orchestration) Beethoven: 9th👔 Symphony Brahms: Intermezzo Op. 118 No. 2(Played by Seymour Bernstein) Castelnuovo-Tedesco: 1st Guitar Concerto, 2nd Movement Debussy: La mer Gustav Holst: Jupiter, from The Planets Giacomo Puccini: Non piangere Liù, from Turandot Liszt: Faust Symphony, Chorus Mysticus Sibelius: 5th Symphony Stravinsky: Firebird, last scene or Final Hymn Vaughan Williams: 5th Symphony Villa-Lobos: Bachiana No.9 Choros No.10 and Invocação em defesa da Pátria. I picked 3 out of many from Villa-Lobos, because, being Brazilian, his music has, so to speak, a special place in my heart.

[@braedenmiller8538]

One that truly comes to mind is the final movement of Mahler 9. Not only is it a breathtaking work, but it happened to be the piece that came on during the drive to hospice to see my grandmother for the last time. I'm not a religious person, but I've never felt a more spiritual connection than that drive...

[@berndbo3360]

R. Strauss, Im Abendrot - 4 last songs. A couples quiet-sweet farewell to life

[@ManuManu-lm6xh]

I rarely cry with music, but I remember that I did cry the first time I heard the Cavatina from Beethoven’s quartet op 130. From the first bars, I already was immersed with a sense of inwardness, but when I reached the middle part of the piece, the part marked “beklemmt” on the manuscript, the tears were flowing. I had no control on my emotions. From that moment, I also think that this piece of music rightly represents humanity on the Voyager, as a message to other forms of sentient life.

[@silviofernandez585]

I cannot but agree with you completely. It lifts you to an exalted level that is truly out of this World.

[@rogergersbach3300]

Mahler's Ninth. 1st movement melancholy comes over me then 2nd movement perks me up, the 3rd movement, the struggle against all backbiters and doom merchants, and finally the 4th movement, a tear about what I haven't achieved in life and then acceptance for what is.

[@mr-wx3lv]

That specific performance of Samuel Barbers adagio played by the BBC SO and Leonard Slatkin, at the 2001 proms concert. But generally, the closing moments of Bruckner 7 Adagio. Just achingly beautiful..

[@craggyisland8770]

Beethoven’s last sonata no. 32….the second/last movement just kills me. Like seeing God.

[@DeborahFocer]

Just want to say, thank you Dave. You are a reminder of my late husband and his dear friend. We had so many evenings together listening to classical music--always comparing composers and conductors. You keep me going and I can't thank you enough. Wish my guys had access to your utube channel. That would be so much fun for us. Thanks for your wide-ranging knowledge. Hey, can you talk about Villa-Lobos? Maybe I missed it on your site. I love Latin American music and I think it's been so ignored. Anyway, go forward with your mission. I do appreciate it.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

There's an entire Villa-Lobos playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLAjIX596BriHPQ57UasKbFYgDRaYj9Qmw

[@DeborahFocer]

Thank you. Love your dedication. @@DavesClassicalGuide

[@Richard-b5r9v]

The slow movement of Mahler's 5th Symphony is what I want played at my funeral

[@swansbourne]

Bach: Cum Sancto Spiritus, from Mass in B minor Beethoven: final climax and close of Pastoral Symphony. Bruckner: symphony 6, slow movement, especially the last few minutes. Tallis: Gaude gloriosa Sibelius: final climax and close of symphony seven. Mahler: symphony 4 last few minutes of first movement. Brahms: Requiem last movement. Dvorak: string quartet no 8 in E, third mvt. Beethoven: symphony 9, last few minutes. Beethoven: string quartet in F op 135, slow movement.

[@macklindsey4541]

You remined me that one of those for me is Bach's Et in terra pax, also from the Gloria movement of the B Minor Mass.

[@reneblom2160]

"When I am Laid in Earth" from Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. That aria will usually bring a little bit of moist to my eyes. The very same piece is being used in the film: "Der Untergang" (The Downfall) with great effect in a lengthy outdoor scene - mostly filmed in slow-motion - that shows the defense of Berlin being overrun by the Red Army, and a small detachment of Hitler Jugend and Bund Deutscher Mädel teenagers operating a FLAK cannon against Soviet tanks realize, that everything is lost: Der Führer is dead and the Third Reich is no more. So two of them they decide to shoot themselves. All of this is happening in silence, except for Purcells music: Just the string accompainment - no singer - that perfectly underlines the atmosphere of hopelessness, despair and tragedy. Very powerful stuff, very effective. And it got to me. 😉

[@jscudderz]

The Nimrod suite from the Enigma variations always gets me. Every year in HS orchestra that would be the last piece we played as the seniors left and our conductor who'd been with us since we were children always said that would be the last piece he conducted. When he retired a bunch of alumni returned for his last concert and took to the stage and played it with him. It must have sounded monstrous as people had been out of practice for years by that point but there wasn't a dry eye on the stage. Of course the story behind the Nimrod Variation is also poignant and it's sound is thick with sentimentality.

[@fjblanco]

"A confrontation with something so beautiful..." Wow! You really nailed that description, for me at least. I'm just not a crier, never have been. But occasionally, a piece of music (a section, a phrase, a whole melody) hits my gut and my heart in such a way that I become a blubbering idiot. I must say, a live concert performance tends to get me more often than recorded, and it usually has to do with the performance, the turn of a phrase that gets me, and it has happened with works that don't necessarily elicit the same response when I listen to recordings. HOWEVER, since this a forum about recordings, there are 3 that always cause me to tear up: 1. The closing of John William's film score for ET (especially the "I'll be right here" music) 2. The opening of Rachmaninov's Vespers recorded by Bruffy and Kansas City and Phoenix Chorales - no other Vespers recording does it to me like this one 3. The last scene of Verdi's Otello... by the time he sings "Un altro ba......a....cci..... I'm a friggin mess Honorable mentions: Closing of Mahler's 8th and 2nd; Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto - 2nd movement as performed by Ashkenazy and Previn; The "big tune" in Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, 1st movement - performed by Bernstein and NYP, the famous (or infamous) DG digital recording

[@timyork6150]

I do quite often get moved to tears by music but can't pinpoint any particular pieces. It is largely a question of mood with the quality of performance playing a big role. The composer who most often has this effect on me is probably Schubert in his piano, chamber music and songs. Handel too, the most romantic of the pre-Romantics. I also sometimes find the tears welling up from the sheer magnificence of certain passages of Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Mahler and Shostakovich. Also, a confession of weakness, certain passages in verismo opera when sung by artists of the calibre of, say, Callas at her peak or Björling.

[@epergne]

Thanks for the video, Dave. For me, the end of Mahler 2 (esp. Tennstedt live), and the Urlicht (Anne Sophie von Otter). But also, the opening of Appalachian Spring (esp Orpheus Ch Orc or Bernstein/LAPO). There's something about its beautiful simplicity that I find so innocent, perfect and beautifully sincere and I've loved it since childhood...and teared up for the 50 years since :)

[@JackJohnsonNY]

Two Strauss pieces: “Morgen,” which is like the song of a beloved from the other side. Full of beauty and peace and repose. Another strikes a note of human generosity (my usual cry trigger): the final trio from Rosenkavalier.

[@porcinet1968]

Mahler is my strongest trigger (just generally - not even particular works, nearly everything he wrote has moments that I find have made me cry, not in a "sad" way either necessarily - the 8th is full of them if it's sung well enough, I have cried through the closing Gloria sometimes in live performance). I tear up in music that I find perfectly joyous too which doesn't make sense to me but it happens! The Arietta of Beethoven op 111 does that to me in some performances, even though it is beautifully serene. Being moved to tears by artworks is one of the strangest experiences I ever have and it's actually a kind of judgement system for me - it has never happened with Puccini, Tchaikovsky or other things that seem to have that effect on other people. But Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, Mahler, Bruckner and some Strauss (the final trio of Rosenkavalier works on me) are reliable triggers of extreme feelings. It happens to me a fair bit and it is just so strange. It has happened to me in performances of the finales in Beethoven 5 or 7. It happened to me once with a Vermeer painting at the Met in NYC, on that same trip I saw Dawn Upshaw singing Pamina and "Tamino mein" made me burst into tears, so did the performance of Die Soldaten I saw on that same trip in 1991 (still the best opera production I have ever seen). This phenomenon never happens with sculpture but happens a fair bit with painting, never happens in most theatre (only Beckett and Shakespeare do this to me), never happens with written literature, some films, but music? it is almost regular. I think something about how music happens in the mind means those emotional signals can get all crossed.

[@howard5259]

Music has moved me to tears many times. The one time I always remember because it was probably the most powewrful affect of all was a performance of Mahler's 8th. Specifically it was the Faust-inspired central section of the second movement which just took me by surprise. It now gets me every time. I have to say that the late Beethoven quartets and piano sonatas also affect me.

[@jgesselberty]

Adagio for Strings. End of Mahler 2nd. End of La Boheme. come to mind.

[@petertaplin4365]

Hymn to the fallen from Saving Private Ryan by John Williams. It's a slow burn, and swells to a perfectly-timed overwhelming climax.

[@valerietaylor9615]

I’m not a woman who cries easily, yet there are so many pieces that reduce me to a pile of goo, that I’ve drawn up two lists of pieces that make me cry - one instrumental, and one vocal. The instrumental pieces are: Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez - second movement Dvorak: Symphony Number 9, “From the New World” - second movement Vaughan-Williams: Serenade to Music Ciprian Porembescu: Ballade for Violin and Orchestra ( forget Barber’s Adagio - THIS is the saddest piece of music ever written) Bach: Concerto for Two Violins in D-Minor, BWV 1043 - second movement Tchaicovsky: Symphony Number 5 in E-Minor - second movement Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in F-Major, K. 296 Wagner: Overture to “ Tannhaeuser” Verdi: Prelude to “La Traviata” Mascagni: Intermezzo from “ Cavalleria Rusticana” Now for the vocal selections: Puccini: “Un Bel Di” from “ Madama Butterfly” Purcell: “ When I Am Laid In The Earth” from “Dido and Aeneas” Puccini: “ O, Mio Babbino Caro” from “ Gianni Schicchi” Wagner: The Liebestod from “ Tristan und Isolde; Wotan’s Farewell and Magic Fire Music from “Die Walkuere”; The Pilgrim’s Chorus from “Tannhaeuser”; and the Immolation scene from “ Gotterdaemmerung Handel: “ I Know That My Redeemer Liveth” from “ Messiah” ( almost any soprano will do, but Kirsten Flagstad was the BEST) Leoncavallo: “ Vesti La Giubba” from “Pagliacci” Almost anything sung by Fritz Wunderlich🥲

[@mfkush2931]

Just listened to the Mendelssohn Op. 35 for the first time....and am currently listening again to his string quartets. I agree with you...he is so underrated! I would mention the Martinu viola concerto and the Shostakovich 1 violin concerto (passacaglia) as works that make me cry.

[@DeborahFocer]

I think that Ricard Strauss "The last four songs" brought me to tears. Reason: The end of Romanticism in music. I just felt he closed the door on this period of music. Almost like a funeral elegy.

[@richardsandmeyer4431]

It seems earlier posters have covered the subject pretty well, but here are two that I would add: Beethoven: Fidelio -- tears of despair for the prison scene followed by tears of joy at the final freeing of the unjustly imprisoned. Bach (JS): the ending of the Art of Fugue where the music just stops. Not that the music itself is so sad but just what the stop itself means.

[@thomasvendetti3742]

What a number of responses. When I was a young father, I wondered what opera I would want my two daughters to see first. I chose La Boheme. At the end of the piece, when the audience is aware of Mimi’s death and her lover is not, Puccini lets out with chords at the moment of her lover’s awareness. Well I welled up in tears. One of my daughters said,”Daddy, you are crying! “. Well that’s me I guess. Today, when I come to the great finale of the Bruckner 5, I tear up. Perhaps it is the contrast of Bruckner’s great faith and my lack of it. Or maybe the efforts of Bruckner being ignored in his lifetime in contrast with the brilliant finale gets to me. I don’t know. For some reason it means something to me. The third is Bernstein’s Overture to Candide. I met Bernstein once. He seemed so authentic and committed to music, yet I feel he never reached the promise that was his in his own compositions. Candide is so filled with life and energy. I love it, but it makes me feel a bit sad for a talented composer who somehow never reached the heights he sought to reach.

[@Craig_Wheeler]

The slow movement from Mahler 6. Shreds me everytime...even in that live Szell/Cleveland performance from your "Great Artist, Bad Day" series. It's that wistful quality, the surging joyous moments and the way they always turn sorrowful. I'm a bit of a pessimist and it just sums up my feelings in life. (I try to stay cheery, in spite of things. Ain't easy but I hang in there.)

[@porcinet1968]

I can relate! I am such a pessimist that the Ode to Joy makes me tear up very often, because all of subsequent human history just proves "all men will be as brothers" to be a lie.

[@emilalfaro2800]

The only two pieces of music that have made me cry are both by Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde and the Finale from Symphony No. 3. For Das Lied, of course it’s the Der Abschied coda with the words written by Mahler. I have never heard any music that better describes not only an acceptance of death, but a passing into nature. It’s the piece that gave me a love of Chinese landscape art pieces. Similar to how you felt with the Janacek, I just have to sit in silence for a bit after listening to it. It hits harder when you listen to the whole piece in full, since that coda is a restatement of the opening Trinklied’s moral of man not living past nature, but this time it’s much more accepting and optimistic than the cynical character in the Trinklied. Something about the broken minor thirds in the harp that pervade the whole Abschied get me almost nostalgic. When the singer sings her last “Ewig” I just feel like I’ve passed into a different dimension. The Adagio from Symphony No. 3 also gets me nostalgic. Not only the main D Major theme is so beautiful, but it was the first piece that really got me into Classical Music, and just showed the power music can have over a person. It was the Levine recording I listened to, and it’s still one of my favorites.

[@compositortiagoprado]

I completely agree regarding Symphony No. 3. About "Das Lied von der Erde" it is very strange. It's a work I love (I love Mahler in general), I really admire it, but for some reason it never touched me deeply (even Christa Ludwig, my favorite singer). I imagine the problem is with me, I always look for a new recording, but for some reason the work doesn't touch me.

[@kingconcerto5860]

@@compositortiagoprado I'm right there with you on this. Out of all of his major symphonic works, Das Lied is the only one I would say that I haven't fallen in love with. I most recently listened to it in it's entirety just today actually, the Haitink recording with James King and Janet Baker. There is a lot about it I really like, but I didn't fall in love with it immediately like pretty much every other one of his symphonies. I'll keep playing it on occasion and we'll see what happens though.

[@winslowrogers2026]

Thanks. We’ll head over to baggage claim and meet you there in about 10 minutes.

[@Richard-b5r9v]

Yes. The very ending of Mahler s 3rd Symphony is Heavenly

[@peewee678]

OK, let's name only one piece... Fauré - Pelléas Et Mélisande Suite. The whole thing actually. Even the Sicilienne (if just a bit). 😭 I mean, come on: what's NOT to cry about this master piece? When I read Op. 54 No. 2 I immediately knew what you meant; I've always found that movement achingly beautiful. On a sidenote: Haydn has that remarkable gift of inserting those sudden jabs of pain, melancholy or sadness in his string quartets. Very fleeting; before you know it, it's gone but by then the damage has already been done. Remarkable.

[@RichardGreen422]

1. Bach: St Matthew Passion. "Truly this is God's son." 2. Bach: Chaconne from Partita #2. (Hilary Hahn turned me into a puddle at DIsney Hall). 3. Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 135 4. Schubert: Symphony 9, climax of slow movement 5. Schubert: Winterreise. 6. Chopin: Barcarolle 7. Brahms: Symphony 3, inner movements 8. Mahler: Kindertotenlieder 9. Strauss: Four Last Songs (especially with Jessie Norman!) 10: Stravinsky: Petrushka And also Rodgers and Hammerstein: The King and I Marvin Gaye: What's Going On Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life

[@Cesar_SM]

Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio, the dramatic final part of the coda. Extremely emotional, passionate, intense. That sudden change between sheer joy and tragedy in that section is one of my favorite moments in music. A tremendous contrast. Respighi's Vetrate di Chiesa, San Gregorio Magno (on the Chandos recording). How Respighi used the consoling, warm main melody which is the Gloria from the Missa de Angelis in this movement touches a special fiber on me. The sheer splendour this movement displays is unbelievably overwhelming to me to the point of bringing tears of exultation to my eyes. The Andante moderato from Mahler's 6th (Karajan recording on DG). It could be my all-time favorite slow movement of any symphony. The opening Andante from Glazunov's Symphony No. 4. Wistfulness in all its splendour. Vaughan Williams's Tallis Fantasia. Predictable I guess, but I can't ignore how heavenly, spiritual, ecstatic it is. Tallis's Spem in alium. Another example of ecstatic beauty, this time on human voices. Duruflé's Requiem, mostly the Introit et Kyrie. Alwyn's Lyra Angelica. The most ravishing harp concerto I know. This work is nothing but gorgeousness.

[@jmbrannigan]

Just about any piece can move me to the point of tears if I'm in the right frame of mind. But then there are pieces that just really get to me emotionally every single time... and here are a few of those. No surprise that some have been mentioned already! -Bach: The final 'Dona Nobis Pacem' from the B minor mass. Just so life-affirming and radiant. -Haydn: Symphony no. 44, slow movement. Especially when the oboes and horns first enter (and at the corresponding moment in the recapitulation) - there's something magical about it. -Beethoven: Choral Fantasy (when the voices enter until the end) and the Ninth Symphony (the first orchestral development of the 'Ode to Joy' theme, where it works up from a unison statement in the cellos and basses, through a series of repetitions, up to a grand statement by the full orchestra. At the point where the violins take up the melody, I lose it!) -Schumann: Das Paradies und die Peri. Especially that last scene - and when the soprano hits that high C, just... chills (and tears!) -Franck: Violin Sonata, last movement. There's something so simple, but exceedingly beautiful, about that main theme, and what he does with it... -several works by Brahms: as someone mentioned, 'Ist auf deinem Psalter' from the Alto Rhapsody - SO achingly beautiful! (bonus points if it's the Janet Baker recording.) The slow movements of the First (that violin solo!), Third, and Fourth (the return of the second subject in the recapitulation!) Symphonies. "Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen" from the German Requiem. And as Dave said, the second subject of the String Sextet in G, first movement - just meltingly gorgeous! -a less obvious choice, a 'sleeper': Saint-Saens, Piano Concerto no. 1 - especially the finale, where the opening horn call returns to round off the piece. Just glorious! -Dvorak: Symphony no. 9, slow movement. That English horn melody... so poignant and nostalgic... and painfully beautiful. -Puccini: 'Nessun dorma' from Turandot, both the original aria, and when it returns at the end, gloriously sung by the chorus. (yes, I realize Puccini didn't write the ending... but that doesn't lessen its emotional impact!) -Rachmaninov: The 'big tune' endings of the Second Piano Concerto and Second Symphony. Boy, could he tug at the heartstrings like no one else! -and of course Mahler is full of these overwhelmingly emotional moments: Symphony no. 2, from when the chorus enters to the end - I can't describe it, but this more than any other piece turns me into an out-of-control sobbing mess - and I mean that in the best possible way! So powerful and moving and just... indescribable. Add to that the finale of the 3rd Symphony, the slow movement of the 4th, the closing pages of the 8th and (for entirely different reasons) the 9th and Das Lied von der Erde. And I can't forget 'Liebst du um Schonheit' from the Ruckert Lieder - I can't quite describe why, but I just lose it every time...

[@stephanversmissen3953]

For me it's Brahms' Piano Trio No. 1, especially in the performance by Katchen, Suk and Starker. I don't know what it is, it stirrs something nostalgic, universal in me. Something similar happens when I listen to certain pieces bij Fauré. It feels like something precious from the past that was lost in modernity.

[@dennischiapello7243]

La Boheme, Act 3, the initial duet between Mimi and Marcello. The whole act is wonderful, the best of all four, but that first duet really does it for me. Otherwise, I've grown rather hard-hearted toward most of the rest of Boheme. Marriage of Figaro. The moment during the Act 2 Finale, immediately after the Count's apology to the Countess ("Ho torto, e mi pento.") The three of them (with Susanna) singing "Da questo momento..." reaches an unexpectedly intense musical and emotional pitch that gives me a chill even as I type this. The famous Act 4 forgiveness moment doesn't affect me nearly as much. Brahms, Clarinet Quintet, Adagio--specifically, the "gypsy" interlude. With those tremolos, especially, I've been moved to spasms of near-sobs. Brahms, Third Symphony, the Poco Allegretto movement. Mendelssohn, Scottish Symphony, slow movement. Mahler 6, Andante.

[@ericl9875]

Myaskovsky, symphony no 27; Pettersson, symphonies 6-8; Pärt, Stabat Mater; Bax, ending of symphony no 3 and In Memoriam(the one for orchestra not the same titled but different piece for a Sextet of cor anglais, harp and string quartet.)

[@barbaricyawper14]

Two operas never fail to bring me uncontrollable tears: La boheme and Elektra

[@DeborahFocer]

Oh, you mentioned the Dumka -- yes, Dvorak. I was 18 yrs old. I couldn't stay away from it. Like I was obsessed as a teenager with the quintet. I couldn't get enough of it. Then I got into Martinu.

[@stuf159]

James Macmillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross. The music is so heartbreaking, I can’t help but weep when it’s over.

[@PhilipKass]

The first time I heard Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony live, by the time the orchestra played the last note, I thought I was hearing someone's last agonal breath of life. I couldn't talk, I was so choked up by the horror of hearing what I believe is Tchaikovsky prophesizing his own death. Another piece that chokes me up is Bruch's Kol Nidre for cellor and orchestra. The music is so mournful yet the cello is so beautiful, and it evokes memories of people past, as appropriate for the holiday. So much sadness and poignancy.

[@richardduffin7993]

I have three pieces which always turn on the waterworks. Firstly VW Symphony 5 Adagio which was written whilst my Country was at its lowest ebb during WW2 reminding me of the resolve of the population to win through against all the odds with more than a little help from above. Secondly the final movement of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique by trying to imagine what must have been going through the his mind whilst composing it and thirdly Mahler's 9th whilst listening to the recording by Karel Ancerl. The composer and conductor both tormented souls sharing their thoughts and unsavoury experiences with us in this masterpiece of all masterpieces. Sincerely Richard Duffin

[@windowtrimmer8211]

The last three minutes of Shostokovich’s 15th Symphony. The last last minute of Ravel’s “L’enfant et les sortileges.” In the scherzo of Korngold’s Symphony in F-sharp: the slower middle section with the descending melody.

[@edwinbaumgartner5045]

A heartwarming list, indeed. We share some composers, but partly with other works. In common we have the "Resurrection". Monteverdi (attributed): "Pur ti miro" from "Poppea". It is so beautiful and so deeply loving that I start to cry every time I hear it. Ravel: The "Pavane" - also because of it's stainless beauty. Janácek: The finale of the "Vixen", and I'm in tears. Although I like chamber music, it has not that emotional impact. Just Shostakovich comes close with the slow movement of the Piano Quintet. The composer, who makes a weeping bundle out of me, is Britten, as well at the end of "Grimes", the last 10 minutes of the "War Requiem", the Billy's ballad and the hanging, but the moment I nearly cannot bear is the finale of the "Screw", when the Governess sings to the dead Miles his "Malo"-song. There is also one moment in a rather unknown opera, "Dantons Tod" by Gottfried von Einem: At the end, Danton has been executed and two grave diggers sing a vulgar song - but then the orchestra starts a fog shaded murmur, and Dantons beloved sings the folk song "Es ist ein Schnitter, der heißt Tod". Also, I'm in tears, when I hear the "Cantus" by Pärt. But all of these works are nothing compared to this one: I didn't know it, when I sat in the opera and saw and heard it for the first time. And then came the finale, and I started to weep, but when I looked around me, I saw that others wept, too, and the work was "Les dialogues des Carmélites" by Poulenc. There have been performances and sometimes also when I listened to recordings, when I stopped or went out before the finale, because I was unable to bear it on this day.

[@LaurelT1948]

Yes, these get me too- the ‘Malo’ song, and the finales of The Cunning Little Vixen, and The Dialogues of the Carmelites. Devastating. We should get together with a box of tissues and go to the opera together. Thomas Weelkes’ Draw On Sweet Night also gets me, as does Janacek’s On an Overgrown Path- esp. the last one, The Tawny Owl Has Not Flown Away. And Borodin’s Nocturne in the 2nd String Quartet. I also used to cry when rehearsing in chorus. I found that being surrounded by beautiful sounds, and creating them with others, was incredibly moving. (I had to control the urge to cry in performances, though.)

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I'm with you for the finale of "Vixen." It was a tough call.

[@mhc2231]

I'm a big crier when it comes to great music, so I'll have to keep the list short... I'll avoid some of the more obvious choices like Beethoven's Cavatina from the String Quartet Op.130. Here are a few others that can get me choked up. 1) Handel: "Fra l'Ombre e gl'orrori" Aria for bass from "Aci, Galatea, Polifemo" My goodness, how he gives such depth of feeling and sorrow to a monstrous bad guy! 2) Bach: Goldberg Variations: Aria da Capo. I'm usually fine with the first iteration, but when it comes back at the end... waterworks! 3) Canteloube: "Bailero" from "Songs of the Auvergne". I have no clue what she's saying, but it does me in every time. 4) Janacek: "On an Overgrown Path" I cannot listen to this unless I'm prepared for an emotional experience. it's devastating. 5) Schubert: Movement #2 of the Piano Sonata D960. I guess I think about poor Schubert and his short life whenever I hear this. 6) Beethoven: Arietta from Piano Sonata Op. 111. It's personal and powerful. 7) Ravel: "Ma Mere l'Oye" Especially the version for four hands and percussion (Argerich & Freire). No need to explain-- you get it. Thanks Dave! I feel better now.

[@richfarmer3478]

The beautiful string theme that follows the sunrise intro to Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathrustra, the coda to Copland's Appalachian Spring, and the middle tune in Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dance no. 1. Also in the same work the nostalgia rendering of the theme from his first symphony that emerges near the end of the movement.

[@violadamore2-bu2ch]

Yes, that saxophone solo is like nothing else.

[@melissaking6019]

1) The 3rd movement of Brahms 2nd Concerto - Rudolf Serkin/Ormandy/Philadelphia, Elsa Hilger, Cello. 2) Schubert's 'Die schone Mullerin' sung by Fritz Wunderlich. 3) The Lilac Fairy theme from The Sleeping Beauty. 4) The Pas d'Action from Act 2 of The Sleeping Beauty with the cello solo. 5) The scene from Act 1 of The Nutcracker where the Christmas tree grows. 6) The Grand Pas de Deux from The Nutcracker. 7) The 2nd movement from Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence. 8) Love music from Francesca da Rimini 9) Act 1 of Puccini's Madama Butterfly where Cio Cio San arrives for her wedding to Pinkerton 10) The Prelude to Act 3 of Puccini's Manon Lescaut 11) The 3rd movement of Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony. 12) Act 1 Prelude to La Traviata 13) Thomas Tallis' Spem In Alium 14) 'Bless the Lord, O my soul' from Rachmaninov's Vespers.

[@Archimusik]

Got to agree on the Ravel. That piece - particularly the Fairy Garden - gets me every time. Here are others that come to mind: Vaughan Williams - III. Romanza from Symphony 5 Strauss - Tod and Verklarung (that climactic 6/4 chord gets me every time) Beethoven - Mvmt II from Emperor Concerto Bach - “Mache dich mein Herze rein” from St Matthew Passion

[@IHSACC]

Great topic, thank you for sharing. Here is my list: 1. Bach-Die Seele ruht from cantata 127. Lament, consolation, death, resurrection, major, minor, pizzicato pulse-simply the most haunting, sad yet comforting melody I know. It is rare that a composer’s biography should be an interpretative grid for listening, but here it’s hard to not think of Bach’s many losses-parents, wife, children. Whoever thinks that Bach is dry or mechanical needs to hear this. Try Rilling with Auger, Richter, or other modern pitch ones. Somehow the Baroque pitch recordings don’t have the same impact. 2. Brahms-Geistliches Lied-try the Gardiner string version. This music is like a person putting their arms around a crying person. And that “Amen” at the end is the greatest of them all. 3. Vaughan Williams-Symphony no. 5. Especially the last few minutes. The Pilgrim reaches the end of his journey. 3. Parry-Blest Pair of Sirens. Vaughan Williams said that this was the greatest English piece ever written. It’s hard to argue sometimes. But please only listen to Boult or Hickox. Most others lack the nobility and go too fast. “O may we soon again renew that song”-the longing and aspiration leading to the final peroration so moving. 4. Mozart-Et incarnatus from the Mass in C minor. Pure beauty, sincere emotional exfoliation. 5. Mahler-Resurrection Symphony # 2. I agree with what you said. I get distracted if the performance messes it up. The ending always does it unless the conductor gets inhibited or fussy. 6. I know he’s already been mentioned: Vaughan Williams-Toward the Unknown Region. The most successful “death to life” piece since the Mahler 2; and he does it in 13 minutes. Unbelievably moving and transcendent.

[@brianthomas2434]

With most concertos I'm just waiting for the slow movement to pass so I can get to the exciting finale. But with Brahms' Second Piano Concerto, I savor every note. It's my favorite part of the piece, in what is probably my favorite piece of music. I don't always cry, but I'm always moved.

[@Bachback]

The Second Movement of Gorecki's Symphony 3. A woman facing death (at the hands of monsters) prays to the Holy Mother. Other comments have reminded me of two more tear jerkers: Four Last Songs by Strauss and the conclusion to Mahler 2.

[@NancyW726]

For me there's many, but what surprised me was the first time I heard Mozart's Clarinet Concerto - the slow movement. And I don't even really care for the sound of the clarinet that much, but Oh! I was so moved by the aching beauty of that movement - I began to quietly weep. Intense beauty makes me cry. So glad you made this video!

[@valerietaylor9615]

I love Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and the sound of the clarinet generally, but I can’t say the piece has ever made me cry.

[@ferrisburgh802]

For me, hands down, Schubert's D960 Piano Sonata, 2nd movement; truly beautiful....

[@ErnestSDavis1]

Thanks for the list! I will listen. For myself: I once, for some foolish reason, listened to Bach's "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" ten times in a row, and then could not stop crying for 20 minutes. Let me also put in a word for Bach's "Erbarme dich" from the St. Matthew Passion, and for the 2nd movement of Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" quartet.

[@Kije.Jekyll]

The climax from the 1st mvt. of Shostakovitch 7th symphony put me in such a tension that I always cry and my arms and my legs are trembling, my heart seems about the be broken it's a very unique feeling I know. (sorry for my bad english) And also Sigfried idyll... so beautiful!

[@braedenmiller8538]

this is so real. After the low brass scale back up the burst back into the first theme that builds and builds back into those last two hammer blows. It is just breathtaking when done well.

[@Kije.Jekyll]

@@braedenmiller8538 That "low brass scale"... yes...!

[@maxmachado8632]

Thank you for sharing Dave! For me the ones that really get me are the end of Mahler’s “Ressurection”, the end of Shostakovich 5th and 7th and the first movement of the 10th, the end of Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique”, the end of Wagner’s Ring, coro a bocca chiusa from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the Coda from Copland’s Appalachian Spring, the first movement of Steve Reich’s Different trains, Sibelius 7th Symphony and The Dirge from Bernstein’s “The Age of Anxiety”. Music is so amazingly powerful…

[@MegaVicar]

The monologues of the Marschallin, and the trio from the end of 'Der Rosenkavalier'.

[@ericleiter6179]

For me, I can't say that these pieces make me cry EVERY time I hear them, but they have made me cry at one time or another... Bach: A-min Violin Concerto 2mvt Mozart: Requiem Lacrimosa Beethoven: Op 132 SQ 3rd mvt Beethoven: 3rd Symphony 2nd mvt Beethoven: 7th Symphony 2nd mvt Schumann: 3rd Symphony 4th mvt Brahms: G-maj String Sextet 4 mvt Tchaikovsky: 6th Symphony 1st mv Dvorak: 8th Symphony 2nd mvt Dvorak: American Quartet 2nd mvt Strauss: Death and Transfiguration Sibelius: 2nd Symp 4th mvt Shostakovich: 5th Symp 3rd mvt

[@ericleiter6179]

Also have to add Mahler 2nd symp 4th mvt Barber Adagio Schumann 2nd Symphony 3rd mvt Bruckner 9th Symphony 3rd mvt

[@ScottHughes-n4u]

The Beethoven 7th 2nd movement is my favorite Beethoven. I've played the viola part of the Dvorak American quartet and the bittersweet quality is really beautiful. Richard Strauss's Death and Transfiguration is my favorite piece in the universe. Tchaikovsky's Pathetique and Romeo and Juliet are right up there with it.

[@benjaminaronmikulecz5937]

I know quite few pieces of classical music well. But those I listen to over and over and over again, and then some. So, I only have three pieces on my list. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 In the middle of the fourth movement, there's this ever-mounting despair, and when it releases you from its clutch at last, the brasses start to shout the fate motif at you. At that moment, I get totally overwhelmed by emotion. I just lose it. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 In the second movement, the theme lets its repeats go in the fifth variation. Then, there's a free episode before the theme returns, accompanied by the trills and lets its second half go. This free episode gets me every time. The theme literally surpasses its bounds. A wonderful moment. Brahms: Symphony No. 4 Actually, I've gotten acquainted with this piece on your recommendation, and I honestly thank you for it because I love it! Double the crying, double the fun, I guess? First, there's, of course, the end of the first movement. But it's not just the violence of the main melody that gets me. What gets me is that whatever previous material the music touches on turns unbearably violent and/or desperate. The strings are screaming where earlier they sang. The two big descending phrases turn into uncontrollable, helpless falls. Even the orchestral cloud turns into vicious runs flashing across the strings. Secondly, there's that painfully sad flute solo in the fourth movement, begging with the faintest possible glimmer of hope for a resolution to the tragedy. That's just one of the most touching things. I expect this list to grow as I get to know more pieces. Based on your video and the comments, Mahler's symphonies and Tchaikovsky's sixth seem to be good candidates.