Melancholy Music

[kyounge1956]

If you're not a Star Trek aficionado, you may never have heard this plaintive flute melody from "The Inner Light", which is considered by many to be one of the best of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Here's the very end of the episode, with the music fading off into the vastness of space. Chokes me up every time I hear it.

YouTube - Star Trek, The Next Generation: The Inner Light

[mh]

YouTube - The Chieftains & Alison Krauss - Molly Ban

[Maurice]

Late Brahms, hands down.

Op 117, 118, 116 come to mind.

[yakers]

Another Thompson, Leonard Cohen said this is the best version of the song he has heard:

YouTube - Teddy Thompson - Tonight Will Be Fine

[NW-Bound]

Look what happens after this thread got revived! Lots of somber people here.

I am just glad no one has posted that his or her song is more pensive than the rest, raises a ruckus, and causes the moderators to close down this thread.

[NW-Bound]

Well, while this thread is still open, let me post another plug for "Tristesse" (Sadness), Étude Op. 10, No. 3 by Chopin (étude means study in French).

For non-musicians like myself,

The term “étude” has long been used to describe pieces of technical, sometimes virtuosic, difficulty, focused on training and refining a specific aspect of a performer’s technique. Masters such as Czerny and Hanon wrote notorious etudes that are legendary exercises in finger and hand dexterity and strength. Although invaluable in this regard, these etudes are lacking in musical development, since most of them are merely repetitions of the same general pattern of notes. They have no inherent musicality.

Hah! Music that shows off difficult techniques, without musicality! It may work for the players who strive for virtuosity, but what is in it for a mere listener like myself? Chopin's pieces weren't that boring. Any non-pianist who has ever heard of Czerny and Hanon? I hadn't.

Chopin never named any of his works. The nickname "Tristesse" was given by followers of his works. From a Web site,

What makes this particular etude notable, however, is not its technical difficulty. It is the nostalgia, the wistfulness, and the emotion that flow through the music. Chopin is rumored to have proclaimed about this etude that “In all my life I have never again been able to find such a beautiful melody.” It is also reported that while Chopin was playing this for a student, he suddenly began weeping and cried “Oh, my homeland!” This etude is one of the best expressions of Chopin’s nationalism and the love he felt for his Poland.

While the piece is undoubtedly very emotional, many musicians believe that it is poorly nicknamed. Tristesse, which translates to sadness, is a misnomer, to say the least. The etude is not simply “sad”; it is an expression of nostalgia and Chopin’s love of his homeland. It has firmly established itself as one of Chopin’s most popular and best loved compositions.

Ever since listening to this as a kid, I love this obvious sadness though not aware of it as Chopin's expressed love of his motherland. Because of the melody, lyrics have been written in many languages to turn it into a song. And more often than not, it was made into a love song. Of course there is an English version, which follows.

YouTube - Chopin - Tristesse - Chanson de L'Adieu

So deep is the night,
No moon tonight,
No friendly star
To guide me with its light
Be still my heart,
Silent lest my love should be returning
From a world far apart.

So deep is the night
O lonely night,
On broken wings
My heart has taken flight
And left a dream.

In my dream our lips are blending,
Will my dream be never ending?
Will your mem`ry haunt me till I die?
Alone am I,
Deep into the night,
Waiting for the light,
Alone am I,
I wonder why?
Deep is the night.

[Maurice]

I (pianist here) love that etude, but those popularized versions only use one of its themes - it has a second theme that's not so melancholy. Lovely all the same...

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maurice I (pianist here) love that etude, but those popularized versions only use one of its themes - it has a second theme that's not so melancholy. Lovely all the same...

If you mean the passage in the middle of it, then I think it is also very passionate but it does not have a melody amenable to lyrics. At least, no one has tried to write one.

[NW-Bound]

I recently stumbled across the following piece on youtube, when I was looking for another rendition of "Chanson d'Automne" than the recording by Charles Trenet (1941), which I first heard in the movie "French Kiss".

The lyrics are verbatim from a poem by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896), a French poet. I am not the literary type to know a lot about poetry, but happened to recognize that this poem was translated and turned into the lyrics of a song in yet another language that I heard in my youth. Verlaine is revered and this poem "Chanson d'Automne" is indeed well-known.

Chanson d'Automne / Song of Autumn

Les sanglots longs / The long sobs
Des violons / Of the violins
De l'automne / Of autumn
Blessent mon coeur / Wound my heart
D'une langueur / With a languor
Monotone / Monotonous

Tout suffocant / All suffocating
Et blême, quand / And pale when
Sonne l'heure, / The hour strikes
Je me souviens / I remember
Des jours anciens / The old days
Et je pleure / And I weep

Et je m'en vais / And I go away
Au vent mauvais / In the ill wind
Qui m'emporte / That carries me off
Deçà, dela / Here and there
Pareil à la / Like the
Feuille morte / Dead leaf

The new piece by Vicente Monera that I discovered is here:

YouTube - "Chanson d'automne" Paul Verlaine - Vicente Monera

PS. I also found out that a movie entitled "Total Eclipse" was made in 1995 about the tumultuous life of Verlaine and his gay lover Rimbaud, another celebrated French poet. I am not yet sure I like to see this movie.

[Purron]

The River

YouTube - ‪Bruce Springsteen - The River‬‏

Jeremy

YouTube - ‪Pearl Jam - Jeremy‬‏

[Avalon]

YouTube - ‪In the Half-Light of the Canyon (A River Runs Through It )‬‏

[Purron]

Oh! Kate Bush. Yes. Running up that road...

YouTube - ‪Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill - Official Music Video‬‏

[NW-Bound]

I recently ran across this Korean tenor saxophonist. This video was viewed worldwide, and loved by people of different nationalities as evidenced by their posted comments.

I found out that the Korean song had the title of "Capture of Memory", and the mood fits the theme of this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAWLMg2lYcI

[Nemo2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMUz2TNMvL0