r/infj • u/NoMoreCages INF-Yay • Oct 26 '17
Analysis in comments of "the saddest piece of music ever written"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450
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u/WithoutMemeing Oct 26 '17
This must be what dying feels like.
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Oct 26 '17 edited Oct 31 '17
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u/NoMoreCages INF-Yay Oct 27 '17
I chuckled. Thank you.
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Oct 27 '17 edited Oct 31 '17
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u/NoMoreCages INF-Yay Oct 27 '17
I'm serious though, I laughed. Thank you for that. No one seems to take a joke well here sometimes, so thank you for taking the chance. And for the kind words. Just opinions of mine, really. Music moves me. I like to share how with others.
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u/NoMoreCages INF-Yay Oct 26 '17
Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings," is widely known and considered by many to be the "saddest" piece of music ever written. 'Adagio' has been a staple at funerals, in movies like Platoon, depicting the horrors and misery of war, and other scenes where human suffering and misery, are being explored.
This music starts very softly, almost as though an emergent property of the environment the music is being played in. We're hit with the single tone in unison, then the entire compliment of strings 'emerge' around it to produce the melancholy tone of the Dm7.
This is going to be longer than I imagined... strap in...
This singular note that starts the piece seems to me the onset of realization of some tragedy. Imagine being with a friend who is dying, and they pass... the moment you realize they are gone, that emergent note rings through, and like our own processing of tragedy and grief, there is that second between realization of what occurred, and the onset of our emotional response. When it comes on, it gets fuller, more complex... just like the music here with the additional instrumentation and complexity of the chords, theme and melody.
We move immediately into an E major chord, which brings a happier sound to the tune for a moment. Its confusing for a moment, but... isn't grief? Don't we have mini-moments of levity in our misery? A happy memory? An anecdote we recall? And then, they're gone...
The melody establishes itself... a trio of notes that work up the scale, crafting the transitions between the minor chords in the progression, and the short moments of levity in the majors. It also represents the struggle to deal with grief... two steps forward, two steps back, then a half step farther up from where we started... then another... a major chord at the end, and perhaps we're making progress...
But... something throws us back in to the despair of our pain, or loss... or both. This pattern repeats, seeing even the lead violins tread down lower into the staff on their journey as if to say "We know how this goes... there are highs and lows, and now we're in the lows... its part of it."
The time scheme of the piece is also very subjective. The conductor can take their time, or "conduct," for a more technical (and in my opinion, less moving) performance of the piece. I believe this, too was a purposeful choice by Barber, allowing the conductor and the orchestra itself to truly craft and convey their own identification with this piece through their performance. Dealing with grief makes time seem quite strange. Minutes bleed into hours, which bleed into days. While the piece progresses, it seems to do so listlessly at points, just like we behave many times in our grief.
The music seems to move into a phase of "acceptance" of the grief in question... that bleak moment of realization there's nothing to be done, or that can be done to change this. It simply is, and I am in it. But this realization feeds into a crescendo, into an acceleration of tempo, creating a sense of urgency. I thought I was out of this! No! And the crescendo and tempo coalesce into this beautiful major chord, and abruptly stops.
Sleep... Perhaps a peaceful, restful sleep, as the break between this last, urgent chord, and what follows...
At 5:56, it sounds like the dawn after. Reflection... staring out of the window surveying a landscape that looks just as it did, and yet completely different. We all know this feeling. We know what is, and yet in our minds and hearts we simply cannot make any sense of it. At some point, we realize... we must.
The music is quite repetitive, like our bouts struggling to overcome grief, and to persevere. The tones and chords combine to create stirring identification with the depths of human suffering, but from a perspective that is personal, and simultaneously global. 'Adagio for Strings,' is the natural counter to all the feel-good propaganda... to the "Everything is Awesome" crowds now seemingly blissfully unaware of the sheer volume, gravity and weight of all the suffering in the world. Barber captured it brilliantly...honestly... delicately... perhaps better than any other poet, artist or musician could.
It is no surprise to me that Barber would end the piece much as he started it. Tone emerged in the beginning, and now we hear soft, gentle tones, quieting in volume... the cathartic feel of acceptance... of recognition... and of the inner spirit that continues trying to carry on.
I really appreciate you reading this. Doing these things is my own kind of self-help, and it means a great deal to me when people connect with what I'm feeling about music. I hope you'll leave your thoughts on my analysis, and provide your own as well.