Classical music for suicidal ideation

[houseofleaves]

First. This list is super subjective. I only recommend pieces that have been listened by me many times. Despite studying for over 10 years, my knowing of classical music is pretty limited.

Second. I wanted to include only the pieces that are kinda unknown to the general public. So please don't be angry at me for, for example, not including Sonata №14 by Beethoven (or «Moonlight sonata», as people call it), or Mozart's Concerto №23, part 2.

Third. Again, this list is subjective — so some of the pieces in the list don't have anything written about suicide or death in their names or lyrics. I just… felt that it was right to include them. Thank you! Let's begin.

P. S.: This isn't a «tier list» in any way!!!



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
aaaaa can anyone write anything here please? i don't want all my posts to be merged into one please

 

[symphony]

moozik

 

[houseofleaves]

1. Franz Schubert. Sonata №21 D960, part 2 (i highly recommend to listen to the whole piece)



Franz Schubert's last three piano sonatas, D 958, D959 and D960, were written during the last months of his life, between the spring and autumn of 1828. Last period of Schubert's life was marked by growing public acclaim for the composer's works, but also by the gradual deterioration of his health… I'm quite sure Schubert knew he was dying — at such young age; he suffered a lot (not just because of his health) and died at 31.
test test test
bruh lol @symphony can you write something again please?… aaaaaaa i'm sorry…..

 

[symphony]

Schubert is indeed a badass

 

[houseofleaves]

2. Dmitry Shostakovich. Prelude and fugue in F major. (of course i highly recommend to listen to all his 24 preludes and fugues)

Prelude:
Fugue:

Warning: super subjective description incoming!
For me, 24 preludes and fugues by Shostakovich are about getting closer to death with every passing day and feeling sad, angry, desperate, detached, etc. about it. Yes, there are joyful ps&fs — you can be dying and still have a pretty good day, you know? But death awaits you. For me, this p&f is about inevitability.
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!!!!!
(sorry)
can anyone please write anything? i'm SUPER sorry to ask,
i do it just because i think that if my posts [i want to do 24 of them] will merge into one, everything will be just unreadable..

 

[symphony]

Lol of course, Shosty is an absolute king but I haven't heard these pieces! Mostly just his, well, symphonies.

 

[houseofleaves]

3. Carlo Gesualdo. «Io tacerò, ma nel silenzio mio»



«I will keep quiet, yet in my silence
my tears and sighs
shall tell of my pain.
But if I should die,
Death shall cry out for me once again.

Thus in vain, oh cruel one,
yearn you for my pain and your harshness to be hidden
since my cruel fate
gives voice to silence and to death»

 

[symphony]

Ooooooo so many new things to listen to

 

[houseofleaves]

4. Sergei Taneyev. 12 choruses op. 27 — Chorus 1, «At the grave» (i HIGHLY recommend to listen to all 12 choruses!!!)



A hundred years will pass, a hundred years; forgotten grave,
that was buried yesterday, will be covered in grass,
plough will pass across it,
and cold remains will be entwined in oak's roots…

Branches will rustle;
lovers will come in the evening
to rest in the shadow;
they'll look away, their heads low,
and they'll understand, what the dark oak leaves are saying…

 

[SamuelClemens400]

Hope this helps, mate

 

[houseofleaves]

5. Sergei Rachmaninov. Sonata №2, part 2

10:22 here


There is almost no tragic subtext; at least, no one died in the process of creating this sonata; still, I think this particular movement could be about finding peace, about resigning; submitting to something greater than you could imagine.

 

[symphony]

Bonus points for (probably) being impossible to play without giant hands.

 

[houseofleaves]

6. Johann Sebastian Bach. English suite №5 BWV 810 — Sarabande.



Don't really know what to say about this one. Bach wrote insanely good music, he was a genius composer. If you haven't heard that, I think you'll like it. And of course, I recommend listening to whole suite.

 

[symphony]

Chickens: bach bach bach bach bach bach bach

 

[houseofleaves]

7. Gabriel Faure. Suite «Pelleas and Melisande» (all 4 parts)

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:



An enchanted forest. A castle that's falling apart. Star-crossed lovers, destined to fail.

«Well! Here is the stagnant water I was telling you about… Do you smell the death rising?»

 

[symphony]

Ooooooooooo yes nice

 

[houseofleaves]

8. Hector Berlioz. «Symphonie fantastique», part 4 «Marche au supplice» (March to the Scaffold)



Convinced that his love is spurned, a man poisons himself with opium. The dose of narcotic, while too weak to cause his death, plunges him into a heavy sleep accompanied by the strangest of visions; he dreams that he has killed his beloved, that he is condemned, led to the scaffold and is witnessing his own execution. The procession advances to the sound of a march that is sometimes sombre and wild, and sometimes brilliant and solemn, in which a dull sound of heavy footsteps follows without transition the loudest outbursts.

 

[SamuelClemens400]

Danse macabre id say is probably a good one

 

[houseofleaves]

9. Piotr Tchaikovsky. «Sarabande» from the ballet «Sleeping Beauty»



Sarabande is a slow, somber dance with Spanish origins. It appears in third act of this ballet in the middle of a wedding celebration.

Soon after SB premiere Sarabande was cut off. It's not included in most of the productions nowadays.

«Princess Aurora and Prince Desiré dance together. Roman, Persian, Indian, American, and Turkish guests dance a sarabande. All who have taken part in the entertainment parade around the floor. Finally, the Lilac Fairy appears to bless the marriage, and all live happily ever after…»

 

[symphony]

My favorite in Symphonie Fantastique is when you can literally hear the head bouncing (right?)
Also TCHAIK

 

[houseofleaves]

10. Ilya Alexandrov. «Road to Hades» (from «Alexandria songs»)



«Take gladly the path that leads to Hades, for it is not hard to follow, being neither uneven nor winding, but straight throughout and sloping all the way; it may even be travelled with the eyes shut».

 

[symphony]

Damn, the background of that youtube video itself is beautiful.

 

[houseofleaves]

11. Claudio Monteverdi. Lamento d'Arianna



The lyrics start with fis words:

«Let me die.
And who do you think
can comfort me
in thus harsh fate,
in thus great suffering?
Let me die…»

and the rest can be found here: https://www.girolamo.de/single/g11005E.html

 

[symphony]

Let me die.

Well, damn

 

[houseofleaves]

12. Wolfgang Mozart. «Die Zauberflote» — Pamina's aria «Ach, ich fühl's, es ist verschwunden»



«Ah, I can feel it, love's happiness
is fled forever!
Nevermore, o hours of bliss,
will you return to my heart!
See, Tamino, these tears
flow for you alone, beloved.
If you do not feel love's yearning,
i shall find peace in death»

 

[symphony]

Omggggggggggggggggg I love that opera even if it is kinda cliche.

 

[houseofleaves]

13. Gustav Mahler. Songs after Ruckert — «Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen» (O garish world, long since thou hast lost me)



«I am lost to the world
With which I used to waste much time;
It has for so long known nothing of me,
It may well believe that I am dead.
Nor am I at all concerned
If it should think that I am dead.
Nor can I deny it,
For truly I am dead to the world.
I am dead to the world's tumult
And rest in a quiet realm.
I live alone in my heaven,
In my love, in my song»

 

[symphony]

Didn't Mahler have depression or something, or am I misremembering? Anyways looks fantastic.

 

[houseofleaves]

14. Franz Schubert. Trio №2 D929, part 2



This piece is fairly popular, but i want to include it. I remember listening to this when I was really ill. It was a cold russian winter; I used to wake up, turn this on and look out of the window. There was nothing. Only grey skies and infinite fields of snow.

 

[symphony]

Isn't saying "cold Russian winter" a little redundant?