“Where words leave off, music begins”, a quote immortalized by the German poet Heinrich

Heine, effectively describes the sheer power of music and its effect towards a human being. From the
melody of the piece to the tone colors on how the music was played, a well constructed musical piece
surely brings the listener not only an auditory experience but also the impression, message and emotions
the artist aims to convey. As I was listening to the two pieces, Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber and
the Adagietto from Symphony #5 by Gustav Mahler, the popular claim that these are the saddest pieces of
music ever written, allowed me to not only listen to the piece but rather to seek, ponder and introspect on
my personal justification of why it is claimed so.
The first piece, Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber starts off with a very slow impactful
harmony of strings being the focus of attention, accompanied with lower tones in the background setting
up the initial mood for the entire piece. Upon hearing the first portion of the song immediately, I was
moved with the heavy emotions that were manifested through the start, it's as if I was about to bear the
pain of the persona portrayed by the piece. Like any art, I believe this musical piece also portrays a story
that of which I perceive to be a long term longingness and despair. The rhythm reinforces the idea of
sorrow through its melancholic theme but what resonates more with the rhythm is my heartbeat that I
usually feel in times of despair. As the piece progresses, the buildup of the tones keeps getting louder,
depicting an even darker feeling; however the dark ominous vibe projected by the piece does not invoke a
sinister background rather a more empathetic feeling that invites the audiences to take a glimpse on the
struggles bore by persona of the piece. As the piece progresses, the notes keep getting higher and higher.
It's as if a different tone color was projected as the pitches are relatively high and it deviates from the deep
sounds of the recurring melody. The moment at which the notes are getting higher and higher, it somehow
resembles the breaking point of a person in the phase of suffering, coincidentally it also marks the
midpoint of the song, where I perceived it to be the climax, as it returns to the same melody right after.
Even though the piece returns back to its original melody, the feelings evoked is quite different, rather it
provides the audience a scene where the persona is accepting his/her faith. The piece ends with a gradual
softening of the loudness ushering in a wave of silence indicating the end of the Adagio. As I finished the
entire piece I was astounded that such a sorrowful piece can sound beautiful to the ears, the consonance of
the strings truly brought out the emotion of sadness and the various textures allowed one to feel the
different stages of grief thus providing feeling that the gravity of sadness felt is not constant throughout
the entire piece. The structure of the piece can metaphorically symbolize a storyline where the climax
would reflect on the high pitches, such stories apt for the piece would be a melancholic repressed
childhood or the concept of accepting death as the final frontier.
In contrast with the first piece, Gustav Mahler’s Adagietto started slow however it was subtle, one
can feel the innocence of the introduction of the piece. Although the piece is relatively slow, the tempo is
slightly faster as compared to the Adagio; however, the most discernible feature would be that it did not
merely utilize very low notes, there are some gradual high notes in the beginning, somewhat representing
hope amidst sadness. The rhythm tends to be difficult to read as there are some parts of rapid change in
tempo and pitches. However, I believe the rhythm of the piece depicts the concept of change as the beat of
my heart synchronizes with the rapid transition to a faster tempo and slows down on its transition back to
the melody. As it goes back, the cycle repeats, the tones continue to go higher gradually and it would
reach a point that both the pitch would reach its peak and the tempo at its fastest, a pattern can be
observed as it continues. Although it is predictable of what I might hear next, the beauty of the piece is
that after each gradual increase and drop, what comes after it is somewhat distinctly different. What
makes each segment of the cycle unique on its own would be the timbre, the subtle texture brought by the
harpe provided a different feeling to be felt each time thus inducing a somewhat unique listening
experience each time.The harmonious consonance is effectively heard throughout the piece where despite
having different textures, each set of strings still compliment one another. The ending of the piece is
marked with the finishing of the cycle with the highest pitch and fastest tempo, ending quite quickly with
silence. Personally, through the numerous predictable, yet distinctly unique cycles of ups and downs, I
tend to imagine this piece to represent 2 schools of thought, one would be I felt as if I went through the 5
stages of grief where it would start of as an innocent denial and slowly climb to anger thus the heavy
tones followed by the high up-beat tones of bargaining then the loudest of the cycle would represent the
heaviest of the phases, depression and lastly ending with silence, acceptance. Another school of thought
would be the concept of the encapsulation bitter-sweet love story, where initially the soft subtle start as
heard from the beginning began is innocent and pure but matured as a roller coaster experience with
numerous ups and downs depicted in pitches, tempo and loudness of the piece’s structure, I felt the
romance and adrenaline through the swaying tones and the piece provided me the feeling of passion that
can only be ignited through a romantic partner.
The pieces provided me an exhilarating experience despite having the musical elements that
evoked emotions of sadness. I believe what makes the pieces exhilarating despite the sorrowness depicted
would be the spontaneity of the unknown. “Happy” pieces tend to be predictable with their tempos,
rhythms and melody; however what makes “Sad” pieces like the two are pleasurable to the ear, is that fast
changes in tempo are not to be expected as seen in Mahler’s Adagietto, and the different depictions of
sadness found in Adagio can not be easily done on joyous pieces. Moreover, I believe what really makes
“Sad” pieces astounding would be the fact that despite the fast tempos and high notes, it can still depict
the feelings of sadness in contrary to “Happy” pieces, when musical elements of “Sad” pieces are utilized,
an entirely different mood will be evoked.
In contrast with ordinary emotion, aesthetic emotion in my opinion has more depth, as it can be
only felt when one would completely resonate or completely relate to aesthetic works. Emotions brought
out by aesthetic works are truly organic as compared to ordinary emotions, given that the context is
merely the aesthetic work, the emotions felt on the moment of appreciation would imply that the piece
resonates with the person subconsciously, thus truly producing an organic emotions, that would reflect on
the characteristics of the individual. Aesthetic emotion as well is a personal experience, as the
interpretation and type of emotion felt may vary from person to person, from the two pieces provided,
how it affected me and how I interpret the work is distinctly my own.
Overall, The two pieces truly provided me with not just a pleasurable auditory experience but
rather a journey of introspection that was provoked through the aesthetic emotion I felt while listening. Of
the two I am biased towards Mahler’s Adagietto, as I liked it the best. Mahler’s Adagietto utilizes
elements such as a fast tempo, high pitches and notes that are common in “Happy” pieces; however it
still evokes the feelings of sadness despite the elements thus I found it brillant. What makes Mahler’s
piece truly spectacular would be the melody, despite the prectable cycle of tones, each cycle tends to be
uniquely different may it be the timbre of the harp coinciding with the strings or simply the different
textures overlaid on top of the other that produced a truly unique piece. To answer the question on what
makes sad music great, feelings of anguish, pain and sorrow are undesirable by anyone and relatively easy
to portray in art, however to be able to use those emotions and produce beauty out of it, is what makes sad
music worth listening to.