Sad Music for Sad Occasions
I’ve been watching bits and pieces of the funeral rites surrounding the death of President Carter. I didn’t know the man personally though I did once upon a time attend a wedding held at the Carter Center and during my road warrior days once sat behind him (in coach) on a flight from Atlanta to DC.
I was always impressed with his efforts promoting democratic elections around the world and in later years by his work associated with Habitat for Humanity. (My wife and I have made physical donations to that organization and urge others to do so.) If I had a flagpole in my front yard I would definitely fly the flag at half staff for 30 days, regardless of other events.
Watching the movement of his casket this weekend on TV I got to thinking about what sad music would be appropriate to play. While I’m all for funerals having a celebratory element—my instructions to my heirs for my own funeral are short and sweet—“Beer, fireworks, and popcorn”—some sad music would be in order, I think, to commemorate Carter’s passing, given the coarseness of today’s politics. So I posed the following question to three AI tools, ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity:
Please create a list of 20 of the most depressing and funereal classic music pieces that would be appropriate for playing during a major televised national tragedy. In column one please show the composer's name, last name first. In the second column please show the name and source of the piece.
Here are the titles they came up with:
Albinoni, Tomaso
Adagio in G Minor
Bach, Johann Sebastian
Erbarme Dich from St. Matthew Passion
Barber, Samuel
Adagio for Strings, Op. 11
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Piano Concerto No. 4, slow movement
Piano Sonata No. 14 Moonlight Sonata - I. Adagio sostenuto
Symphony No. 7, Movement II (Allegretto)
Brahms, Johannes
Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45: IV. How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place
Chopin, Frédéric
Funeral March (from Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 35)
Duruflé, Maurice
Requiem, Op. 9: Introitus
Elgar, Edward
Nimrod from Enigma Variations
Faure, Gabriel
Requiem, Op. 48: Pie Jesu
Gorecki, Henryk
Symphony No. 3 Symphony of Sorrowful Songs - I. Lento
Górecki, Henryk
Symphony No. 3 Symphony of Sorrowful Songs - I. Lento
Grieg, Edvard
The Death of Åse from Peer Gynt
Handel, George Frideric
Sarabande (from Suite in D Minor, HWV 437)
Mahler, Gustav
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen from Rückert-Lieder5
Symphony No. 5, Adagietto
Massenet, Jules
Meditation from Thaïs
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Requiem in D Minor, K. 626: Lacrimosa
Pachelbel, Johann
Canon in D minor
Pärt, Arvo
Spiegel im Spiegel
Pettersson, Allan
Symphony No. 6
Purcell, Henry
Dido's Lament from Dido and Aeneas
When I Am Laid in Earth (Dido's Lament) from Dido and Aeneas
Rachmaninoff, Sergei
Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14
Ravel, Maurice
Le Tombeau de Couperin
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Satie, Erik
Gymnopédie No. 1
Schubert, Franz
Ave Maria, D. 839
Piano Sonata in A minor, D. 8451
String Quartet No. 14 Death and the Maiden - II. Andante con moto
Shostakovich, Dmitri
Chamber Symphony in C minor - II. Allegro molto
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor
Symphony No. 5, Largo movement
Sibelius, Jean
Valse Triste, Op. 44
Tallis, Thomas
Miserere Nostri
Spem in Alium
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich
Serenade Melancolique, Op. 261
Symphony No. 6 Pathétique, 4th movement
Verdi, Giuseppe
Messa da Requiem: Dies Irae
Wagner, Richard
Prelude to Tristan und Isolde
Williams, John
Theme from Schindler's List
Williams, Ralph Vaughan
The Lark Ascending
Do you agree with the list? Is there anything missing?
