[Masterpiece Classics] A special showcase of gem-like masterpieces so beautiful they’ll move you to tears
Masterpieces of classical music are played on TV, in movies, and in shopping malls, permeating our daily lives as background music.
There are many times when a piece that mysteriously brings you to tears turns out to be a work of classical music.
This time, from among such classical works, we’ve carefully selected timeless masterpieces under the theme “so heartbreakingly beautiful they’ll make you cry.”
Please enjoy to your heart’s content the profound sonorities unique to classical music, which combines both delicacy and boldness.
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Masterpiece Classics: A Special Showcase of Exquisitely Beautiful Gems That Will Move You to Tears (71–80)
Jesu, Joy of Man’s DesiringJ.S.Bach
This piece was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1723.
It was written as the final movement of the church cantata “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben.” The harmonies woven by the counter-melodies are beautiful and majestic.
It’s fascinating to think that, in Japan’s Edo period, music like this was being performed in Germany.
This piece is very popular and has been arranged for instruments such as classical guitar and piano.
It’s also a piece you often hear at weddings and during Christmas.
Méditation from the opera ThaïsJules Massenet
Here is a piece composed by the French composer Jules Massenet, born in 1842.
It was written as an intermezzo between Scene 1 and Scene 2 of Act II in the opera Thaïs, which premiered in 1894.
Although the piece was created with a religious connotation, its sweet, characteristically French melody possesses a different kind of charm from what is generally considered religious music.
Also popular as a violin solo, this famous piece is likely one that even those who are not classical music fans have heard at least once.
48 Motif Collection — Esquisse, Op. 63 No. 1 in C major “Phantasm”Charles Valentin Alkan
This is a work by the French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan, known for études of extremely high difficulty that demand superlative technique.
It consists of 49 pieces—48 numbered pieces plus one without an opus number—and is considered relatively less difficult among Alkan’s piano works.
The fact that it cycles through the 24 keys twice across the collection evokes Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier.
No.
1, “Fantômes” (Phantoms), is a piece that lets you leisurely savor the beauty of the piano’s timbre.
Don’t be intimidated just because it’s Alkan—sit back, relax, and give it a listen.
BirdsongPablo Casals
This piece is a folk song from Catalonia, Spain.
It became known worldwide when the renowned cellist Pablo Casals, anguished by the troubled state of his homeland, performed it before President Kennedy.
Casals, who had not given concerts since 1938, played it as a plea for peace, moving many listeners.
The song is originally a traditional Catalan Christmas carol in which birds sing to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Symphonic poem ‘Les Préludes (The Preludes)’Franz Liszt
This is a symphonic poem composed by Franz Liszt in 1854.
Among the thirteen symphonic poems he wrote, it is perhaps the most frequently performed.
A symphonic poem is an orchestral work based on the content of a poem, and the form is said to have been pioneered by Liszt.
This particular piece was inspired by a poem by Alphonse de Lamartine and conveys the idea that life is a prelude to death.
Its dramatic development is captivating, and simply listening to the music allows one to sense the poem’s content.