Peter Manuel wrote: >I would be very interested to hear from list members regarding their >own sense of how they experience quintessentially "sad' music. It depends on MY mood and I probably would not listen to music that forced me to feel any specific emotion. I want to be able to put my own feelings into the music. RE sad per se, I am trying to think of what music I have felt sad while listening to. My 1st thought was the 4th movement of Mahler's 9th symphony. I have literally cried listening to that, but was sad to begin with and was doing a Camille routine. Often I feel melancholy listening to it, but that is a much different emotion and can be pleasant or helpful; it has a sense of resignation which may be necessary to resolve some life situation. Other times I just enjoy the music and listen for sounds or following instruments or scores. Like any non-trivial art, IMO, one must be able to put oneself into the piece and the best will allow for many moods. Another 'coincidence' on this. It has been a sad day for me. One of my employee's 41 y/o daughter died suddenly today. On the way home I was listening to our local NPR and they were playing the adagio from Schubert's Quintet in C major. I quickly became tearful and then began thinking on the nature of life. I have only listened to this piece a couple of times, so am not sure it qualifies as sad music, but certainly fit my mood today. Regards, Bill Blank http://kernunnos.com (Celtic studies and numismatics)