Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner 5 Magical Pieces Game.

In the world of classical music there are droves of pieces, uncountable composers and so many themes.

I devised this game up in about 2 minutes. This could be fun.

Name one and only one piece that thoroughly encompasses the following emotions.

1) Anger
2) Love
3) Sadness
4) Heartbreak
5) Happiness

The answers will then be tallied at the end of 10 pages.

I think we can come up with some consensus.

My Votes:

Anger-- Prelude op. 3. 2 Rachmaninoff
Love-- Canon in D, Pachelbel
Sadness-- Appassionata (But it's so much more complex really), Beethoven
Heartbreak-- Valse op. 69 No. 1, Chopin
Happiness-- Mozart Sonata K330

Anger - Shostakovich, Quartet 3 Movement 3
Love - Symphony II, Rachmaninoff, Adagio
Sadness - Mozart, k 488 movement II
Heartbreak - Spiegel im Spiegel, Arvo Part
Happiness - Lebhaft from Davidsbundlertanze

I don't think we're going to come up with any consensus.


Here are mine:

1) Anger: Chopin G minor prelude
2) Love: Brahms A major intermezzo (op. 118/2)
3) Sadness: Beethoven Cavatina from the op.130 quartet
4) Heartbreak: Funeral March (last movement) from Scriabin's 1st sonata
5) Happiness: Goldberg variation #30, Quodlibet

For me the peice that covers ALL of those is Chopin's Ballade in G minor (personally though others might disagree)

This is hard because there's more than one kind of happiness, more than one kind of ... but here goes...


Anger - Shostakovich 8th symphony, 3rd movement
Love - Brahms F minor piano sonata, 2nd movement
Sadness - Mahler Kindertotenlieder
Heartbreak - Penderecki Threnody for the victims of Hiroshima
Happiness - Bach Christmas Oratorio, alto aria Schlafe, mein Liebster

Cool idea!
Let's see.....(without peeking at anyone else's).....

1) Anger -- Chopin Prelude in Bb minor (#16, I think)
2) Love -- Chopin Etude in E major (#3)
3) Sadness -- slow mvt of Schubert's Bb major Sonata
4) Heartbreak -- Moonlight Sonata (1st mvt)
5) Happiness -- Scarlatti Sonata in A major L. 428 (K. 209)

Yes -- I had trouble with that 'category,' for that reason. Every piece I thought of, "sad" seemed too simple.


I might have said that if I thought of it......just wasn't thinking 'concerti.'

1) Anger -- Mazzepa
2) Love -- Liebestraume
3) Sadness -- Funerailles
4) Heartbreak -- Un Sospiro
5) Happiness -- Hungarian Rhapsody 2 friska

Or the Sonata in B minor can handle them all.

I don't see how this "game" is any different from "What's your favourite (fill in the blank). Everyone has a different concept of what expresses these emotions and feelings. Everyone's answer is going to be different. What even makes it a game?

It's a game because I win, silly. (just kidding)

I like these threads.
1) Anger - "No, pagliaccio non son" from Pagliacci
2) Love - Salut d'Amour
3) Sadness - Prelude in b-flat minor from WTC I
4) Heartbreak - Chopin Op. 10 No. 3
5) Happiness - Hallelujah chorus

Aren't sadness and heartbreak more or less the same?

Maybe Heartbreak implies a kind of devastation and Sadness might be more passive and wistful? That's why I'd move Frozenicicles's B-flat minor prelude from Sadness to Heartbreak. But we're all different. I do agree with Mark's 1st movement of Moonlight as Heartbreak (though couldn't he have chose something less cliched? Just kidding. )

Well taken!!!

Replacement pick for "Heartbreak" (not too cliched, I don't think, but I'm not really sure):

slow movement of D minor Septet by Johann Nepomuk Hummel

My submissions:

Anger -- 1st movement, Bartok, Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion
Love -- 3rd Movement, Schumann Fantasy in C
Sadness -- Rachmaninov, Vocalise
Heartbreak -- Liebermann, Nocturne No 8
Happiness -- 3rd Movement, Beethoven, Waldstein Sonata

First associations right now (but spontaneous associations change all the time ...)
Anger: Chopin - Prelude #24
Love: Alkan - Barcarolle
Sadness: Chopin - Prelude #4
Heartbreak - Beethoven - Pathetique
Happiness - Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

For fun, and to illustrate my opinion of their emotional range, I'm going to take all my answers from Chopin's Preludes Op.28:

1) Anger - #18 in F minor
2) Love - #17 in A flat major
3) Sadness - #6 in B minor
4) Heartbreak - #4 in E minor
5) Happiness - #3 in G major

Here is the "Pictures at an Exhibition" (Mussorgsky) version. There's no love theme in it, but the 4th promenade is a lovely simple piece to the awkward, fun and happiness of the chicken ballet.

1) Anger - The Hut on Fowls legs
2) Love - Promenade 4
3) Sadness - Il Vecchio Castello
4) Heartbreak - Con Mortuis Lingua Mortua
5) Happiness - Ballet des poussins dans leur coque

First that come to my mind:
1) Anger - Found this the hardest, guess I'll choose moonlight 3rd mov.
2) Love - Liebesträume 3 - Liszt
3) Sadness - Most Chopin pieces, I'll pick his a-minor waltz Op. Posth.
4) Heartbreak - Beethoven Op. 111 2nd mov.
5) Happiness - Mozart's K331 1st mov. last variation.