Melancholy Tune: Mixed Feelings in Classical Music

When Shelley wrote “ Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought” he was in real earnest. Indeed, the most memorable music  is usually happy with just that touch of sadness that lifts it beyond  the mundane. Romantic music abounds with sadness and longing but for me, the most telling tunes are from composers who bridge the Classic-Romantic period: the Rossinis, the Giulianis, the Boccherinis, the Paganinis: Italians all, and composers of jubilant tunes with a melancholy lilt that renders them unforgettable.

Rossini’s overtures are glittering showpieces, each with a big jovial tune that literally sets the ball rolling but what gives them the necessary gravitas are the secondary themes, eloquent and yearning, usually stated first on a woodwind instrument and forming a perfect foil to the more extrovert character of the rest of the music. The same holds true for the virtuoso violin concertos of Paganini , the guitar concertos of Giuliani and even Boccherini’s famous Minuet—each a perfect synthesis of the mournful and the majestic..
Rossini Overture to "An Italian Girl in Algiers",  Boccherini Minuet , Giuliani Guitar Concerto no 1, Paganini-Violin Concerto no 1,