Music Adventure

For the next few weeks, I will be embarking on a musical adventure. I will be listening to any different styles of music from different eras. I will start with the Medieval time and go all the way to the present day music. The music will consist of chants, orchestra music, songs, and whatever gems I find on this journey. So, starting around 1000 A.D and going to 2019 A.D. Going back this far will stretch me, but I believe it will be beneficial in the end. Essays and descriptions of the music will be provided. Here is an essay I wrote on my favorite symphony.

Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3 is the most beautiful piece of music I have heard. Beautiful pieces of music are hard to find. Not only is beauty important, but an hours worth of beauty and majesty is found in this symphony. Now, what piece of music could be more beautiful than Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3? The composer, Gorecki, wrote it with the intent for it to be a reflective, sorrowful song; his intent for the song has certainly been effective. It is so beautiful and mysterious because of how it rises and falls, it is so sorrowful and reflective because of how the instruments and one soprano voice is used, it is so dramatic and simple because Gorecki wrote it in canon form with a dramatic melody. With those elements in a beautiful musical structure, you can’t go wrong. However, though there may be symphonies that have this structure, Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3 is the most beautiful piece of music for the reasons mentioned above.

The first reason why Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3 is the most beautiful piece of music is that it is beautifully mysterious and heavenly. What makes this piece beautiful and mysterious is how the melody rises and falls within all three movements of the symphony. In the first movement, there is tension created with several instruments playing a canon. It starts with the double basses, then celli, violas, violins, winds, etc.; it concludes with the low instruments playing a low G. The second movement portrays light and the third movement ends with a reflective resolution. With its clashes of notes and resolutions, this piece holds you in suspense all through to the end. Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3 is stunning and mystifying because of the rising and falling of the movements.

The second reason for listening to Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3 and viewing it as the most beautiful piece of music ever written is because it is both sorrowful and reflective. These characteristics are played through the instruments and a solo soprano voice. While it is nice to listen to a sorrowful piece of music or a reflective solo piece, how often do we come across one that contains both elements without wanting to make you burst into tears? While I listened to this piece, it made me think about things Christ has done in my life and how much I owe Him and how much I don’t deserve to be here on this earth; it also made me reflect on things I have done or experienced in the past and without my family, friends, and God I could not have done the things I have done. This song also made me reflect on how much God loves me and how He has forgiven me for my sins. This symphony plays with your meditative and sadness of spirit.

Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3, along with being beautiful, mysterious, and heavenly; along with being sorrowful and reflective; it is dramatic but in a somewhat simple way. As mentioned that it was written in a canon form, the melody is the most dramatic line a person could ever hear. Sure there may be Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Passion of St. Matthew, nothing can stand close to Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3. There has never been a more beautiful song to draw people to Christ. With its simpleness and beauty, this song will make any person meditate on how much he needs a Savior. Mystery, beauty, sorrow, reflection, drama, and simpleness will turn any heart to love this piece of music.

Though there are many beautiful pieces of music, Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3 makes the top list of being the most beautiful because it is mysterious, reflective, sorrowful, and intense. With these elements, you have the most gorgeous symphony ever.

Cheers!

Chloe Elizabeth