There are all kinds of farewells in music. Opera is overloaded with them, instrumental music is not far behind, and it’s a major topic of songs. Goodbye songs don’t have to be funereal, they can even be funny, like Haydn’s “Farewell” Symphony. This playlist explores many famous goodbyes, some of them more serious than others.
- Presto-Adagio (4th movement), Symphony No. 45 in F-Sharp Minor, “Farewell” (Haydn). Radio Symphony Orchestra Ljubjlana.
There’s a great story behind this farewell, which you can read about in SFCV’s Composer Gallery and other places. The funny part is, Haydn interrupts a driving, upbeat tune to bring in the farewell music, and then the players drop out, one by one. - “Addio Cheyenne,” from Once Upon a Time in the West by Ennio Morricone
The great film composer Ennio Morricone has fans who most love his scores for the “spaghetti Westerns” of director Sergio Leone. - Ashokan Farewell,” traditional. From the album, Heroes, Mark O’Connor, violin
A classic fiddle tune interpreted by one of America’s foremost violinist/ fiddlers. - “Goodbye – In Memory of Benny” (Gordon Jenkins). Richard Stolzman, London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
The great jazz clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman used this song as his sign-off at concerts and in live radio shows for many years. - “The Leaving of Liverpool,” traditional. From the album With All Due Respect: The Irish Sessions by The Young Dubliners
The Irish traditional band The Dubliners often sang this tune, which tells of emigrants to California leaving the port of Liverpool, England to seek their fortune. The Young Dubliners sing an uptempo version that owes a debt to Celtic rock and Irish bands like The Pogues. - “Elegy,” by John Corigliano. Louisville Orchestra, Sidney Harth
This early work (from 1965) by John Corigliano was dedicated to fellow composer Samuel Barber and pictures a rueful scene in the life of Helen of Troy. - “Soave sia il vento” (Soft be the wind)), trio from Così fan tutte (So do all women), by Wolfgang Mozart. Cecilia Bartoli, Lella Cuberti, John Tomlinson, Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Daniel Barenboim
In this beautiful trio, the people left behind wish their fiancès and friends good sailing. Of course, in the story it’s all a cruel trick, but you would never know it from the gorgeousness of the music. - “The Farewell” (Movement 1) from Sonata No. 26 in E-Flat, “Les Adieux” (Beethoven) Alfred Brendel, piano
With Napoleon at the gates of Vienna, Beethoven bid farewell to his royal patron and friend who was fleeing the city, and later wrote a sonata about it. The three-note “farewell” motive is threaded through the whole composition, in true Beethovenian style.