# Music for a pathos-filled "noiresque" scene?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-a-pathos-filled-noiresque-scene/195545>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 16, 2003, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-a-pathos-filled-noiresque-scene/195545 "2003-08-16T05:24:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-a-pathos-filled-noiresque-scene/195545/1 "2003-08-16T05:24:52Z")

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…aka, “Music to play on an old Victrola while sitting in an overstuffed chair, in a darkened room, nursing a [url/=http://www.webtender.com/db/glass/14]snifter of brandy while watching the moon shine through the open french doors, with the curtains gently billowing in the breeze.”

As you can see, I couldn’t _quite_ squeeze all of that into a thread-title. And that’s still leaving out the paragraph about despair and existential anguish.

Now, “Un Bel Di Vedremo” from _Madama Butterfly_ seems to be at the top of this list, obviously. And probably “Vesti la giubba” _Pagliacci_ would be “#2.”

So…any other suggestions?

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-a-pathos-filled-noiresque-scene/195545/2 "2003-08-16T05:53:25Z")

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The love song [Nessun dorma](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000042HZ/qid=1061013456/sr=1-23/ref=sr_1_23/002-5490824-9170464?v=glance&s=classical) from Puccini’s _Turnadot_.

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**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-a-pathos-filled-noiresque-scene/195545/3 "2003-08-16T10:19:06Z")

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Your description made me think of Debussy’s _Clair de Lune_ which makes me think of Satie and other impressionists. Then I go back to Beethoven’s _Moonlight Sonata_.

But for my own musical tastes, in a scene such as the one you’ve described, and for the mood you indicate, I would dig out the album by Stan Getz which he did as his career was about to get back on track in the bossa nova period. _Focus_ is tenor sax against a background of strings led by Eddie Sauter in a suite written specifically for Getz. It is Getz’s favorite of all his own records, and is a mood setting masterpiece.

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**Author:** ![aurelian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f4b2a3/32.png) [@aurelian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurelian)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-a-pathos-filled-noiresque-scene/195545/4 "2003-08-16T15:53:59Z")

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from a totally different genre…

Kozo, _Planned Penetration_ (strange title, I know). A saxophone wails and soars over a sort-of electronic base - it’s hard to describe the music, but it is, above all else, very cool.