[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: For the best reading experience, play either [[https://youtu.be/ TCI Kf Wi USQ?t= 7 this song ]]
or [[https://youtu.be/08wg9S_elHY this song]] while reading.]]

Where the drama/violence/awesome is too much for real sound or even sound effects to convey. The soundtrack is reduced in volume, and/or muffled, or even muted altogether.

Except for the strings.

A string section plays a mournful piece, usually built around subtle chord progression. A solo string can also apply. The peaceful yet haunting sound provides dissonance with the image, and yet this dissonance echoes the conflict on the screen. Often used to accompany a dramatic death, or a climactic battle, especially if the fighting is between people who should normally be friends. It can also be used for romantic or intense moments. Though it is often used as just plain BackgroundMusic, this trope is often lampshaded and parodied by the presence of an actual violinist(s) [[LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn who happens to be behind our protagonists]] during their moment of tragedy.

Easily parodied, as there are many well known pieces of music that could be used to produce this trope.

Subtrope of SimpleScoreOfSadness. Compare with OneWomanWail, which is often used in the same way. See also LonelyPianoPiece and SoapOperaOrganScore. See MoodMotif.
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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime]]
* ''Anime/{{Bleach}}'': Renji's soliloquy after he [[spoiler: is defeated by Ichigo]] has very sad BackgroundMusic accompanying it featuring violins prominently. This theme shows up a few other times in the show.
* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' had a specific string-only piece for particularly tragic scenes, usually involving ManlyTears.
* Final episode of ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'' had the original opening song play in the background in a string version.
* The [[DownerBeginning prologue]] theme of ''Manga/KotouraSan'' is 10 and a half minutes' worth of this. After a while, it suddenly turns into a SongOfSolace and then into a GriefSong when [[spoiler: the old woman sends the cat that Haruka had befriended to an animal shelter]]. Certain sections of the song even become a RecurringRiff to maintain this effect.
* In ''Anime/OnePiece'', Bink's no Sake do the job when [[spoiler: Bartholomew Kuma separated the Mugiwaras by sending them in every corner of the world]]
* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsQ5Eoc4lMM This is my Despair]]" plays when [[spoiler:Homura becomes a witch]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': A couple of emotional moments are underscored with a violin track.
* In ''Animation/GGBond: Ultimate Battle'', a simple, saddening violin piece is heard playing when GG Bond cries over wanting to see his father again. A similar piece plays later when he looks over his memory album with Phoebe.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'' uses this to a [[TearJerker somber effect]] after Moses has confronted [[AntiVillain Pharaoh Rameses]] who's son has just died in the tenth plague of Egypt.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', a violin plays as Mei cries herself to sleep.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* The climax of ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' features [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aep6kkAvnU4 I Feel You]], full of bittersweet splendor, when [[spoiler:Vision allows a tearful Wanda to destroy the Mind Stone keeping him alive as a last-ditch HeroicSacrifice to stop [[BigBad Thanos]]]], all while the rest of the Avengers desperately try to HoldTheLine.
* Used several times in Casualties of War. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4wf-RDgRz4 This is the best example]] (starts around the halfway mark).
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZmxZThb084 "Ashokan Farewell"]], used as the title music for Creator/KenBurns' ''The Civil War'', starts out this way.
* ''Film/TheDeparted'' [[spoiler:as Queenan is tossed off the building in slow-motion]].
* ''Film/HarryPotter'':
** ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'' does this, after [[spoiler: Sirius' death]].
** ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince The Half Blood Prince]]'' also has a go.
** ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows Part 2]]'' also has a bit of an attempt, and this one works wonders. The song Courtyard Apocalypse is played as the trio fight their way through the Hogwarts courtyard, and they see some pretty vicious stuff. The sound is slightly muted, but it is noticeable.
* The ten-minute finale of Michael Mann's 1992 adaptation of ''Film/TheLastOfTheMohicans'' plays this trope for all it is worth, as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9SEFMIBwAs here]].
* Lampshaded in ''Film/ImGonnaGitYouSucka'' after a man is shot.
--> ''[sad violin music plays]''
--> '''John Slade''': Ma'am, how is he?
--> '''Woman''': He's dead, can't you hear the music?
* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' features this on a Norwegian fiddle, especially when the riders of Rohan join a battle.
* ''Film/{{Platoon}}''. Sgt. Elias' death scene used Samuel Barber's ''Adagio for Strings''. See it on [=YouTube=], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue8VS-bcj88 starting at 2:00]]. The piece is used at several other points in the film.
* In ''Film/TheMachinist'', a sad violin solo plays during TheReveal when we are treated to a flashback showing [[spoiler:the tragic and lethal car accident that started the hero's journey into self-destruction]]. Watch the scene [[https://youtu.be/OVZNctCcAKE?t=193 here]] (major spoilers!).
* In ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'', Watson gets one of these when [[spoiler:caught in an explosion]].
* Used in the first ''Film/SpiderMan1'' movie when Peter comes home to Aunt May after [[spoiler:Uncle Ben's death]].
* ''Film/StarTrek2009'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-7c0U9t9oc This]] is the music that plays during the opening CurbStompBattle / HeroicSacrifice.
* In ''Film/ThreeKingdoms'', Phoenix Heights battle between the Zhao and Cao's top commanders, the dramatic strings with bass beats are diegetic; Cao Ying herself plays the zither while her soldiers beat the drums. A few other times Cao plays to unnerve the defenders, and it works, since even Zhao finds her sinister.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZXjdKKa3jw "The End"]] from ''Film/{{United 93}}'' is pretty much this trope in its pure, distilled form.
* Creator/DannyElfman's score for ''Film/TheWolfman2010'' makes very good use of the strings, probably as a subtle ShoutOut to the original score.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Abed and Shirley's outro in ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode [[Recap/CommunityS1E23ModernWarfare "Modern Warfare"]].
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]] subverts this in favour of the OneWomanWail, which was lampshaded on ''Doctor Who Confidential''.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]]: As the Doctor is [[spoiler:dragged into the Pandorica, struggling and terrified]], only the [[SoundtrackDissonance triumphant strings]] can be heard.
* In Season 9 of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Barber's Adagio for Strings plays when Marshall nearly delivers the seventh slap onto Barney, in slow motion.
** Season 5's "Jenkins" uses the same piece when Robin turns the tables on Ted's class's drinking game, and during the resulting hangover.
* Plays during the DarkestHour moment in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' episode "Battle of the Bastards", when Jon is being trampled by the retreating Wildlings and it looks like he and his forces are losing the battle. Watch the scene [[https://youtu.be/C0WJY2cLEuk?t=228 here]].
* In the ''Series/TheGoodies'' ChristmasSpecial "The Goodies and the Beanstalk", Tim Brooke-Taylor starts moping once they all become poor and Hearts and Flowers starts up. It turns out to be Grahame Garden playing the violin.
* In ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'', the Nyckelharpa ( Swedish keyed fiddle) makes up most of Halbrand and the Southlands themes, to convey a feeling of melancholy.
* Rimmer's [[spoiler:possibly-death-scene]] gets this treatment in the last episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'''s Series VIII.
* The Granada adaptation of the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' adventure "The Final Problem" has a sorrowful violin piece accompanying Holmes and Moriarty's plunge into Reichenbach Falls. That said, this whole series made good use of violins in the opening theme and the rest of the soundtrack, since Holmes plays the violin himself.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, one of the saddest, most moving pieces of music out there, fits this trope to a T. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adagio_For_Strings Among other things]], it was used to commemorate the death of Roosevelt and the Twin Tower bombings.
* The song "Harder To Believe Than Not To" on Music/SteveTaylor's album ''I Predict 1990'' is played entirely in this fashion, giving it a very mournful feeling.
%% * Music/TheCruxshadows use an electric violin in many of their songs.
* Music/{{Garbage}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze0PsQXzjn4 "Happy Home"]] uses this to make their usual DownerEnding ballad even more depressing.
* The finale of Music/GustavMahler's Symphony No. 9 is a string-dominated slow movement with sad melodies and anguished harmonies. The final page of the score, in particular, has only strings playing very slowly and quietly, with the operative performance direction being ''ersterbend'' (dying away). Music/LeonardBernstein described this ending as "the closest we have ever come, in any work of art, to experiencing the very act of dying... It ''is'' terrifying, and paralyzing, as the last strands of sound disintegrate."
* Music/KlausSchulze's SwanSong album, ''Deus Arrakis'', poignantly features cello by Wolfgang Tiepold during its second suite, "Seth".
* Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto is an emotional piece with more slow sections than is usual for classical concertos[[note]]the usual structure is a 3 movement fast-slow-fast, while this one is a 4 movement slow-fast-slow-fast/slow[[/note]]. It said by scholars to be a lament to the pre-WWI England.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}''
** "Congratulations" from the Off-Broadway production features violins prominent as Angelica reflects on the miserable years she lost in London.
** After Eliza sings "You-you-you-you" for the first time in "Burn," a violin continues playing through and after her last note before stopping sharply. It reminds that even as she is angry with her husband, the events of the previous song have left her miserable.
** "It's Quiet Down" prominently features violins when the characters are their saddest. [[spoiler:Violins take over as Hamilton attempts to discuss his son's death with his estranged wife.]]
* The overture to ''Theatre/OfTheeISing'' has a short violin solo whose tune appears in the show as Diana's lament, "I was the most beautiful blossom in all the Southland."
* "Åse's Death" from ''Theatre/PeerGynt''. Peer continues talking when muted strings play this piece quietly during his mother's death scene, ironically oblivious in her dying moments as he tells her a wild tale.
* "Billy's Death" from the ballet ''Billy the Kid''.
* ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'': During "Final Scene", a slow, somber, instrumental string version of "Sunset Boulevard" plays as a dirge to [[spoiler:the fallen Joe Gillis]].
* Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's ''Theatre/{{Volta}}'' has a major TearJerker example during "The Bee and the Wind", in which the [[EtherealWhiteDress white-dressed]] female musician performs an electric violin solo, adding a OneWomanWail in the last third, while a BMX flatland rider and a ballet dancer re-enact Waz's childhood memories of bicycling with his mom.
* Music/{{Evita}}: ''You Must Love Me'', probably the saddest song in the whole musical, is accompanied by a single piano and cello, in contrast to other songs that have a full orchestra and/or rock instruments.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'': Drowns out most of the sounds while a slow, tearful melody plays when you swim back to your ship after [[spoiler:Blackbeard's]] death.
* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHRCseft5N8 "A Rose for Respect"]], played when you look at the rose and pause for a few minutes of silence, uninterrupted.
** Combined with OminousLatinChanting: the last part of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej8RILZ9dTo "It's Not Even Breakfast"]], [[spoiler:played when [[PietaPlagiarism Batman carries the Joker's lifeless body]] out of the Monarch Theatre and Arkham City to the shock of everyone.]]
** ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'': "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1G251NNRko I Have Left Enough Life in Him for Some Final Words... If You Hurry]]". [[spoiler:Named after the ExactWords spoken by Bane after he has mortally wounded Alfred in the Batcave, and it is played while Batman's on a frantic search for the latter.]] This is followed, close enough, by "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lER0rqEKy8s Allies]]".
* "Hero of the Past" from ''VideoGame/BionicCommando 2009'' is a [[DarkReprise sad strings arrangement]] of "Heat Wave" (Area 5) from the NES game and its remake.
* ''Videogame/BluePlanet: War in Heaven'' cuts the sound effects and plays a mournful viola and cello piece when [[spoiler:the [=UEFg=] ''Yangtze'' makes its last, suicidal stand against the GTD ''Imperieuse'']].
%%* The intro of ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania 64}}''. - Zero Context Example
* In ''VideoGame/{{Celeste}}'', the Farewell DLC chapter features a solemn strings {{leitmotif}}, first introduced in [[https://youtu.be/9wob-o9k7l0 "Fear of the Unknown"]].
%%* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6IPtRIDzoA Aurora's theme]] from ''VideoGame/ChildOfLight''. - ZCE; Weblinks are not Examples
* As the final battle begins in ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'', a strings version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Vk71RaVmU&ab_channel=00tidus Sins and Gods]] kicks in, and all other sounds become muted.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' plays somber Ennio Morricone-style strings near Goodsprings, Crimson Caravan Company, and a few other locations, as well as the during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzAePefXPXM the credits]].
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** The awakening and death of Edge's parents in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', after they had been turned into mindless monsters by MadScientist Lugae.
** [[ItWasHisSled Aerith's death]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', and the battle against JENOVA immediately after, are set to Aerith's Theme.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'': Serah's Theme becomes this ([[LonelyPianoPiece after a solo-piano opening]]). It plays many times, but most notable is the scene where she and Lightning reunite, [[spoiler:right after Serah dies]]. It's almost entirely silent except for the music and [[spoiler:Serah's pleas for Lightning to remember her]].
** ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'': The Price of Freedom is a very sad piece from the soundtrack that features a violin, among other instruments.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzA9mv9B9S4&feature=related Sgt. Johnson's death]] in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}''.
** The last part of "Delta Halo Suite" in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'', which is a strings version of "Heavy Price Paid".
** "Rue and Woe" of ''2''[='s=] "High Charity Suite", reused for Miranda's death in ''Halo 3'', is a prime example, as is the solemn strings in "Respite".
** ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved''[='s=] "Dust & Echoes" / ''Halo 3''[='s=] "Wake Me When you Need Me". In addition to the ending cutscenes of said games, the strings section also plays on The Maw [[TearJerker when Foehammer is shot down]].
** The second part of "Ashes" from ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' uses it alongside a {{lonely piano|Piece}}.
** ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' has this in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gnx4SoWaZE "Green and Blue"]], during Cortana's death cutscene.
* The entire soundtrack of ''VideoGame/HeavensVault'' is slow, emotional, and contemplative. Several tracks feature a solo cello.
* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' uses a strings-focused DarkReprise of its main theme during the [[spoiler:final phase of the battle with the eponymous [[TragicMonster Hollow Knight]]]]. This arrangement is also used for the [[MeaningfulName aptly-named]] [[BrutalBonusLevel Path of Pain]] added with the ''Grimm Troupe'' expansion.
* ''VisualNovel/TheHouseInFataMorgana'' features several tracks in which the strings highlight the tragedies the characters suffer from. Among them is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hoiKTvLXSY "A Noble Death"]], in which the violins' lament hammer down the heart-wrenching scenes unfolding before your very eyes.
* The ending theme of ''VideoGame/IMissTheSunrise'', "[[http://tindeck.com/listen/vqxf Everything]]", which plays uninterrupted throughout the entire ending sequence.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'''s track [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9F0d5pd1Uk "Tears of the Light"]], a single violin is the prominent instrument for the first half of the melancholy song, before several violins join in, and then it reverts back to one when the song loops.
* Shows up several times in ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', most notably during [[spoiler: the sequence after Joel has grabbed Ellie and is trying to escape the hospital. The particular piece of score used is found in the last minute and a half of All Gone (No Escape)]].
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' features a brief cello line repeated as a leitmotif symbolizing loss.
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 2: The Fall of Max Payne'' and ''Max Payne 3'' both feature [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZfaSNoZ6L0 a melancholy strings arrangement]] of the first game's main theme.
* "[[http://jessevalentinemusic.bandcamp.com/track/tragedy Tragedy]]", which [[MoodMotif plays during sad scenes]] in ''VideoGame/NoOneHasToDie''. Especially prevalent in [[spoiler:the final level]], where it plays in place of the normal BackgroundMusic.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'', the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W766EABGHe8 OMORI track]] is used to an heart-wrenching effect during the [[spoiler:final fight of the Sunny route]], as the violins, instruments which we didn't hear in the game so far [[spoiler:and for good reasons, as Sunny discarded his instrument a long time ago]], take up the stage, soar and cry, in a emotionally devastating performance, as [[spoiler:Sunny confronts Omori, the personification of his self-hatred and desire to take his own life, armed with the very same object central to his sister's death.]]
* The piece "Farewell" from the ''VideoGame/{{Oni}}'' soundtrack, which plays over the final cutscene and later the end credits.
* In ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'', prior to the restoration of the Element of Waters, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1eA4MK6VXw Thornfelt Swamp]] has a somber cello soundtrack along with {{lonely piano|Piece}}.
* "True" and "Theme of Laura Reprise" from ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' use both this and LonelyPianoPiece.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVDh-qAaipg Ending of the Starry Sky]] from ''VideoGame/SilhouetteMirage''.
%%* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''
%%** "Ghostly Galaxy" theme from the first ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand''. - ZCE
%%** The World 1 BackgroundMusic from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2''. - ZCE; Weblinks are not Examples
* ''Videogame/SkiesOfArcadia'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3k0hWdEk04 Legend]], which gradually builds up to a rearrangement of part of the main theme
* Used in the final cutscene of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' -- which is actually a string version of Princess Elise's theme "My Destiny" -- when [[spoiler:Elise realises that she must blow out the Flame of Solaris, preventing the villain from ever existing... but also preventing her from ever meeting Sonic and causing the entire plot of the game to have never happened. This is used to signify Elise's heartbreak from having to lose her friend/[[InterspeciesRomance one-sided love interest]], to save the world.]]
%%* The BackgroundMusic to Yormgen from ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia''. - ZCE
* Both played straight briefly and parodied in the original version of Stage 6 of ''VideoGame/UmJammerLammy'': [[spoiler:first, when Lammy is killed in a BananaPeel accident and her black-and-white soul [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascends to a Higher Plane of Existence]]... sort of; and then, when Lammy laments her own death in hell, "Parappa's End Roll in G Minor" plays briefly [[FissionMailed during the fake end credits]]... right before Jack Smash appears and stops the credits before taking her away to Teriyaki Yoko. (The full version of the sad-string song can be heard in the original soundtrack, though.)]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* This trope pops up every now and then in the ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' soundtrack: such as the intro to [[http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/chorale-for-jaspers-3 "Chorale For Jaspers"]] (the opening of which has been quoted in many other songs) and an Asian-themed variation in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm1r294qQrk&feature=related "Even in Death"]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. The finale has an epic (and glowy) firebending duel between siblings, accompanied by this trope, called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFnnNijn_OI The Last Agni Kai.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** In the episode "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes," when Mr. Farkle tells the boys that he has to close his shop because he can't compete with Wall-Mart, Cartman pulls out a little violin and starts playing. Kyle tells him to stop, but Cartman insists he [[LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn just felt like playing the violin]]. A little later, when Kyle starts talking about all the other people who have lost their jobs due to Wall-Mart, Cartman pulls it out again. This time, Kyle pulls it out of his hands and breaks it, but Cartman is unphased, saying he can get another one at Wall-Mart for five bucks. You can watch the scene [[http://pixa.club/en/south-park-uncensored/season-8/episode-9-something-wall-mart-this-way-comes?start=222 here]] at 4:50.

[[/folder]]
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