Composer Cliff Masterson knows how to make sorrow sublime. "When I wrote it, the feeling of the music was sad, but yet there was this beautiful melody that sat on top," Masterson says. Written for a ...

Sadness is generally seen as a negative emotion, but we tend to find it pleasurable in an aesthetic context. What is the nature of pleasure that people experience from listening to sad music?

Composer Cliff Masterson knows how to make sorrow sublime. Take his regal, mournful adagio Beautiful Sadness, for example: "When I wrote it, the feeling of the music was sad, but yet there was this ...

"When I wrote it, the feeling of the music was sad, but yet there was this beautiful melody that sat on top," Masterson says. Written for a string orchestra, the piece observes the conventions of ...

In a world where music is a constant companion, a new study has shed light on the positive impact that sad music can have on ...

“I think, in the context of a record, sometimes it’s such a safe place to be sad, you can really experience this almost pleasure in sadness,” Jenn Champion says over Zoom, “I don’t know what it is ...

People seek out art and music that combine sadness and beauty. Scientists and artists say there's good reason why we're drawn to it. Why beautiful sadness — in music, in art — evokes a special ...