Adagio of Life – A melancholic trance tribute

Adagio of Life is an epic trance tribute about the beauty of life and transience. I have written this epic trance hymn in 2005. This melancholic masterpiece contains a theme that consists of sixteen measures. Its background is very interesting since it intentionally reminds of the golden era of trance.

Adagio of Life is a tribute to my favourite song

First, let me explain the name of this song. It is no secret that Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings (1938) deeply influenced my music. There are plenty of great melodies out there, but Adagio for Strings is heavily loaded with emotion. There is no other piece of music, which lets me fall in love and cry at the same time. Adagio for Strings is my favourite piece of music for more than 15 years. I am sure, that my admiration for this song will stay for a long time. Some of you may not know the original, but the versions and remixes of Tiesto (2004) and Ferry Corsten (1999). So, Adagio of Life is a tribute to my favourite song.

Why the golden era of trance led to sophisticated melodies

There are only a few trance songs with a significant long melody and most of them were released during the golden age of trance (1998 – 2005). Just to name a few: Ferry Corsten’s Remix of Adagio for Strings (16 measures), Airwave from Rank 1 (16 measures) or Out of the blue from System F (also 16 measures). Most trance hymns have themes which last 8 measures. One nice example is The Sound of Goodbye from Perpetuous Dreamer. During the golden age of trance, people were used to listen electronic music outside the clubs. Melodies became longer and more sophisticated, ensuring that everybody is in a state of trance. That’s where the name of this genre came from.

Arranging a song into parts

Experience has shown, that melodies of 8 or more measures can not be memorised easily. This magic number is due to the arrangement of songs in blocks, more specifically, parts. Typical song parts are 16, 32 or 64 measures long. The shorter the melody, the often it can be repeated during a part. The other practical reason is the song length. For broadcasting a song has to be in between 2:50 and 3:40 minutes long. Music producers and songwriters have to shorten their songs into radio cuts without missing an essential part like the intro, verse, refrain or bridge. It is easier to shorten a song into radio length, if your parts are only 4 or 8 measures long. It happened, that some radio stations played full-length (!) versions of the songs, though. These days this is seldom the case.

Adagio of Life was not created for broadcast. It is not a hymn for the dance floor. It is a piece of music to sit back and relax. Adagio of Life is trance for connoisseurs. Looking back to the golden age of trance, it does not matter, that the theme has 16 measures.

Vivid remix culture

Now it’s time for some gratitude. I’d like to thank JayB, Axel S. and Marek S. for their remixes. All remixes of my song are available on my YouTube playlist. I’d like to keep the remix culture up. Maybe some more versions will follow soon.

How did you enjoy the golden era of trance?

Would you choose the same period of time?