The close of Dvorak's Cello Concerto

[eschiss1]

As to Saint-Saëns and still talking symphonic poems, there's Le Rouet d'Omphale. (I'd agree both composers much preferred loud- and happy- endings in their orchestral (and probably also their choral/orchestral, Dvorak's Requiem in B-flat minor being an exception to the "happy") music- but not quite exclusively.

[Alan Howe]

The 9th hardly has an extended quiet ending, though.

[eschiss1]

55 bars (many/most of them of them Meno mosso/Andante, Tempo I -- Più lento) from the beginning of quiet coda (to the end) in The Wild Dove, I think. How long does it need to be extended? (And no one said "extended", anyway...)

[TerraEpon]

Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens ends very serenly, especially compared to the rest of the piece.

[Revilod]

Yes, you're right of course. I was thinking of the abstract rather than the programmatic works.

[FBerwald]

Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens ends very serenly, especially compared to the rest of the piece.

I would call it the stillness of death rather  than serene considering the wild music before it!

[Amphissa]

I think the serene ending is one of the reasons Rachmaninoff's "The Bells" never achieved popularity, despite its surpassing beauty. People seem to always expect a rousing conclusion and suffer disappointment if it is insufficiently raucous. If he were seeking to write a popular work, Rachmaninoff would have added a 5th movement, the arrival in heaven featuring blaring trumpets and celebratory chorus.

I haven't yet decided which composer in history to blame for this, but I view it as a limitation to creativity.

[eschiss1]

The Gabrieli family, of course. (Joking...)