The Greatest SILENCE in Classical Music

[@randomguy4488]

My favourite example is Mahler’s 9th symphony, with the very slow fade into silence representing his own death. The silence afterwards is really part of the music

[@Kyle-ur4mr]

Those measures suck all the oxygen out of the room

[@Molybdaenmornell]

That composer's-death-interpretation is tempting and popular but somewhat precarious. At least, we can't conclude he no longer wanted to live. I recently read Jens Malte Fisches's 900-page Mahler biography, in which he talks about Mahler's letters during that time, which, despite his disease (whose gravity he long denied or didn't realise), were still full of everyday details like complaints about foul-tasting butter or bad servants, hardly what you'd expect from someone mentally on death's door, ready to make peace with the world's great struggles, never mind the small ones.

[@liammartin2089]

The bar or so of silence in the middle of the “Sind Blitze sind Donner” chorus in the St. Matthew passion is brilliant as well. It’s like the choir has a moment to reflect on their anger and then says “you know what, I’m even ANGRIER now!”

[@maetzchenmusik]

You forgot the overture to Mozart's Magic Flute: E flat major chord strike - silence - double C minor chord strike - silence - double chord strike in E flat major with the third in the bass - silence again. A strange mixture of final chords (at the beginning!) with their typical padlock function in pieces of music from that time and a chord progression that does not at all meet the expectations of the contemporary audience, which is to first hear the tonal starting point as a clear landmark using a cadence. Now this is what I call the briefest musical introduction to a magical land: a completely unpredictable terrain where the usual (musical) "laws of nature" are suspended.

[@bbbartolo]

When I was in high school my mother's boss bought me an LP of Brahms' Second Symphony, performed by the "Columbia Symphony Orchestra" and conducted by Bruno Walter. The last movement was played slower than I've ever heard it and thus the two rests-of all sections-created what seemed like 2 seconds of absolute silence between sequences of the orchestra at full gallop. I was dumbstruck, gobsmacked. Silences couldn't be more powerful than those between fortissimo passages of a full orchestra. (Walter's other renditions weren't so slow, nor were the rests so powerfully quiet!)

[@laggeman1396]

The silence after the first bars of Prelude to the afternoon of a faun by Debussy! One of the most iconic pauses.

[@Schubertd960]

Glad you chose the Afanassiev recording of the Schubert sonata- one of the most intense performances of that piece ever.

[@just1stone689]

Bach's cantata is powerful.Thank you, I always enjoy your videos! (and thanks for calling out Cage's 433 as "gimmicky"....with how I've seen it presented.....I would also add "pretentious")

[@angstyautist]

And thanks for your comment. The world seems a less lonely place.

[@jeffry1961]

John Cage's 433 is basically a giant FU to the paying audience. If I were at that performance, I would have demanded my money back. You don't know how close I came to turning you off forever when that card came up. Thanks for the informative video. Silence is not something you associate with music.

[@mvmarchiori]

Chopin's fourth ballad, right befor the coda comes to my mind as well. Also Handel's Lascia chio pianga and the sarabande of the fourth suite. The music just breathes

[@louise_rose]

The end of Sibelius 5th is also a half-veiled final statement of the main theme, compressed to a wave-like form and separated by these powerful pauses.

[@seanvbaker]

Right before the end of Strauss' Don Juan.... oh man...

[@ashermay6513]

10:03 I see what you did there.

[@geoffreyford7288]

My favourite silence is towards the end of Albeniz great piano work Iberia. In the 11th movement Jarez after hour and quarter of intense music the silence towards the end of the music is magic.

[@raguifarag3688]

Oh my God, you choose my favorite silence part. throughout the video, I never thought that you will include it. THANK YOU

[@shubhankarsingh4065]

Nice video, extremely interesting!

[@ThatOneGuyRAR]

I’m surprised not to see the largo from the New World Symphony on this list, it’s probably my favorite silence.

[@jamesboswell9324]

Great ending!

[@egelidos]

Brilliant! as usual

[@DJKLProductions]

Rest in piece, J. S. Bach!

[@mvmarchiori]

I'll show you the door, my good Sir

[@DJKLProductions]

@@mvmarchiori Thank you! I am very bad at finding doors!

[@MeadowlarkViolin]

Wonderful overview of some magnificent silences. Thank you for not including 4'33. Nothing against John Cage but it's nowhere near the same thing as the silences of Beethoven or Bach. After your ending to the video, how could I not subscribe?

[@adolforanerosolis4939]

Another great example of silence in music is the E Major section on the second movement of the Violin E minor sonata kv 304 by Mozart. I absolutely recommend it.

[@marcellodantedealmeidanune9445]

Muito bom. Parabéns pela análise e por ter incluído o fantástico John Cage.

[@okb0ss336]

What makes the example from mvt 1 of the Schubert sonata even more incredible is how it foreshadows another striking use of silence in the last movement (at around 44:30 in the performance linked in your description)

[@myouatt5987]

Enjoyed it - cheers! 😀

[@marcellodantedealmeidanune9445]

Concordo com @randomguy sobre a 9th Mahler Symphony; Um excelente exemplo do valor do silêncio na música.

[@whatafreakinusername]

I do so love the silence just before the coda of Strauss's Don Juan, could even considered a sort of unresolved climax

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

In terms of modern music, the first real effective and dramatic examples of the use of silence are to be found all over Haydn; the following are just three good examples: Symphony 39 - 1st movement Symphony 101 - 2nd movement Piano sonata in b minor (Hob. XVI:32) 3rd movement

[@Lukas-ug6jy]

Before the coda in Chopin ballade number 4 comes to mind

[@DJKLProductions]

My favourite moment of silence in classical music, technically baroque, are the rests between the words "nichts", which means "nought" or "nothing", in the second movement of the cantata "Jesu, meine Freude" by J. S. Bach. The sequence is "nichts", semibreve rest, "nichts", dotted semibreve rest, quiet "nichts Verdammliches [...]", i.e. the second rest is longer. This musical trick is so marvellously onomatopoeically effective! I get goosebumps every time and I'm not a religious person; I just get them because of Bach's genius at this point!

[@jasonclark901]

There's a very effective pair of rests near the end of Bach's Contrapunctus I in the Art of Fugue.

[@vinifebriantiputri944]

Bach, Always in my Therapy ❤

[@oritdrimer4354]

Ravel's Scarbo and Prokofiev's Suggestion diabolique's begining also host quite a few more tiny silences, but they are I think they are just as effective as the examples you put here. Also I think Sibelius's 5 ending is similar to Scriabin's 3rd sonata and maybe might have been inspired by it.

[@gspaulsson]

"... the rest is silence" (Hamlet)

[@arianattaie9335]

The end got me

[@jimslancio]

The Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony (no. 1) concludes with a loud but harmonically unresolved chord, followed by a silent pause. After that, there's a quietly lyrical coda with chorus.

[@renzo6490]

There needs to be a substantial moment of silence after the last note is played. There is a good reason, though you might not think so. It has to do with the vibrations in the air that remain after the music stops. The music is still radiating outward, outward and it needs a space of silence to move into. The cacophonous beating of hands, the rowdy applause, beats it back and obliterates the afterglow that is absolutely necessary for the FULLEST enjoyment of the music. The music needs to be surrounded by silence. That way, it can be heard better. It's like clearing the palate between courses at dinner. At the end of a piece, the audience should hold back their enthusiasm for a few seconds. Let the music melt away.

[@robertrowles5450]

After this little gem, how about a video on the best transitions in classical music? Am always touched by the one in the last movement of Schubert's last piano sonata (from heroic struggle to shyly smiling in just two phrases). Incredibly abrupt, but it works beautifully to my ears.

[@krzysztofq7420]

Beethoven also used silences as a humouristic, witty element, for example in many scherzos of his piano sonatas

[@krzysztofq7420]

When we talk about greatest silences in music, I think we have to mention the ending of Mahler 9. Absolutely devastating, deep silence...

[@louise_rose]

Also, the silence just before the "Death theme"; "Horror theme" or whatever you'd like to call it, in the opening Adagio of the 10th. It seems to suggest the utter shock and disibelief as something half-suspected and feared suddenly emerges out of the mist....like an "iceberg right ahead, Sir!" moment. (Cooke's performance versions of the entire Mahler 10th also has several great pauses in the finale, and an amazing quotation from isolde's Liebestod around 5-6 minutes into the same movement, just before one of the heavy drum strikes)

[@jonnieinbangkok]

Informative video...just very hard to hear. Maybe you could up the sound level on future videos?

[@revalinarahmat4729]

Hello Everyone

[@betamax6080]

Hello! How are you?

[@Jack-pl1fn]

Hi

[@Tylervrooman]

C Minor fugue form book 1 of the WTC. Tiny little bit of silence but powerful.

[@onceamusician5408]

good choices and i am glad you dismissed John Cage as a cheap gimmick BUT I was a shade disappointed that you did not mention Bruckner and his use of silence. I was perplexed at them when first encountered them over 40 years ago, but no longer . . .

[@davidecirillo9675]

The silence following the final apex in Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy sends chills down the spine with every listen. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eqK5q2qPZ9Bnj7csi=Qsm7c2kucULaWgGX

[@ultradmann2367]

Yoooo, someone knows exactly how powerful that feels! Seriously though, the silence before the rest is amazing.

[@SophieLeung-du9we]

You forgot Mahler 9

[@gerhardprasent3358]

Fortunately you avoided Cage! 😇 In the beginning of Beethoven's 3rd there actually is no silence at all, because you hear the echo ...

[@maetzchenmusik]

Ludwig's last name is not pronounced Bay-oven. In German, a "t" between vowels must be made strictly audible as a "t", it doesn't serve as a mere glottal stop. Secondly, neither the "ee" nor the "o" in the composer's last name are pronounced as diphthongs. The inflationary use of diphthongs in the English spoken language begins with the pronunciation of the vowels in the alphabet: only the "e" is spoken without inflection, unfortunately in the same way as the "i" is spoken in German. Thirdly, in German the "w" serves as a clear indication that the required sound corresponds to that of the English "v". In case of the German "v", things are not so clear cut. In the case of our maestro's name, it must be articulated like an "f" - analogous to "Vogel" (i.e. bird). BTW, the last name of the Beatles' friend from the Hamburg days is also pronounced like "f" at the beginning: Klaus Voormann (= Foormunn; foor like floor without "l").

[@Tokkemon]

What about Elijah when the chorus calls for Baal and get no response?!

[@PuddintameXYZ]

Where is the Dvorak??? New World Symphony!