Lecture on Markers for Performed Silence (in Beethoven)

DFSMT 25^th Anniversary Music Theory Conference: presentation entitled, “Embodied markers for silence” (Amsterdam Conservatory, March 2, 2024)

These images illustrate embodiments of silence in Beethoven’s opus 111 piano sonata (first four bars):

References

Barthes, R. (2005). The Neutral: Lecture Course at the College de France (1977-1978) (R. Krauss & D. Hollier, Trans.). Columbia University Press.

Brooks, W., Hornby, E., & Doctor, J. (2017). Silence, Music, Silent Music (N. Losseff, Ed.). Routledge.

Cage, J. (1961). Silence: Lectures and Writings. Wesleyan University Press.

Hodkinson, J. (2007). Presenting Absence: Constitutive Silences in Music and Sound Art since the 1950’s. Københavns Universitet-Institut for kunst.

Jankélévitch, V. (1961). La musique et l’ineffable. Librairie Armand Colin.

Kahn, D. (2015). Noise, Water, Meat History of Voice, Sound, and Aurality in the Arts. MIT Press.

Margulis, E. H. (2007). Moved by Nothing: Listening to Musical Silence. Journal of Music Theory, 51(2), 245–276. https://doi.org/10.1215/00222909-2009-003

Schafer, R. M. (1977). The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Simon & Schuster.

Voegelin, S. (2010). Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art. Continuum. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501382901

Video: Dead Territory performs 4’33” on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voqCQSDAcn8