“The music is not in the notes,
but in the silence between.”

— Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Last update June 10, 2024. History

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 26

Austrian Romantic composer 1756–1791

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As quoted in Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving (2001) by Jonathan G. Koomey, p. 96; since at least 2010 similar statements are also sometimes attributed to Mozart, and a similar remark, apparently one of Ben Jonson, is quoted in "Notes to Cynthia's Revels, in The Works of Ben Jonson: With Notes Critical and Explanatory, and a Biographical Memoir (1875), edited by William Gifford, Vol. 2, in notes to p. 223, on p. 551: Division, in music, is "the space between the notes of music, or the dividing of the tones."
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Music is the silence between the notes.
The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.
The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between them.
Variant: Music is the space between the notes.

“The mind of man may be compared to a musical instrument with a certain range of notes, beyond which in both directions we have an infinitude of silence.”

John Tyndall (1820–1893) British scientist

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Fragments of Science, Vol. II (1879)

“Music and silence… combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music.”

Marcel Marceau (1923–2007) French mime and actor

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Almost the same as the movement of music.
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Source: Good Morning, America

“With a note of music, one strikes the fundamental, and, in addition to the root note, other notes are generated: these are called the harmonic series…As one fundamental note contains within it other notes in the octave, two fundamentals produce a remarkable array of harmonics, and the number of possible combinations between all the notes increases phenomenally. With a triad, affairs stand a good chance of getting severely out of hand…”

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[Denyer, Ralph, The Guitar Handbook, 2002, 114, 0-679-74275-1]
Elsewhere

“Music for entertainment … seems to complement the reduction of people to silence, the dying out of speech as expression, the inability to communicate at all. It inhabits the pockets of silence that develop between people molded by anxiety, work and undemanding docility.”

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Source: On the Fetish Character in Music and the Regression of Listening (1938), p. 271

“There are notes between notes, you know.”

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“The genius of a composer is found in the notes of his music; but analyzing the notes will not reveal his genius.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Awakening : Conversations with the Masters (2003), p. 24
Context: The genius of a composer is found in the notes of his music; but analyzing the notes will not reveal his genius. The poet's greatness is contained in his words; yet the study of his words will not disclose his inspiration. God reveals himself in creation; but scrutinize creation as minutely as you wish, you will not find God, any more than you will find the soul through careful examination of your body.

“The music is not in the notes,but in the silence between.”

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 26

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“The music is not in the notes,
but in the silence between.”