Home 1. Introduction 2. Markers 3. Archive 4. Audible Markers 5. Visible Markers 6. Notational Markers 7. Conclusion
3.1. Integrated Silences 3.2. Inherent Silences 3.3. Silent Discourse 3.4. Meta-Silences 3.5. Silencings
Composer Louis Andriessen wrote this piece for me during intermission at a concert in 1997. Could this be an illustration of what a composer hears during the compositional process? The fact that the piece was written on a program with no forethought is a reminder of the constant music that runs through the minds of most musicians, especially composers. This sort of instant composition, written as fast as Andriessen could notate it and fitting into the limited space of a program booklet, is like a Polaroid photo of the moment: the composer’s non-stop inner voice is briefly frozen in time.
Figure: last line of Not [an] Anfang by Louis Andriessen (Andriessen, 1997)
The dimensions of this silence are intimate, serene, and poignant; the marker for silence is less obvious but might consist of the humming itself that precedes the end. The connections between the piano phrases are performed silence, made nostalgic, bittersweet, and even tragic by the cessation of the humming. These are knots of silence, holding the simple tune together.