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
3.3 Silent Discourse
Part 3 discusses silences that are concealed. Every musical work, no matter how abstract, contains subtexts, hidden histories, and stories of its origins and creator(s). Sometimes, they are expressed in musicological texts, program notes, or pre-concert lectures. Prior to the 20th century, it was rare to express these subtexts directly via the performance. Mostly the subtext served a silent function, communicating unspoken or unheard ideas from the composer to the performer. Subtexts could be as simple as the word “Andante” at the beginning of a Mozart sonata or as complex as the notebooks of Beethoven, which were not intended to be public but have become an essential component of the shared knowledge surrounding his artistic output.
The silent subtexts in my examples are notated solely for the performer (and thus not for the audience) and are the inner voices of silent discourse. Dutch-Cypriot composer Yannis Kyriakides summarizes the inner voice as an ever-active part of the self:
[…] the less conspicuous inner voice […] which varies a great deal from person to person, is the elusive inner voice of thought, that I call ‘silent discourse’; the voice that is in constant dialogue with different aspects of the self, ever active in the process of trying to comprehend and respond to situations on the conscious horizon. (Kyriakides, 2017, p. 38)
Silent discourse includes hidden lines, subtexts, invisible footnotes, and thoughts that liberate the performer to express more of what is being felt during a performance. Audibly or visually expressing these subtexts or sub-tunes during a performance might give rise to a multi-dimensional experience of un-silencing. Or it might ruin the composer’s intentions. The metaphorical silences in this part are often literally silent but not necessarily accompanied by acoustic silence. This means that a silent discourse may well occur during a section of musical notes. The inner voice is silent, but the audience cannot hear that it is silent; they can only know it if they are informed in advance.