Silence - Who wrote it and how lomg did it last?

[ainitatyb]

There was a controversial piece written some years ago which was around 3 mins long of silence. On stage the artiste would open the piano lid and sit for the designated time then close the lid. The theory being that the background noise in the auditorium was an integral part of the work in itself and by removing the musical notes the 'music' comes to the fore. But .. who wrote it , when was it 'written' and how long did it last?

[Stephen_G]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4%E2%80%B233%E2%8 0%B3

That could be what you're looking for.

[squarebear]

John Cage wrote a piece called "4 minutes 33" which was silent

[Disco Fever]

How can you write a piece of music that is total silence???

And I bet you can get it on the internet somewhere....

[saxy_jag]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E

It's based on the principle that silence is as valid a sound as any made by a musical instrument. In fact, the 'music' of 4' 33" is the coughs and movements of both orchestra and audience.

Almost all music has silent bits. A musician in an orchestra will often come to a passage where he is 'tacit', ie. he doesn't play for however many bars it says on his music. Usually that's when another part of the orchestra is playing, but sometimes it can mark a short period where the entire orchestra is silent, perhaps for one or two beats, or for a whole bar - just for effect. 4' 33" is simply this device taken to its extreme.

[alipan]

Wow sounds intresting! Ive never heard of that before! I must research that:)