The Deafening Relevance of Silence

In 1952 the American composer John Cage, one of the most outstanding figures in the field of modern musical experimentation, realizes the track 4'33'', in which basically you can not hear the intervention of any musical instrument: the experience of the listener, for the duration of 4 minutes and 33 seconds, it is therefore reduced to the simple recorded noises coming from the environment, the hands of the artist touching the wood of the piano, the flicking of the score, a cough blow, the hissing of the air that blows inside the room, the breathing. Cage’s purpose (that more in it stated that all the music production after 4'33'' was conceived as the natural continuation of the same singular track) was to make the listener forget the musical harmony as traditionally intended and to focus on an environment, no matter how harmless it is initially perceived, as it may nevertheless turn in music, always and only when the subject is emotionally predisposed to grasp its essence.

Cage had until that moment structured much of his career on concepts similar to Hindu and Buddhist cultures and (not only, but also for this) his work is to be understood as the fabrication of an idea not so much aesthetic, as philosophical: it is the mind that, if required, turn sounds in music.

1. "À la rencontre du plaisir", René Magritte, 1962.

By trivially analyzing the theme in general lines, the silence, that is the total absence of sound waves picked up by the hearing, proves to be a dimension practically unattainable and its research by man has produced very different situations between them, in relation to the historical epochs and the places in which it is contemplated: the dripping of rain, the branches of the trees moved by the wind, the chirping of a bird, the rustling of a torrent, rather than the buzz of city traffic or the buzz of electricity produced by a lamp.Even if we were to isolate ourselves inside a soundproof chamber, we couldn’t help appreciating our breath or heartbeat. With the advent of modern urbanization we saw ourselves catapulted into a reality within it is increasingly difficult to relate daily to the joy generated by natural sounds but, for this reason, must be rediscovered the importance.

2. A humble French farmer, guilty of hiding an entire Jewish family on his own farm, listens petrified the dark syllogisms of the German colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), before rising from the creaking wooden chair and, without saying, indicate with the index the exact point where the unfortunate hide.The learned dialectics and gestures are the master in the script of Landa; silence, trepidation and sweat, are the part (no less relevant) of the breeder. (Inglourious Basterds, 2009, Quentin Tarantino)

In many fields the silences are as important as the words, as in music as in many other arts, an example among all the recitation: the recitative silences, better defined as "pauses", which break, anticipate or follow the actor’s interlocking narrative, often embody the moods of the subjects, their psychology, the atmosphere that you breathe, or announce a joke or an important event.Especially at the theatre, the protagonist’s silent looks and gestures are expedients that aim to attract the viewer towards it or towards a point of the stage, so as not to break the narrative harmony during the silent moments.

3. Jesus in the presence of the Roman legal authority represented by Pontius Pilate, who discharges responsibility for the trial verdict at the partial judgment of the Jewish people of Jerusalem. (The Passion of the Christ, 2004, Mel Gibson)

It is perhaps the "art of shut up" even more important in everyday life, especially in an era of "globalized communication" like the one we are experiencing, in which everyone has the tools to communicate to the world a thought, however futile it may be perceived, and in any case feel the spasmodic need to do so or, even worse, be in the arrogant position of having to judge at all costs the behavior of others or even simple cultural differences, exercising this right often without having the means or knowledge to be able to really exercise it in an acute and honest way.

Silence is often a sign of wisdom. Scrolling through the pages of the well-known novel by Umberto Eco "The name of the rose" one can come across a meaningful conversation between the two protagonists, the Franciscan friar William from Baskerville and his student, the novice Adso from Melk; the master attempts to explain to the boy where he is with respect to the investigation of the indecipherable mysteries that lie behind the deaths occurred within the abbey during the days before: "... Now, on the cases of the abbey, I have many nice hypotheses, but there is no obvious fact that allows me to say which is the best. And then not to appear foolish after , I renounce to appear astute now..." (page 308, Fourth Day, Vespers).