Perhaps it is only when silences are clumsily handled that their importance is fully
noticed: too long a pause between musical ideas may destroy the connection they are
supposed to have; too short a pause may destroy a sense of separation the composer
wanted, and create a jarring feeling of rush because the listener is not given enough time
to assimilate one idea before being hurried on to the next.’
Source: B. A. Phythian ‘Teach Yourself Correct English’ (Hodder & Stoughton 1988)
page 33.
Mozart said that silence is the greatest effect in music. Singers say that they like singing
Mozart as he gives them rests in melodies within which they can breathe. Mozart also
provides these in his piano and other instrumental music. By analogy a pianist or other
instrumentalist ‘breathes’ during these rests. It is said that the rests in a Mozart melody,
should not be pedalled through.
Air pauses can be very valuable in piano music to rest the ear of the listener and to enable
the listener to realise that a new section is commencing.
‘The maximum amount of demarcation between two successive phrases is achieved by
means of a full use of break, dynamic change and ritardando, all combined, as for
instance before the statement or re-statement of a main theme. In such cases the
composer usually indicates how the phrasing is to be effected, but in [bars 103-106 of
Liszt’s Sonata in B minor], in addition to making a ritardando, as marked, and starting the
new [Grandioso] theme fortissimo, it would be justifiable to make a clear break before
the double bar so as to allow a distinct articulation of the first note of the theme.’
Beethoven’s pupil and amanuensis Anton Schindler emphasised the importance of the
insertion by the pianist of air pauses in Beethoven’s piano music, even though they were
not specifically marked in the text by the composer. Schindler gave as an example the
insertion of air pauses before the commencement of new sections in the slow movement
of the ‘Pathétique’ Sonata.
Pause or fermata
When the sign occurs above or below a note or chord it denotes an increase in length
of the note or chord. It may sometimes imply a rallentando during the phrase leading up
to the pause. When placed above or below a rest it similarly denotes an increase in the
length of the rest.
In Bach a pause on the final chord denotes a molto rallentando while a pause on the final
barline denotes a poco rallentando.
In César Franck’s organ works, Jean Langlais maintained that a pause marked on a note
or chord added one extra beat, except at the end of a piece where the chord could be held
longer. Marcel Dupré, on the other hand, maintained that a pause mark, except at the end