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Book Excerpt: Franz Welser-Möst’s From Silence
In this excerpt from the opening chapter of his new book, Franz Welser-Möst talks about how music can fi ll and fulfi ll the silences in our lives — and the surprising mystery of how a musical performance can bring a room full of people, audience and musicians alike, into a shared sense of a limitless universe.
From Silence . . .
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‘‘There are some performances which lead us beyond the limits of our existence and in which all participants become as one. The fi rst time this happened to me was during the performance of Franz Schmidt’s Book with Seven Seals at the abbey church at Wilhering, which I conducted at the age of 22. The Revelation of St. John, which deals with precisely the ‘Four Last Things’ of human life, became a resounding image of the world. When I met my parents after the performance, neither they nor I could utter a word, and tears were running down my face. It is above all the music of Schubert which has repeatedly led me, both as a listener and a performer, into these realms of crossed borders. A special memory for me is of a performance of the Schubert Quintet, which I played with friends during my time as principal conductor at Norrköping in Sweden (I had taken over the viola part despite my two damaged fi ngers). In the recapitulation of the second movement I suddenly heard and felt this music of eternity. Sounds in which all time is dissolved, music in which fi ve musicians lose themselves in the moment of playing. Schubert composed this otherworldly music two months before his death, and perhaps this second movement comes closest to that silence which I heard before the car overturned [in the accident that changed my life at age 18]. . . . And then there was the performance of Schubert’s Great C Major Symphony, together with The Cleveland Orchestra in Cleveland on Friday 13 March 2020. It was at this point in time that the Covid-19 crisis was just beginning to grip the whole world. We all sensed that we were in an unprecedented, exceptional situation. We thus took the decision not to undertake any further public appearances of our orchestra. However, in order to be able to complete our recording project, we performed the symphony in front of some twenty staff members from our offi ce. Like a sword of Damocles, the question hovered over us as to whether and when we would again be able to make music together. This gave the performance a depth and at the same time a sense of weightlessness that I had never before experienced with this orchestra. There are moments one yearns for as a musician, those little moments of eternity, in which the silence is fi lled with perfect music. Moments that are so precious because they occur so incredibly rarely. If my life has a leitmotif, it is probably the fulfi lment of silence, which, today in particular, forms an antithesis to the fast pace of our existence. Pausing in silence as a form of contemplation, as an alternative to the restless speed of our time. Silence as compensation for the decibelization of our world. . . .”
NEW BOOK
Franz Welser-Möst’s new book, From Silence: Finding Calm in a Dissonant World, was published in its debut German-language edition — Al ich die Stille fand — earlier this year. The English edition is being released this summer. The 180-page book explores the conductor’s views on music, his own career, and where art and music fi t into today’s world.
The English edition can be purchased through the Cleveland Orchestra Store online:
