Abstract

Silence is a term of a physico-acoustic character but integrated as an essential feature of musical composition and poetic word. Its importance is broadened throughout 20th century both in terms of meaning and on the horizon of moral reflection of various musical and literary works, bringing it closer to horror, nothingness, outness, and senseless. This text presents a brief itinerary through this double formal and ontological nature of silence in several essential artworks of modernity.Keywords: silence, non-sense, nothing, emptiness, artistic creation, musical work, absurd, literature.