The Aesthetics of Subtraction (August 5, 2025)

Here’s my performance of the Schumann-Liszt “Widmung” from Myrthen, Op. 25 from about two years ago. Notice how the focusing on the silences adds power to the music.

I have been thinking a lot lately about something called “the aesthetics of subtraction” or the idea that less is more when it comes to interpreting a piece of music. There is a quote, often attributed to Mozart, which says that “music is what happens between the silences.” 

Also, the great comedienne Joan Rivers always said that when you’re dressed to go out, look at all the jewelry you are wearing, and remove one piece.  Again, less is more.

Thinking this way led me back to a piece I worked on two years ago with Mr. Cosmo, the Schumann-Liszt “Widmung” from Myrthen, Op. 25, and which I wrote about as part of a blog post on March 26, 2025.  He told me that the piece was divided into two parts essentially, as was the poem by Friedrich Rückert, and that one needed to make clear distinctions between when one theme ended and the other began.  After working on the piece with him, I then asked Mr. Alexander, an opera singer, to help me with the original song on which the work had been based. 

Widmung
Friedrich Rückert

Du meine Seele, du mein Herz,
Du meine Wonn’, o du mein Schmerz,
Du meine Welt, in der ich lebe,
Mein Himmel du, darein ich schwebe,
O du mein Grab, in das hinab
Ich ewig meinen Kummer gab!
Du bist die Ruh, du bist der Frieden,
Du bist vom Himmel mir beschieden.
Dass du mich liebst, macht mich mir wert,
Dein Blick hat mich vor mir verklärt,
Du hebst mich liebend über mich,
Mein guter Geist, mein bess’res Ich!

Dedication

You my soul, you my heart,
You my rapture, O you my pain,
You my world in which I live,
My heaven you, to which I aspire,
O you my grave, into which
My grief forever I’ve consigned!
You are repose, you are peace,
You are bestowed on me from heaven.
Your love for me gives me my worth,
Your eyes transfigure me in mine,
You raise me lovingly above myself,
My guardian angel, my better self!

Translation by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

He told me that there was such grandeur and emotional power in the closing phrases that one had to give the listener time to absorb the strength of the words as reflected in the music, by emphasizing the pauses.  He also said, like the famous quote, that the silences were there to give even more power to the music. This way, the listener anticipates the music that will come next all the more.

Looking at this work again, and considering the idea of taking away from the music to give more to the silences, I find that I have discovered a tool for making performances of certain works even more effective. 

The aesthetics of subtraction: giving more, by giving less.

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