Like a musical work, this text is structured around different movements: the first deals with silence in “old” and “modern” music, while the second is devoted to noise in the same music. The two movements of this score are linked by a transition that opens out onto the intermediate area of whispering. Finally, a coda explores silence and noise in non-musical artistic expressions. Sometimes tense, a source of expectation, stress, even anguish, sometimes soothing, generating calm, and even a sense of well-being, silence has a decisive role in the organization of musical discourse. Although noise is also present in all eras, it was at the beginning of the twentieth century that it acquired importance and presented many facets and definitions that require some clarification. Musical excerpts provide a sound illustration of the author’s theoretical elaborations.