Eternal moments

[Christo]

One of the special qualities that music can have for me — I only know of others in poetry and occasionally in novels, art forms that work with time; I know of no others — is the "eternal moment".
Let me attempt to describe it: a passage of often no more than a few seconds, say five or ten, in which everything seems to fall into place and time stands still. An eternal moment arises when previously developed musical ideas return, but now 'perfect', crystallised, often after a more turbulent passage. In addition to examples of such an 'eternal moment,' I am also curious about your description. And which composers "produce" them most? Or is there no recognition at all??   

[Mandryka]

This is what Schubert famously does in the last movement of the E flat major Piano Trio, D929.

I also want to mention one of the magical things for me -- the end  of the first movement of Brahms 2.

[Florestan]

There's nothing eternal about mankind and their products, art included. We might give as many and as different examples as each of us see fit --- two hundred years from now, 99% of them will be forgotten, just as 99% of the things past are today forgotten. The future is a foreign country, they' do things different there. 

[DaveF]

This is what Schubert famously does in the last movement of the E flat major Piano Trio, D929.

Where, where, where?  Please tell!

A few that come to mind - VW, of course, where the wild and jazzy 2nd theme turns into that hymn-tune, at the end of the first movement of no.6.

Mahler 5 - again a crazy and disturbed theme turning into that enormous outpouring of D major joy, shortly before the end of the 2nd movement.

Nielsen - at the end of the flute concerto, where the bass trombone discovers that the theme that everyone has been playing for the whole movement is identical to the E major passage in the middle of the 1st movement.

Schumann Piano quintet - at the end, where he reveals that the 1st themes of the 1st and last movements fit together.

And probably lots more...

[DaveF]

There's nothing eternal about mankind and their products, art included. We might give as many and as different examples as each of us see fit --- two hundred years from now, 99% of them will be forgotten, just as 99% of the things past are today forgotten. The future is a foreign country, they' do things different there. 

The Bright Field

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

R.S. Thomas

[Florestan]

An eternal moment arises when previously developed musical ideas return, but now 'perfect', crystallised, often after a more turbulent passage.

The finale of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony for me.

[prémont]

Moments in music that make time stand still for just a short while?

Yes, I have experienced this many times, but it also depends on my mind at the moment. Often I can't reproduce the feeling when I relisten to the music in question.

[Mandryka]

Where, where, where?  Please tell!



.

I was thinking of the way that Schubert brings back the second movement theme at the very end of the fourth movement, but now transformed from melancholy to heroic. Perfected, crystallised, to use @Christo 's words

[Mandryka]

One of the special qualities that music can have for me — I only know of others in poetry and occasionally in novels, art forms that work with time; I know of no others — is the "eternal moment".
Let me attempt to describe it: a passage of often no more than a few seconds, say five or ten, in which everything seems to fall into place and time stands still. An eternal moment arises when previously developed musical ideas return, but now 'perfect', crystallised, often after a more turbulent passage. In addition to examples of such an 'eternal moment,' I am also curious about your description. And which composers "produce" them most? Or is there no recognition at all??   

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,32129.0.html

This may or may not be relevant. Your concept of eternal is not the same as my concept o of time freezing.

[Iota]

The first example that springs to mind is in Mahler 3, when the opening theme of the 1st movement returns utterly transfigured at the beginning of the last movement, luminous and transcendent rather than rampant and foreboding. Those first few moments always throw me into what might be termed a state of complete timelessness. It's one of the first things I'd pack in my desert island suitcase.

HST, in a very different setting, there are countless examples of fugue subjects appearing after development/episodes in the Bach WTC that suspend time for me, but I'm not sure those circumstances quite fit the bill of what you describe.

[atardecer]

The end of Ravel's Valley of the Bells, starting where the big chords come chiming back in and the bass notes go from the B octave to C sharp octave, (time stands still here, this is the eternal moment) to the end of the piece where the notes from the intro return and it sounds as though one is in the currents of time. Like two people separated at sea, the last chords are a like a lament, imagine the person is drifting away from you at sea and calling out, the call becomes more distant, and then you are alone.

This said this is one piece that has to be played a certain way. There are many recordings of it that do not create this effect for me, my favorite version is the Andre Laplante.

[JBS]

The only music I can say that happens regularly for me is the final section of  Mahler 8--but that's obviously more than a few seconds in length.

The feeling you describe (if I'm understanding it correctly) is something that's mood dependent with me, and not really inherent in the music itself.

[atardecer]

This said this is one piece that has to be played a certain way. There are many recordings of it that do not create this effect for me, my favorite version is the Andre Laplante.

For the record it is only in this one movement that Laplante is my favorite, in general for everything else by Ravel I prefer other interpreters.

[AnotherSpin]

One of the special qualities that music can have for me — I only know of others in poetry and occasionally in novels, art forms that work with time; I know of no others — is the "eternal moment".
Let me attempt to describe it: a passage of often no more than a few seconds, say five or ten, in which everything seems to fall into place and time stands still. An eternal moment arises when previously developed musical ideas return, but now 'perfect', crystallised, often after a more turbulent passage. In addition to examples of such an 'eternal moment,' I am also curious about your description. And which composers "produce" them most? Or is there no recognition at all??   

One might answer the question both broadly and more specifically, with a few examples.

Broadly speaking: Eternity is not merely a matter of endless duration; it's not just more time stretched out to infinity. No, true reality is timeless—altogether beyond the categories of past and future. It doesn't unfold; it simply is. In contrast, time is an illusion: a clever mental construct, useful for catching trains and boiling eggs, but hardly the stuff of ultimate truth.

When music gives rise to a certain eternal moment, it serves as a nudge toward this deeper truth: the sensation that time has been suspended is, in fact, a glimpse into the nature of reality itself—that time is a mental construct, and what's truly real is the timeless knowing in which all experiences (music included) appear and vanish.

To be in the Now isn't some lofty mystical achievement; it's our natural state. Not normal, perhaps, but certainly natural.

As for examples, there are many. Numerous moments in Bach seem to strike that chord for me. Or take the 25th piano concerto by Mozart—there's a spot in the finale that's just right. One might even say Philip Glass tried to cram his entire body of work into the Now.

To quote the great philosopher of the late 20th century, David Lee Roth:
"You want the truth? The truth is what's happening right now."

[vandermolen]

Flute passage in the middle(trio section) of the second movement of Miaskovsky's 6th Symphony.

[steve ridgway]

the sensation that time has been suspended

I feel something like that when finally reaching the sixth movement Communion of Pierre Henry - Messe de Liverpool after the previous five chunks of strangely processed vocals.

[Christo]

The feeling you describe (if I'm understanding it correctly) is something that's mood dependent with me, and not really inherent in the music itself.

What I am describing -- in Dutch the term "eternal moment" is used by novelist Maarten 't Hart in describing music -- is more than an individual observation, but at least 'intersubjective' and often also the experience of the composer himself. An 'eternal moment' is more than purely an individual experience, although some people seem to think so here, but that is too postmodern for me. Let's see how many "eternal moments" we share, here.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Vaughan Williams' music is flooded with "eternal moments" for me, but perhaps the most poignant example for me is A Pastoral Symphony, in particular, the last movement --- 8:52 through 10:00 -

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Another "eternal moment" for me occurs in Tubin's Symphony No. 1, in particular, the first movement --- 11:44 - 12:03

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Another moment for me is in Shchedrin's Chamber Suite in the third movement Amoroso --- 1:28 - 1:54: