Originally Posted By: twosleepy


A pause in music is called, simply, a "rest". A rest of four bars (or longer), is called "longa", but you won't hear it used much (the term, that is).


But a rest is not necessarily a dramatic silence; it might apply only to one voice. The triangle part in Die Walküre, for example, is nothing but rests, a hyperlonga, if you will, but it hardly qualifies as a dramatic silence.