And Then There Was Silence

2001 single by Blind Guardian
"And Then There Was Silence"
Single by Blind Guardian
from the album A Night at the Opera
Released12 November 2001
RecordedTwilight Hall Studios (Grefrath, Germany)
Genre
  • Power metal
  • progressive metal[1]
  • symphonic metal
Length14:06
LabelVirgin
Songwriter(s)Hansi Kürsch, André Olbrich
Producer(s)Charlie Bauerfeind
Blind Guardian singles chronology
"Mirror Mirror"
(1998)
"And Then There Was Silence"
(2001)
"The Bard's Song (In the Forest)"
(2003)

"And Then There Was Silence" is a song by German power metal band Blind Guardian. It was released in November 2001 as the lead single from their album A Night at the Opera.

Written by singer Hansi Kürsch and composed by Kürsch and guitarist André Olbrich, the song is based on The Iliad by Homer and on the Aeneid by Virgil, and narrates the final days of Troy, as foreseen by Cassandra, daughter of the king of the destroyed city who foresaw the event.

The song required as much production time as the rest of A Night at the Opera combined due to its length, intricacy, and number of audio tracks. At over 14 minutes, it is the longest track recorded by Blind Guardian. A new version was recorded in 2012 and included as part of the compilation album Memories of a Time to Come.

Track listing

  1. "And Then There Was Silence" – 14:06
  2. "Harvest of Sorrow" – 3:40
  3. "Born in a Mourning Hall" (multimedia track) – 5:17

Personnel

Production

  • Anry Nemo – cover art

Charts

Chart (2001) Peak
position
Germany (Official German Charts)[2] 41
Spain (AFYVE)[3] 1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[4] 41

Year-end charts

Chart (2001) Position
Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[5] 143

References

  1. ^ Terich, Jeff; Hickman, Langdon; Davis, Cody (22 September 2017). "10 more of the best metal albums of the millennium". Treble. Retrieved 4 April 2019. The 14-minute closer, a progressive metal epic about the Trojan War that doesn't hit its first go-around of the chorus until just past the four-minute mark...
  2. ^ "Blind Guardian – And Then There Was Silence" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  3. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  4. ^ "Blind Guardian – And Then There Was Silence". Singles Top 100.
  5. ^ "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on 26 July 2002. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  • v
  • t
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Virgil's Aeneid (19 BC)
Characters
Deities
Trojans
Phoenicians
Others
Film and TV
  • The Avenger (1962)
  • Eneide (1971–2)
  • Eneyida (1991)
Literature
Opera
  • Didone (1641 Cavalli)
  • Achille et Polyxène (1687 Lully/Collasse)
  • Dido and Aeneas (1688 Purcell)
  • Didon (1693 Desmarets)
  • Didone abbandonata (1724 libretto Metastasio)
  • Didone abbandonata (1724 Sarro)
  • Didone abbandonata (1724 Albinoni)
  • Didone abbandonata (1726 Vinci)
  • Didone abbandonata (1762 Sarti)
  • Didon (1783 Piccinni)
  • Dido, Queen of Carthage (1792 Storace)
  • Les Troyens (1858 Berlioz)
ManuscriptsPhrasesArt
Music
  • "And Then There Was Silence"
  • Gates of Fire
StudyRelated
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Homer's Iliad (8th century BC)
Characters
Achaeans
Trojans
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Minor deities
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Alternate versions
Translation
Literature
Verse
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  • Helena (1924)
  • Helen of Troy (1956)
  • The Trojan Horse (1961)
  • Troy (2004)
Television
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Other
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  • Thomas Kelleners
  • Markus Dörk
  • Christoph Theissen
  • Hans-Peter Frey
  • Thomas Stauch
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
Singles
  • "And Then There Was Silence"
  • "The Bard's Song (In the Forest)"
  • "Fly"
  • "A Voice in the Dark"
  • "Twilight of the Gods"
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