The Music Is Not In The

This quote has not been traced to any verified primary source in Mozart's letters, manuscripts, or documented conversations. No letter, diary entry, or contemporary account from his lifetime contains this wording. The attribution to Mozart appears to have emerged on the internet after 2010, and Quote Investigator found the more credible attribution belongs to Claude Debussy, who is reliably reported to have said "Music is the silence between the notes." The idea is musically cogent — Mozart's own scores show meticulous attention to rests and articulation — but the specific wording should not be attributed to him.