Energies in Motion: What Unites Music and Sport

At the starting line and centre stage, when on 27 January the Olympic flame reaches Piazza Walther in Bolzano, the Haydn Foundation will be an integral part of the opening ceremony.

Among the protagonists will be internationally renowned cellist and one of the most frequently performed Italian composers in the world, Giovanni Sollima, who will perform with the Haydn Orchestra and his extraordinary Ice Cello. An opportunity that invites us to look at music with a sporting spirit and to ask ourselves: what do music and sport have in common?

Let the games begin. Whether it is a cultural festival or the Winter Olympic Games, the world and the public turn their gaze towards a special event that culminates in an outstanding performance, going far beyond records, medals, prizes and victories. It is about an attitude, about values. The Olympic spirit has always been grounded in fairness, dedication, discipline, respect and the search for beauty in human action. This is precisely where two worlds that seem far apart meet: sport and music. Two expressions of nature and human culture, similar in their essence and surprisingly alike in how they function. Both rely on concentration, rhythm, precision, aesthetics and passion.

Following a ski race, holding your breath during a downhill run, admiring the choreography of figure skating: all these experiences allow us to feel how tension builds, intensifies and finally dissolves. Sport lives on these moments, on rhythm and on an inner order. And is music not shaped in exactly the same way? Does it not also live through arcs of tension and dramaturgy?

The famous conductor Leonard Bernstein defined music as “organised movement in time”. A definition that could just as well apply to athletic performance. Movements are choreographed and studied with precision, sequences are repeatedly practised and refined, energy is managed with awareness. “My choreography without music is empty and without soul,” said figure skater John Curry; “it is the music that gives meaning and expression to my movements.” Tennis player Rafael Nadal has also frequently described his matches as a kind of composition: in each encounter one must find the right rhythm, introduce deliberate pauses and shape dynamics. The body becomes an instrument, the athlete an interpreter.

John Curry

The more we look for differences between sport and music, the more their similarities emerge. Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, always imagined sport, art and music as a unified whole. It is no coincidence that the early editions of the Olympics also included competitions in literature, architecture and music. For Coubertin, the true Olympic spirit arises where body and mind come into play together.

Both musicians and athletes rely on this. Many athletes consciously use music as part of their preparation: it helps regulate breathing, sharpen concentration, and calm inner agitation. Legendary Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen is said to have prepared for races by listening to Bach and Mozart, not to hype himself up emotionally but as mental training.

At the same time, physical activity has become an essential part of many musicians’ daily routines. Celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma often emphasises the importance of stretching, walking and targeted physical exercises before going on stage. Anyone who aims to deliver a high-level performance needs a vigilant and present body, ready to face the challenge posed by time, by personal tension and by one’s own limits.

Even if individual athletes or musicians stand in the spotlight, what ultimately matters is teamwork and what is built together. Intense training and the pursuit of technical perfection represent a personal challenge for every athlete and every musician, yet they find their true reward in collective playing and in the harmony of doing things together. With or without medals.

Are orchestra conductors and team coaches not, after all, those who know how to bring together the strengths and skills of their orchestra or team at the right moment?

Sport is more than performance, just as music is more than sound. Both strive for emotion and fulfilment. Pianist and philosopher Theodor W. Adorno described music as “solidified time”. High level athletic performance can be understood as time condensed, in which years of training, failures and personal growth culminate in a single moment.

This is where sport and music meet on a philosophical level: in the attempt to give duration to what is ephemeral, and to create something timeless within the instant itself.