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Applause Sign

Ted's comments to my previous post about applauding between movements of a live classical performance deserve a new post for my response:

...there are definitely times when it seems right to applaud between movements. The problem is the rest of the time. A lot of movements are intended to transition smoothly to the next movement with just a breath of a pause between. Kinda like the way the Panther desktop spins around when switching user accounts. shuffle in your seat, glance at your watch, lets move on.

True, but it seems that the audience should be able to distinguish between the two. Between the movements of Elgar's Suite from "The Wand of Youth," it was all I could do to sit on my hand and resist the temptation. I felt like Roger Rabbit listening to someone tap out the rhythm of "shave and a haircut..."

I'll have to admit, I've often wondered what would happen if there was no applause during an entire performance. Just let the music be the music and the experience be experienced. A Walt Whitmanesque cleansing of the soul. Sometimes, the most breathtaking part of a performance is the 3 or 4 heartbeats after a beautiful decrescendo, and the musicians, audience, ushers, etc.. are as one, unwilling to break the silence engulfing the concert-hall. mmm... Shostakovich

Yup, agree with a slight addendum. At the finish of the past weekend's performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17, conductor Christopher Seaman held his arms in the air for those 3 or 4 heartbeats, and slowly, as his hands fell, the applause welled up from the audience. That welling up of appreciation can be just as thrilling as the silence itself, IMHO.

When considering the heirarchy of people in charge of a performance - conductor, musicians union, musicians, and oh yeah the composer - the last person those people want determining the pacing of a concert is the audience member.

Here, I disagree. A live performance (of any kind) assumes the presence of the audience and each form of live performance has its own conventions for audience etiquette. Some sports, such as tennis or golf, ask for silence from the audience during play, but expect applause after an outstanding shot. In the theater, applauding the first appearance of the star actors/actresses is appreciated. Each form of live music has its own expectation, from slam-dancing to polite clapping after a solo.

The key consideration is that the artists are there to entertain. Of course, a certain amount of respect from the audience is a good thing (no heckling the conductor), but it shouldn't be forgotten that the audience is paying the bills. Plus, much of the thrill of live music lies in the interaction between performer and audience. I think a polite show of appreciation by the audience (when appropriate) only strengthens the bond between the performers and the audience; otherwise, the musicians might as well be cutting a record.

I haven't done much research on the subject, but I conjecture that it is a relatively recent trend for the audience to be under tight restraint lest the music be spoiled. According to the highly critical and scholarly "Amadeus" movie, this was apparently not the case. Perhaps it is a reaction against the trend of the earlier half of the twentieth century in which a concert wasn't really worth going to if there wasn't a riot during and immediately proceeding the performance. George Antheil once subdued his unruly audience by barring the doors and placing a pistol on the piano.

This gives me a chance to fix the broken link in my last post that was supposed to have pointed to Alex Ross's history of applause between movements, where he does indeed discuss Mozart's craving for applause. As far as determining why people stopped applauding, it turns out that (as so often is the case) Wagner is to blame. And Leopold Stokowski.

So but anyway, it's true that ill-timed applause can indeed be oppressive or embarrassing. As i said before, it seems like the audience should be able to discern when applause is appropriate and when it is not, especially an audience as well musically educated as most philharmonic audiences generally are. Also, a less stodgy atmosphere would also be more welcoming to the casual concertgoer. I'm not suggesting that we start handing out free tickets to Limp Bizkit fans, but classical music performances are generally in desperate need of attracting a younger, more diverse audience.