Tonight, at the fourth `Rheingold' of the SFO `Ring' cycles, there was
applause for the fourth time in the middle of the music.  The reason:
Alberich-as-toad, cute as a button, general myrth in the house, then as he
is captured and there is a quick curtain (for the trip back to Valhalla),
the combination of comic relief and the curtain provokes the lumpen-Ring
masses.

So what is right and proper in applauding Wagner?
Let me suggest two simple rules:

   1. After an act ends.
      1a. Except for Act 1 of `Parsifal.'
   2. When something extraordinary happens.
      2a. Except for toads.

Now, I happen to believe that the `Parsifal' tradition was concocted by
those who insist on standing for the `Messiah' Hallelujah.  I applaud A.
and sit for B.

But the matter of Point No.  2 bears examination.  I *almost* burst into
applause as Elena Zaremba (at her only Fricka on 6/20) shook the walls,
beat Wotan into submission, gave a piece of her mind to Bruennhilde, and
walked off stage, leaving the audience with a collective open mouth.  I
thought:  If the damn toad gets the applause, surely...  but did not act
on the impulse.

In fact, I applauded in mid-act Wagner only once in my life, and I am glad
I did.  It was after Leonie Rysanek's Ortrud and the Act 2 revenge duet --
the greatest single chicken-skin moment I remember.  (On the Mainland, it's
called goosebump.) And I wasn't exactly alone:  3,000 people violated the
unspoken code, with an ovation lasting what seemed like forever, but not
long enough.

Was it wrong? It sure felt *right*.

Janos Gereben/SF
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