[log in to unmask] writes:

>>...  How formal are the Parisian symphony and chamber music concert
>>venues? Suit & tie, or sport coat, or simply spiffy shirt and pants?

and Scott Detweiler responds:

>It won't make the music sound any different will it?

I had not been following this, but if you feel uncomfortable by being
over-or under-dressed you might find some difficulty in concentrating on
the music, and there are some folks, even nowadays, who don't mind trying
to make you feel out of place.  Years ago, I was astounded how formally
the audience dressed in Munich for an opera festival in the middle of
the summer--even in a top-tier Stehplatz (sp? assigned standing room
position)*--and, the same year, in Salzburg, saw an admonition posted at
the entrance of two (palatial) venues to "show respect for the occasion"
through one's attire.  Some of us may have found that more amusing than
intimidating but, just recently, a friend of mine was treated rudely at the
La Scala billeteria in Milano (a real challenge to find, by the way) when
he inquired if there were any tickets for that evening (there were--and at
a nice last-minute price, too) he was told, "Not really--and you're not
properly dressed for the opera anyway!" He even had a jacket on!  A nicer
ticket agent called him over, and he got in.

* I had arrived at the last minute for a performance, was rushed upstairs
and sat in what I took to be the appropriately numbered seat, only to be
confronted by a rather burly man who proclaimed, "Das ist mein Platz!" When
I questioned this, he said even more emphatically, "Das ist mein Platz und
das ist mein Frau!!" I didn't argue.  When I looked more carefully at my
ticket I saw that it was in fact for a standing room position.  The man
standing next to me was formally dressed with black tie.  Thereafter, I am
happy to report, I had no difficulty in concentrating on the performance.

Jim Tobin