Writing about applause between movements of multi-movement works, Jane
Erb wrote:
>>But then, is it any worse than the conversation, audience seating, etc.,
>>which too often occurs between movements?
To which Kevin Sutton replied:
>It's no worse, but it should not be tolerated. I am afraid that I
>simply cannot subscribe to the lowest-common-denominator, let's-not-
>offend-any-paying-patron approach to serious music. After all, it
>is serious music, not popular, and a certain standard of decorum and
>etiquette should be observed.
I'm afraid I would have to disagree. A show of appreciation should
always be welcome, as long as it doesn't cover the music itself. (Ballet
audiences behave as if the music doesn't matter at all, but that's a
whole other kettle of worms.....)
I've seen conductors and recitalists -- fellow audience members, too --
treat inter-movement applauders like lepers, and it strikes me as simply
snobbish. What could be more unnatural than to sit through a bravura
barn-burner like opening movement of the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto,
which tries its darnedest to elicit an unstoppable release of emotion,
and then sit there in silence while the performers collect themselves
to go on!
This stone-faced reverence is, after all, a fairly recent "tradition."
No one dared tell the noble patrons at Mozart's concerts when they might
or might not applaud. Polite applause after every movement was the norm.
And in contrast to the notion that the collection of movements in a
musical work is an inviolably continuous experience, recall the description
of the premiere of the Beethoven Violin Concerto: after the first movement,
the grand-standing soloist/dedicatee entertained the audience with a
piece of his own, played on a single violin string, with the instrument
held upside-down! The other two movements of Beethoven's new concerto
weren't heard until after intermission.
I wouldn't go so far as to encourage inter-movement applause in print,
but if others are bursting with enthusiasm, then the *least* the performers
can do is smile and nod their thanks.
Nick Jones
Atlanta, Ga., USA
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