Jon Johanning <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>...  It is certainly true that the practice of maintaining silence between
>movements is relatively recent.  One need only recall the famous concert
>in which Beethoven's Violin Concerto and (if I remember correctly) a couple
>of symphonies were premiered, and the soloist entertained between movements
>of the concerto by playing the violin upside down, etc.

I believe it was not uncommon for movements to be encored, either.  I'm
sure I have read of this in contemporary reviews of Haydn's London
concerts.

>No doubt there are many symphonies, concertos, and other multi-movement
>works which would not be harmed at all by applause between movements,

Indeed, I'm sure some composers must have written some works in the hope
and expectation that there *would* be applause after certain movements.

>but there are also many others for which this would be a very jarring
>intrusion, and which the composers probably wrote with the assumption
>that there would be no such intrusions.

Agreed.  In fact, after certain pieces, e.g.  Tchaikovsky's 6th, applause
at the end seems somehow superfluous; certainly I feel a longish silence
is appropriate, and one is torn between breaking the spell and showing
appreciation of the performers.

>...  OTOH, the heavens are not going to fall if some hands are smacked
>together on inappropriate occasions, once in a while.  (It's certainly
>more tolerable than beepers and cell phones!)

Or crying babies, as I once experienced during the slow movement of
Beethoven's 9th at the Barbican.

>I suspect, BTW, that the practice of adhering movements together without
>pause, pioneered by Beethoven, may have originated in the desire to
>guarantee that the connection between movements would not be broken.

Perhaps, although if we take the transition between the 3rd and 4th
movements of Beethoven's 5th, for example, I feel that the feeling of
transition from darkness to light I always hear here could not be expressed
in any other way.  Regards

Leroy Curtis           mailto:[log in to unmask]