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]
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