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]