Applause

[arancie33]

This is probably another grumpy old man rant, but the other evening I was appalled at the applause etiquette (seems an appropriate term for it) of many members of the audience. And not for the first time. They seem to think that their applause is somehow invalidated unless it starts microseconds after the piece has finished or the singer has stopped. Sadly, many seem not to know just when that occurs which is infuriating for the rest of us and the performers, especially in a pp ending. The woman beside my wife even poised her hands at face level, one foot apart, prepared to give it her all as soon as poor Violetta had breathed her last. Last year I sat beside some idiot who had the same technique - I had to cover my ears, so painful was the noise of two hands clapping at that height (sort of zen joke there).

Does anybody else have the same problem with over appreciative show-offs or am I just too sensitive?

[Norfolk Born]

Yes, I do, and no, you're not! I sometimes wonder whether the people who are determined to be the first to clap are the same people who are determined to shout 'Come on, Roger' a nanosecond before Mr. Federer serves.

[Serial_Apologist]

I have myself been guilty of this, proudly being first in when thinking myself the only clever person in the audience who knew for sure when the final note of a particularly modern work had sounded. It's too late now to apologise for my sins of the past, and I am only too grateful to the many posters on this and the old forum for drawing my belated attention to the realisation of just what an unpleasant habit it most surely is.

S-A

[cloughie]

This is probably another grumpy old man rant, but the other evening I was appalled at the applause etiquette (seems an appropriate term for it) of many members of the audience. And not for the first time. They seem to think that their applause is somehow invalidated unless it starts microseconds after the piece has finished or the singer has stopped. Sadly, many seem not to know just when that occurs which is infuriating for the rest of us and the performers, especially in a pp ending. The woman beside my wife even poised her hands at face level, one foot apart, prepared to give it her all as soon as poor Violetta had breathed her last. Last year I sat beside some idiot who had the same technique - I had to cover my ears, so painful was the noise of two hands clapping at that height (sort of zen joke there).

Does anybody else have the same problem with over appreciative show-offs or am I just too sensitive?

Apart from anything else it spoils home recordings of live concerts, by the way do LSO control applause for their LSO Live recordings or just overdub?

[Petrushka]

I watched two concerts recently on the BPO Digital Concert Hall in which Bruckner 4 and Mahler 6 featured (not in the same concert of course!) and in each case there must have been close to half a minute of silence before the conductor dropped his hands and the applause began, Indeed after the Mahler 6 I thought the audirence was going to go home without applauding at all and it would have seemed appropriate. This did actually once happen at a Gunter Wand Bruckner 9.

Contrast that with over here when the first yobbish bellowed bravo erupts almost before the music has finished.

[HighlandDougie]

Conductors have become more savvy about keeping their alarms aloft and only lowering them after a decent interval. Not that that necessarily stops the "Bravo" shouters but what I first thought was a bit of an affectation (except for the blessed Claudio Abbado who is allowed to do anything in my book) is now something for which I actively hope.

[arancie33]

Conductors have become more savvy about keeping their alarms aloft and only lowering them after a decent interval.

Yes,indeed, and good thing too. But the occasion that sparked my comment was opera - WNO La Traviata at the Brum Hippodrome - so the applauders probably couldn't even see the conductor. No, they were applauding when they thought the singer had finished. Result, at least once in the first act, the soprano had sung a quiet phrase, they started at the same time as she began the next. The poor woman had to break off and start again. I think that eventually they got the message but at what cost to the rest of us.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I think it offends most when applause breaks in suddenly after a really moving and quiet ending, e.g. Tchaikovsky 6th Symphony.

[Bryn]

Many here will be aware that I have nothing against approbational applause between movements in most cases. However, precipitate applause, and the sort of thing that plagues opera and ballet performances, where applause interrupts the performance is quite another matter, and I don't just mean when there is a quiet ending. I want to hear the resonance after the last chord of, say, Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds.

[MrGongGong]

I thought this was going to be a pre-emptive strike on this years Proms

[gradus]

Opera audiences are very prone to clapping before the music finishes and imv sometimes its irritating and sometimes it isn't, it depends on the piece, some invite explosive applause eg end of Siegfried others eg Boheme, don't. In the concert hall its flying in the face of nature (for some of us) not to explode into shouting and applause after say the end of Mahler 5 or 7 ..... but not after Mahler 9.

[amateur51]

Conductors have become more savvy about keeping their alarms aloft and only lowering them after a decent interval. Not that that necessarily stops the "Bravo" shouters but what I first thought was a bit of an affectation (except for the blessed Claudio Abbado who is allowed to do anything in my book) is now something for which I actively hope.

My first experience of a conductor seeking to control the end of the performance like that was when Bernard Haitink/LPO performed Mahler symphony no 9 at the Royal Festival Hall in the late 1970s. He just held his pose for what seemed like an age and no=-one applauded. Then he relaxed his outstretched arm and the applause slowly built. Very effective.

I recently saw the Heath Quartet at Wigmore Hall and they ended each movement with their bows raised & held the pose for several seconds before relaxing and again it ensured complete concentration and silence from the audience.

[Beef Oven]

Opera audiences are very prone to clapping before the music finishes and imv sometimes its irritating and sometimes it isn't, it depends on the piece, some invite explosive applause eg end of Siegfried others eg Boheme, don't. In the concert hall its flying in the face of nature (for some of us) not to explode into shouting and applause after say the end of Mahler 5 or 7 ..... but not after Mahler 9.

This is most interesting. I think that I have been making a fool of myself for years because I do applaud with vigour at the end of Mahler 9! I think I may have done it after Tchaikovsky 6 too!

On a more serious note, years ago, we used to applaud at the end of the first movement of Walton 1. In 2004, I was at a performance of W1 and I was about to clap at the end of the first movement, but no-one stirred! Have things changed?

Same with Sibelius' Violin Concerto. We used to clap at the end of the forst movement of that too, but no more it seems

Can anyone shed any light on this?

[cloughie]

This is most interesting. I think that I have been making a fool of myself for years because I do applaud with vigour at the end of Mahler 9! I think I may have done it after Tchaikovsky 6 too!

On a more serious note, years ago, we used to applaud at the end of the first movement of Walton 1. In 2004, I was at a performance of W1 and I was about to clap at the end of the first movement, but no-one stirred! Have things changed?

Same with Sibelius' Violin Concerto. We used to clap at the end of the forst movement of that too, but no more it seems

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Yes, you shouldn't have!

[Beef Oven]

Yes, you shouldn't have!

You aint shed much light, have you cloughie!?

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