Beethoven 7 - Oh that dreadful applause between movements!

[johnb]

...and it seems that most commonly it is a small minority applauding routinely because the music has stopped, rather than a genuine display of enthusiam.

I think it's Tom Service spearheading a guerilla campaign.

[amateur51]

Different art form, different situation ...

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/05/theatre-audiences-gone-quiet-shakespeare

[Ferretfancy]

So why do jazz audiences go in for it? Maybe they don't agree with you.

In any case, it is only a mild distraction, for a moment.

Jazz audiences applaud individual acts of virtuosity as the musicians take turns to display. This is quite different from classical practice. I'm afraid I don't find it only a mild distraction if you are "inside" the music and concentration is interrupted.

[Serial_Apologist]

Jazz audiences applaud individual acts of virtuosity as the musicians take turns to display. This is quite different from classical practice. I'm afraid I don't find it only a mild distraction if you are "inside" the music and concentration is interrupted.

Yes - the improvisational aspects of jazz performance allow flexibility for interruptions for applause to shape music not written into scores. Musicians often acknowledge such appreciation with a nod and a smile. This is one of the more socially inclusive sides of jazz as compared with classical concerts - in the former the spirit and strengths of the music are often enhanced by musician/audience interaction, whereas in the latter such appreciation can only be retrospective.

[KipperKid]

Jazz audiences applaud individual acts of virtuosity as the musicians take turns to display. This is quite different from classical practice. I'm afraid I don't find it only a mild distraction if you are "inside" the music and concentration is interrupted.

Yes, I was thinking of individual acts of virtuosity. Is listening to classical music more intense, focused, complicated or what, compared to jazz? I don't see it that way.

[cloughie]

Yes, I was thinking of individual acts of virtuosity. Is listening to classical music more intense, focused, complicated or what, compared to jazz? I don't see it that way.

No but it tends to be a tad more formal and usually written down for the musicians to foloow the notes whereas jazz/pop and rock are more flexible. When I saw Elkie on Saturday evening I was slightly annoyed at times when the audience cheered when they recognised a favourite and applauded before the end of her cleverly held on notes, but then it wasn't a chamber concert. She was backed by an excellent six-piece - two keyboards, sax, guitar, bass and drums. All this has nothing to do with Beethoven 7 but a bit to do with applause.

[teamsaint]

Audiences should never applaud before the performer has earned that applause.

I don't tend to think that walking onto a stage qualifies as earning applause, in most cases.

Whitney would have understood....

Bill Bailey: I was at a Whitney Houston gig, it was supposed to start at three, finally at four o'clock she comes on stage and says "I just wanna say, I love each and every one of you" and this big black guy next to me shouts "Sing Bitch!"

[KipperKid]

No but it tends to be a tad more formal and usually written down for the musicians to foloow the notes whereas jazz/pop and rock are more flexible. When I saw Elkie on Saturday evening I was slightly annoyed at times ) cheered when they recognised a favourite and applauded before the end of her cleverly held on notes, but then it wasn't a chamber concert. She was backed by an excellent six-piece - two keyboards, sax, guitar, bass and drums. All this has nothing to do with Beethoven 7 but a bit to do with applause.

I knew that (not the ElkievBrooks bit).

[Nick Armstrong]

Audiences should never applaud before the performer has earned that applause.

I don't tend to think that waking onto a stage qualifies as earning applause, in most cases.

Whitney would have understood....

Bill Bailey: I was at a Whitney Houston gig, it was supposed to start at three, finally at four o'clock she comes on stage and says "I just wanna say, I love each and every one of you" and this big black guy next to me shouts "Sing Bitch!"

[EnemyoftheStoat]

I don't tend to think that waking onto a stage qualifies as earning applause, in most cases.

Applauding for orchestras etc walking onto stage seems strange, as it almost always peters out half-heartedly after the first few members have arrived. Why bother?

[french frank]

Is listening to classical music more intense, focused, complicated or what, compared to jazz?

I don't know about jazz, but I would think of a classical concert as needing the same concentration as going to a 'classic' play. The separate acts, as at an opera, do signal a complete break of some minutes where it's expected that people will relax their attention a little. I don't see any particular connection with jazz: one wouldn't say, 'This is what jazz audiences do, so this is what classical audiences should do' any more than you might say the opposite.

[Andrew Slater]

I find applause between movements very disturbing, and it seems that so do the musicians: at a recent concert I witnessed an exasperated conductor dive straight into a symphony's fourth movement to avoid any unwanted applause. Unfortunately, that was also quite disconcerting! I noticed that when the concert was broadcast in Ao3, the inter-movement applause had been excised.

[BBMmk2]

I've only heard this at The proms. What about anywhere else?

[Tony Halstead]

I've only heard this at The proms. What about anywhere else?

The Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1987, 'the Beethoven Experience' conducted by Roger Norrington ( he wasn't a 'Sir' then).
As a member of the orchestra in Beethoven's 9th I remember being acutely uncomfortable and embarrassed when Roger turned to the audience INBETWEN EACH MOVEMENT, encouraging / inviting them to applaud.
Strangely, it didn't bother me too much between the 1st movement and the scherzo, and after the scherzo.
But to hear applause after the slow movement, just before the cataclysm that starts the 4th movement, was insufferable and grotesque.

[Karafan]

The Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1987, 'the Beethoven Experience' conducted by Roger Norrington ( he wasn't a 'Sir' then).
As a member of the orchestra in Beethoven's 9th I remember being acutely uncomfortable and embarrassed when Roger turned to the audience INBETWEN EACH MOVEMENT, encouraging / inviting them to applaud.

Ridiculous!