arkitrave :: log

I hope my non-musician readers (all, what, two of you?) will indulge me. My wife is the Associate Principal Second Violin in the Erie Philharmonic in Erie, Pennsylvania. Saturday was the last concert of the year (Sibelius Night Ride and Sunset, Sibelius Violin Concerto, and Beethoven 7th Symphony). Good music, good concert, good violinist. The violinist was so good, and the Sibelius concerto first movement so difficult, that (horror of horrors) there was applause after the movement.

If you are “uninitiated,” it has become custom that applause in between movements is taboo. Something about the zen of the piece being unbroken by the audience, maybe. For years, I didn’t question this custom. But with very superficial research, it becomes obvious that the concert experience was very different a century or two ago. Applause happened not only in between movements, but even during the music, if the audience was impressed. Movements were repeated if they were well-received by the concert-goers. And sometimes, musicians or composers were openly booed and derided. In fact, Sibelius’s violin concerto was a flop when first performed. All in all, a much more colorful concert experience than we enjoy today.

So, at intermission, I overheard some blue-haired folks talking about what a shame it was that the audience clapped between the movements of the concerto. They were upset that the younger attenders didn’t “know better” than to do something so uncouth, and that life was, well, just better back in the good old days.

The problem is that it is natural to those not in-the-know to applaud when they really like something. If you’ve ever been to a jazz show, or many other contemporary musical programs, applause happens when the audience is moved by the music, especially after solos. Whether the old folks like it or not, modern society has no real reason to follow the rules of the halcyon days of classical concert yore. Rather, we should welcome the fact that not only are people who are younger and less classically experienced are coming to concerts, they are liking what they hear enough to express their appreciation for the solost and orchestra at breaks in the music. This is a good thing.

To his credit, the soloist was gracious and acknowledged the applause. I have seen soloists look rudely at the audience when they have clapped at the wrong place, and was glad to not see that Saturday.

I felt liberated. I clapped with enthusiasm with the rest of the people who were more excited about the music than they were aghast at the gauche-ness of the modern audience.

As a sidebar, I also hear Michael Tilson Thomas threw a hissy-fit this year at a benefit concert, of all things, when the audience was too distracting for him. My anecdotal source says that he stopped in the middle of a Mahler symphony and stormed off the stage. That’s a way to encourage those rich donors to continue their philanthropic tradition…

These kinds of attitudes hamper the cause of classical music in our society. We should be glad that it is being received, and not condemn those who aren’t inculcated in the culture enough to know what is right and wrong to do in a concert setting. If we don’t, classical music will continue to live in its ivory tower until it is so divorced from society that it decays and dies for lack of any relevance whatsoever.

What do you think?