Endless Applause

Sandwich

I have never been at any concert\opera\recital where the applause has been anything less than full. Does anybody applaud in measure with the quality of the performance.

Do musicians just find it an embarrassing delay to getting home ?

funky penguin

My applause is determined by how well I believe the performer has done.

Generally it's never going to make much of a difference, as I'm in the same boat as yourself - I've never been to a concert etc where the reception has been less than emphatic.

I've given a standing ovation twice - Once for Michael Nyman and once for Francois Frederick Guy.

Earlgrey

I went to the first night of Nabucco at the Sydney Opera House in 1995. It was an eccentric production, including 'slaves' waving trainers out of stage trapdoors at various points and a bizarre contraption something like an early flying machine on a high wire travelling across the back of the stage at other points - neither being easily related to the narrative by a simple member of the audience (eg me or my companion). At the end of the performance half the audience cheered and the other half booed. I was told it was the first time anyone could remember booing at a first night (or any night?) at the Opera House. It made the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald next day, which I thought was, on balance, excellent for opera: real controversy and impact!

And try the St Matthew Passion on Good Friday in London, where the tradition is that the audience leaves in silence at the end of the music. Really powerful and of course entirely appropriate.

cornbb

I was at a concert last week and wondered the same thing. Everyone always seems to get a standing ovation and plentiful applause. I guess its the done thing. As Earlgrey says, I suppose the performances that get booed are much likelier to be remembered. Just look at what happened at the premiere of the Rite of Spring and look at its place in history now!

Doshea3

I clap according to how much I enjoy the performance, and of course according to how well I think the performers have done. If the performance is mediocre, I'll still applaud, but not too much. One curtain call is polite enough for a mediocre performance: even if it is mediocre, surely a lot of effort went into it and it deserved some acknowledgment.

I was at the NSO's Friday evening concert with William Eddins, and I was one of quite a few who stood up at the end. I haven't done this in a long time, probably a couple of years. I stood because the concert was so thoroughly enjoyable I know that it's one that I'll remember for a long time. That's a justification for a standing ovation, I'd say.

Of course, there are plenty of people who either do not applaud, or applaud so weakly as to be offensively unappreciative, even if the applause around them is rapturous, and they seem to be the very ones who would not be able to tell a good performance from a bad one. This is why I prefer to go to concerts alone. I'd rather not have to tone down my applause just because my companion was not so appreciative.

Civilian_Target

At the proms here in London there are definitely I find two types of applause. One is polite and slightly muted, giving only time for one stage return. The other is a lot louder, often involves some prommers stamping and cheering, the stated audience stand, goes on for a couple of minutes and is generally followed by an encore (or an orchestra looking embarassed that they don't have one!)

Been in performances that have been on the receiving end of both types too.

banquo

When I am president of the world, there will be a mandatory questionaire at the door to every proper music concert to filter out the retards and unknowledgables, topics including the composer's life and his music. Proper questions on music, i.e. 'hum the second subject from Beethoven's 3rd symphony... HaHa, trick question!!', or 'I want 200 words on Raymond Deane. Go.'

/starts stopwatch

talkingclock

God, my years in Bayreuth... always sore shoulder joints the next day!