Klarinet Archive - Posting 001026.txt from 1998/03

From: Robin Fairbairns <Robin.Fairbairns@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: STANDING OVATION IN WALES
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 06:25:20 -0500

Avrahm Galper wrote:

> I thought that in view of the applause discussion I would revive this
> little story.
>
> Standing ovation in Wales
>
> Wales is where the Toronto Symphony went for a concert. Cardiff. In a
> nearby Cathedral. An old edifice.
> It was cold in there. We sat in our overcoats, thats how cold it was
> inside.

Llandaff?

> We always played encores, wherever we went.
> [...]
> In this Cathedral before the concert, the Pastor held forth a little
> speech and asked the audience to show their appreciation for the playing
> by standing up. NO CLAPPING!

this times the event rather closely: british churches/cathedrals no
longer make this curious stipulation, but it was certainly the case in
the early-ish 60s. (for example, britten's war requiem wasn't ever
applauded until november '62[?] when it was given at the albert hall
in london -- its 3rd[4th?] performance: the applause then was
tumultuous...)

> So after every piece we played, the assembly stood up silently and Seiji
> asked us stand up to acknowledge that.
>
> Guess what? After the end of the concert, the audience stood up and we
> stood up also. The only way to get an encore is if the audience were to
> stand and sit, stand and sit, stand and sit.
> So we got our standing ovation.
> And they didn't get any encores!
> An early night off!

ahh ... unfair to them (though one can understand you not wanting to
prolong your experience of a cold, damp, british cathedral -- _those_
things never change).

a few hundred years earlier, they couldn't have shown their
appreciation by standing up, because there wouldn't have been any
chairs for them to sit down on. nasty modern innovation, chairs in a
british cathedral -- they always look out of place.

robin