Klarinet Archive - Posting 000230.txt from 1999/07

From: Ken Wolman <Ken.Wolman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] APPLAUSE
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 08:27:02 -0400

agalper@-----.com wrote:
>
> Applause This was taken from this mornings' newspaper
>
> In 1997 when the Vienna Philharmonic played in OrangeCounty, California,
> the audience shocked the European musicians by applauding after each
> movement.
> Conductor Daniel Barenboim took revenge by refusing to play an encore.

Oh, there are lots of applause stories around. Best one (I hope I
didn't tell this, but who cares) was about Sir Thomas Beecham conducting
Beethoven's "Fidelio" at Covent Garden. He conducted the Leonore
Overture No. 3 between the two scenes of Act II; the overture is
supposed to segue directly into the final scene. No break. The
audience started to applaud after the Leonore. Beecham alledgedly
turned around and roared "SHUT UP!"

I will never forget the hisses and looks of pure fury I got when I had
the temerity to applaud back in 1961 at the final curtain of Parsifal at
the old Metropolitan Opera. See, nobody told me I was in the Cathedral
Basilica of St. Richard Wagner, that Parsifal was a religious
experience, and that you weren't allowed to applaud a great performance,
albeit the opera was written by a guy who probably thought Jesus should
have worn one of those helmets with antlers and sung "Yo ho to ho"
(thank God Wagner never composed a life of Christ). In any case, I
thought I was at the opera, not a High Mass. This is one more
manifestation of the nauseating Wagnerism that I gather is still
around. My oath as a non-gentleman is that if I ever get myself a
ticket to Parsifal again (I really DO love the thing), I'm on official
notice now that I'm going to applaud. Unless the performance stinks.

> Some historical notes: In the 18th and 19th centuries audiences would
> clap. At the Premiere of Beethoven's Ninth the audience applauded even
> after the bassoon solo in the scherzo. (?)
> Historical records show that the many movements of newly performed
> symphonies were repeated after enthusiastic applause.
> Modern conductors have been against applause. "This strange beating of
> hands has no meaning", said Leopold Stokowsky.

I think in the 19th century even spoken dramas made allowances for
audience enthusiasm. Years ago I read the Arthur and Barbara Gelb
biography of Eugene O'Neill, whose father James was a famous stage actor
at a time when the plays were lousy but the acting was great in you
liked declamation and a sort of operatic style. It was customary back
then, if an actor did a particularly rousing interpretation, to
applaud. O'Neill the elder made a career of playing Edmund Dantes in an
adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, and when he climbed atop a
stage rock and declaimed "The world is miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!" he brought
the house down.

Ken
--
Ken Wolman dbtrader Deutsche Bank, N.A.
1251 Sixth Avenue New York, NY 10019 212-469-6494

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