People “in the know” understand that traditionally, you aren’t really supposed to applaud in between movements of a symphony, sonata or other multi-movement piece. But we want to be welcoming, so it has become more acceptable to applaud between movements. And, historically, there is evidence that people back in the day behaved a little less formally, talking and applauding between movements.
After all, applause is a show of an approval, why would we want to curtail that?
I’d been feeling like it was just something to accept – most concerts I attend in Los Angeles have robust applause in between movements. I was even beginning to feel like some kind of meanie if I was the only person not applauding.
But last time I attended an excellent chamber concert by Camarata Pacifica, featuring the violinist Paul Huang, among others. The friendly Artistic Director, Adrian Spence, greeted everyone from the stage at the beginning of the concert, welcoming any newcomers and assuring them that they should just wait for the people around them, when it came to knowing when to applaud.
Then everyone applauded between all the movements of a four-movement trio!
After this, Spence came out again, and started, “About the applause….” I’ve never heard anyone say it in a more inviting and friendly way: he explained that, actually, when something is a multi-movement piece, we treat it as a set, holding the applause until the end, when we can just let it rip. That way, the silence in between helps everyone feel the contrast between one movement and the next. And the besides, he added with kind of a wink, if we keep applauding between movements, we’ll be here all night and won’t get out before the bars close!
It was a perfectly delightful way to get the message across, and it worked. During the remainder of the concert, no one applauded between movements, and they applauded with enthusiasm at the end. Also, the silence was actually really nice, and so was the feeling that everyone knew how to handle this applause business – we were all in the know, creating this nice silence together. It almost felt like the silence was the audience’s contribution to the concert.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed a concert with the silence between the movements, and also how I enjoyed the idea that everyone in the audience was on the same page about making it happen. It made me wonder, should audiences be explicitly asked for silence in between movements?
Of course, at least in some communities, it might be necessary to ask every single concert. And there is not always a friendly person greeting the audience before every concert – although maybe there should be!
What are your thoughts about explicitly asking the audience not to applaud between movements? And also, how do you feel in general about applause between movements? Is it okay? Is it even good? Or does it interfere with the experience of the music? Can you remember times when it’s been particularly annoying, or particularly acceptable?
Please share your thoughts in the comments.