Does clapping inbetween movements make you feel...?

[Novi]

I'd rather hear babies crying than old people dying.

I saw a lady collapse in a performance of Mahler. Mahler can do that to you, or maybe it was the Webern before the intermission that wore her down. She didn't make much noise though.

[oyasumi]

She collapsed in her seat?

[Novi]

She collapsed in her seat?

She collapsed onto the floor . Her companion dragged her along the ground by her arms for a few metres, then gave up, and left her lying there for a few minutes. She sat up, someone brought her a glass of water, but then they all left half way through anyway. And all in open view because they were in the organ gallery. Poor lady.

[MishaK]

Addendum to my post: clapping between movements is OK. Clapping during a movement is irritating as hell.  I just went to a performance of Magic Flute where the clueless audience clapped after the initial climax of the overture (before the shift to minor).

[oyasumi]

The worst are the people who think they have to be the first ones to clap. You won't get a cookie for starting the applause.

They are usually the ones that start clapping before the piece is really over - before the conductor rests. At the last LA Phil concert I went to, Salonen conducted his own piece, and apparently wanted some silence after the music had finished, but some in the front rows started clapping when Salonen was still in position. He looked kind of dissappointed turning around to bow.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

It's the risk we take going out into the world!

But we either take the good with the bad or hole ourselves up in our little listening rooms!

It can't get any worse than the time a ten year old sitting behind me (at opera) decided the back of my chair would be the perfect target for kicking exercises.

After while I turned and gave him a look but not one of "Die, scum!!" It just wouldn't do to act that nasty. After all, putting such a youngster off classical music permanently is not something I'm willing to shoulder!

[Bonehelm]

Sometimes it doesn't bother me. It certainly does bother me during things like Mahler.

100% agreed.

[jochanaan]

...Of course the great exception to this is the opera and ballet...

Hmmm...Seems to me that orchestral and chamber concerts are the exception in the larger musical context.

[Catison]

The clapping, coughing, etc. don't bother me at all.  I used to be very particular about these things, and then I had a John Cage moment.  I realized that the concert wasn't just the music on the stage, but the very human experience of being at the concert.  Imagine, it would feel incredibly weird to go to see a great soloist or orchestra at one of the best concert halls in the country and be alone.  The people around you add to the experience, clapping and coughing and all.  After this I found my concert going experiences were much more enjoyable.  I am only distracted by obviously annoying behavior or other problems which should have been fixed.

[Solitary Wanderer]

After all, putting such a youngster off classical music permanently is not something I'm willing to shoulder!

I dunno. Saving future concert goers the torture of having their chair kicked etc would surely be a good deed 

[mahlertitan]

I am angered, there ought to be a law to prohibit such foul behavior.

[oyasumi]

The clapping, coughing, etc. *cough*don't bother me at all.  I used to be very particul*hhrraaack*ar about these things, and then I had a John*hackhack* Cage moment.  I realized that th*blararhh*e concert wasn't just the music on the stage, but the very human experience of being at the *scrpppptt*concert.  Imagine, it would feel incre*wheeeeze*di*cou-cough*bly weird to go to see a great soloist or orchestra at one of the best concert halls in the country and be alone.  The people around you add to the experience, clap*clapclapclap.....lap*ping and coughing and all.  After this I fou*hraaaaaaaack*nd my concert going experiences wer(*cough*e much more enjoyable.  I am on*cccouuuggghhhh*ly distracted by obviously annoying behavior or other problems which should have been fixed.

[Steve]

I am angered, there ought to be a law to prohibit such foul behavior.

Using laws to proscribe violations of etiquette? Now there's a slippery slope. What might be the punishment be? A ban? 

[JoshLilly]

The big bother: clapping before the music has ended. The worst of all is any opera. It's absolutely unbearable. People act like once the singing stops, that all the music is over. I hate, hate, hate that. It's the #1 reason I have never been to see a live opera. I've had opportunities and refused because of this very thing. Many operas, I think some of the best music of all are the very last measures; I love big, dramatic, loud endings with full orchestra.

If they can make those people shut the hell up, they'd get more money, at least from me. They can clap all they want as long as no notes are being played.

[mahlertitan]

Using laws to proscribe violations of etiquette? Now there's a slippery slope. What might be the punishment be? A ban? 

there also should be laws to prohibit the listening of classical music.

maybe people will start to like it, i dunno....

[bhodges]

The big bother: clapping before the music has ended. The worst of all is any opera. It's absolutely unbearable. People act like once the singing stops, that all the music is over. I hate, hate, hate that. It's the #1 reason I have never been to see a live opera. I've had opportunities and refused because of this very thing. Many operas, I think some of the best music of all are the very last measures; I love big, dramatic, loud endings with full orchestra.

If they can make those people shut the hell up, they'd get more money, at least from me. They can clap all they want as long as no notes are being played.

I know exactly what you mean, and this is one of my pet peeves, too.  (Although I hasten to add: it doesn't keep me from going.)  Just recently I had this complaint at the Met's Eugene Onegin, in which one of the acts ends very softly.  The final blissful notes were completely drowned out by "bravos" (deserved as they may be). 

When that curtain starts falling, the applause begins, no matter what is happening.  Frankly, the solution might be: hold the curtain until the final notes have sounded, rather than beginning to close it while the music is playing. 

Another snapshot, from when I saw Wozzeck a few years ago: the opera has brilliant interludes for orchestra alone, but of course since no one was singing, conversations cropped up during most of them.  A couple next to me started chatting during the first one, so I turned, put my finger to my lips and smiled, and (thankfully) they stopped.  But things don't always end that happily.

--Bruce

[Harry]

I get angry at their ignorance, and irritated to a point, that I walk out of the concert, I often did.

[Bunny]

I get angry at their ignorance, and irritated to a point, that I walk out of the concert, I often did.

I would and do get angry; but I don't walk out if the musicians are doing a great job.  Then I just lob hard candies and spit balls at the applauders.

[Harry]

I would and do get angry; but I don't walk out if the musicians are doing a great job.  Then I just lob hard candies and spit balls at the applauders.

Good advice Bunny, I certainly will do the same thing as you suggest.
You made me laugh at the thought though.

[Bunny]

Good advice Bunny, I certainly will do the same thing as you suggest.
You made me laugh at the thought though.

At many of the concert halls in NYC they give out free ricola candies so that anyone who needs to cough has something to suck on.  I actually threw one of them at a man in the box next to mine one night when his snoring got too loud.  I suppose he didn't care for the music, but it was Mahler, so I was very, very irritated.  Unfortunately, he didn't wake up, which really got me angry.