The
Wall Street Journal carried an article last week about the latest generation entering the workforce, the new 20-somethings who were - apparently, according to the article - über-praised as children, and now as employees need constant pampering and pats on the head.
Anyway, a letter to the editor mentioned this "praise-culture" leeching into concert halls. As a regular at the Memphis Symphony, he said that
every soloist gets a standing ovation and at least one curtain-call, even when "they don't deserve it." The conclusion of course was obvious: this trend cheapens the standing ovation when it is really earned.
To quote the line from the cartoon
The Incredibles: "When everyone is super, nobody is."
I have noticed this as well: I am not a regular concert-goer by any means, but standing ovations seem to have gotten out of hand throughout the years. Some years ago I heard a soloist of some fame struggle with her fiddle rather dreadfully with the Kalamazoo Symphony: the struggle earned her a standing ovation! Last month I was taken to a tepid concert by the Vienna Boys' Choir in California (only a portion of them: 16 total), but the audience rose for a standing ovation at the end! (As a card-carrying curmudgeon I stayed in my seat in both cases!)

So have any of you noticed this trend? Especially those of you in larger cities. Does the Podunk Philharmonic get a standing ovation at every concert?