# Crazy Applause in the Middle of an Opera



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I have a theory that opera audiences applaud longer than any other type of crowd. Opinions on this please.
The second part of this is what is the longest you have witnessed or heard of an opera being held up by crazy fans refusing to stop applauding? This was motivated by a report during a historic performance of I Vespri in which Caballe was applauded so long after an aria she had to signal the conductor to continue.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

What really bothers me the most is the applause (always started by an ego driven fan who wants to show off how much he/she knows) that interrupts and ruins the important flow and feeling of the reverent moment, as in the "Willow Song" and "Ave Maria" in _Otello_. Another is a lack of complete silence AFTER the last note is played in _Dialogues des Carmelites_. Any applause breaks the spell.

The other "interrupter" is an audience who cannot sit still and patiently wait till the last chord is played before needing to explode. Not only is it rude but it shows a lack of respect for the work itself. (I believe that the Met seems to be the most prone to this activity.)

On the other hand, I am more than tolerant of applause for a particular singer who is either so popular with the audience that their entrance alone promotes applause as with Hvorostovsky's latest _Trovatore_ entrance or a Callas appearance.

One of the longest I have seen live was for Anna Netrebko. She seems to consistently garner long applause with many of her roles.
Her latest was with the same Trovatore where she really showed some of her best talents in the role of Leonora.


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

The Arena de Verona seems to have its own applause culture which is frankly intrusive, yet also authentic. A lot of great music happens there, but the custom of the place is not only raucous applause whenever the audience feels like it, but it's also acceptable for singers (especially local favorites) to break character and acknowledge the applause. Well-received arias are sometimes even immediately repeated. Is this unique to the venue, or is this a relic of how opera was originally enjoyed by audiences?

Are there still paid claques anywhere?


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Callas had been away from La Scala for a couple of years and this was her return.

Corelli is great and gets well deserved warm applause at 19.35. After this dies down you can hear Maria come on stage. The conductor tries to get the Orchestra to drown them out but...


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## ma7730 (Jun 8, 2015)

graziesignore said:


> The Arena de Verona seems to have its own applause culture which is frankly intrusive, yet also authentic. A lot of great music happens there, but the custom of the place is not only raucous applause whenever the audience feels like it, but it's also acceptable for singers (especially local favorites) to break character and acknowledge the applause. Well-received arias are sometimes even immediately repeated. Is this unique to the venue, or is this a relic of how opera was originally enjoyed by audiences?
> 
> Are there still paid claques anywhere?


The audience members there are outrageous. I was there just this summer, and the lady in front of me was talking on her phone, the man behind me, talking to his wife, and the people next to me checking the weather on their phones. It's a tourist-trap, not an opera house.

And I absolutely despised how the singers would just bow, after their big aria, completely breaking the dramatic integrity of the opera. It was completely terrible.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

I only have my single experience at Verona this summer to go by, but I found the applause generous but not necessarily intrusive, and yes, certainly authentic. During the Nabucco we saw, _Va pensiero_ was encored immediately to the delight of everyone - other than that disruptions of the performance were minimal. As I recall, there were a pair of ladies a few rows back who chattered thru the first act, but they were eventually shushed into silence. On the other hand, there were also a few gentlemen in our row who were attentively following along with the libretto.

It's certainly a unique venue, but I disagree with the characterization as a tourist trap. In fact, I'd call it a unique must-see for a serious opera fan. Perhaps the special feel has something to with the arena setting, where in spite of the gradations of seating, the audience is more a single unit out in the open, as opposed to a traditional opera house where the audience is secluded into layers and boxes.

The following night, we attended a concert by the La Scala Philharmonic in Milan where a Mozart aria was repeated in its entirety. While it was a lovely performance, that encore felt slightly gratuitous, especially since the violin soloist for the preceding concerto also performed a short encore. All of which left me wondering whether the atmosphere is just more festive during the summer or Italian houses were really more prone to encores in general.

I happened to be in the audience for the historic encore by Javier Camarena during last year's Cenerentola at the Metropolitan Opera. Camarena's performance was thrilling and laced with classic tenor "ping" and was rewarded with a few minutes of ovation. I'm sure the maestro realized this in rehearsal and as I recall in the press from the time, the possibility of an encore was discussed beforehand. A few weeks later I was in the audience again for a Cenerentola performance featuring Juan Diego Flores. Of course, if Camarena did an encore, JDF had to do one too. And of course he was excellent too, but both the applause and the encore felt dutiful rather than spontaneous.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

I am reminded of the (perhaps apocryphal) story of the tenor in Italy who sang his big aria only to be greeted by almost total silence broken only by one person who was shouting "Bravo, Encore... etc." The tenor took this as a signal to repeat the aria only to have the same result at the end ... which encouraged him to sing it a third time. At the end of that, the same gentleman was shouting "Bravo, Encore ... you will repeat it until you get it right!"


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

> It's certainly a unique venue, but I disagree with the characterization as a tourist trap. In fact, I'd call it a unique must-see for a serious opera fan.


Yes if I ever got to Italy I would definitely want to experience the Arena. In full expectation of the audience and singers' behavior. I'm not sure if it's a "relic" of the past or just tourists behaving badly, but, keeping in mind that there is such a thing called an "aria di sorbetto" from the old days which basically signalled "Okay everyone go out and get your wine slushies now," it can't just be labelled as purely uncouth behavior, surely?






You can see Eva Marton being forced to yield to the local custom and break character after "Vissi d'Arte"... she grins.... because she knew they'd never shut up until she did.


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## Braddan (Aug 23, 2015)

I was in Verona two years ago and saw Aida and Il Trovatore. I had my reservations about going but I wanted to experience this unique venue. On the whole I would say that the audience wasn't any worse than in most theatres or arenas. People talking, looking at their phones etc. is perhaps more a sign of the times than anything else. I was actually more annoyed that Hui He's _O Patria mia _was upstaged by ladies splashing about next to people dressed as crocodiles in a rather bizarre production. The mezzo playing Amneris hung about after the trial scene and stepped forward to receive her ovation which, quite frankly, she didn't deserve. 
Audiences bringing performances to a standstill is not a new phenomena, especially in Italian opera houses. I am reminded of E M Forster's amusing account of a performance of _Lucia _(I think?) in a provincial house in Italy in his novel _Where Angels Fear to Tread_, no doubt drawn from personal experience in which a small scale riot breaks out. I must dig it out and read it again....


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Must be 25 years ago during a rain interupted Tosca. 

After a soprano sang a short section (aria?) a lone male voice cries out "Brava, Brava"


Imediately comes the retort "I see the boyfriend's here tonight". Loud applause.

(I had to thank my wife for the translation)

Go its fun.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Going wild after a wonderful performance of an aria is one thing, but after a line of recitative?

'Son io' at the La Scala season opening night in 1955 (at 3:57):






N.


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Grande Opera seems more prone to this in my experience, which is fine really. It doesnt seem to me though to interupt the flow as much as it would elsewhere. Last nights even more so, when things are a bit more lax and performers can ham it up a bit!
My fave event though is the stunned silence before the audience absolutely explodes. If you see one of these events live just once in your life......


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## Dr Bartolo (Jan 31, 2016)

graziesignore said:


> The Arena de Verona seems to have its own applause culture which is frankly intrusive, yet also authentic. A lot of great music happens there, but the custom of the place is not only raucous applause whenever the audience feels like it, but it's also acceptable for singers (especially local favorites) to break character and acknowledge the applause. Well-received arias are sometimes even immediately repeated. Is this unique to the venue, or is this a relic of how opera was originally enjoyed by audiences?
> 
> Are there still paid claques anywhere?


Nice to meet you!
I would travel to Verona in August to visit this beautiful setting and enjoy Aida.
Do you think that the audience in gold poltronissime locations have this attitude of disrespect described in this thread?
Thanks!


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Dr Bartolo said:


> Nice to meet you!
> I would travel to Verona in August to visit this beautiful setting and enjoy Aida.
> Do you think that the audience in gold poltronissime locations have this attitude of disrespect described in this thread?
> Thanks!


Please don't think it's bad at all. If you're paying more for your ticket than most you're unlikely to be disturbed, or nore more than anywhere else these days. Sadly the blue glow of mobiles is a modern scourge, but that's for another thread I guess.

Back on topic, I find it annoying when applause is too extended during a scene. Some loud bravos are good for an exceptional rendition of an aria, then let's get back to the drama in hand.


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## Dr Bartolo (Jan 31, 2016)

Don Fatale said:


> Please don't think it's bad at all. If you're paying more for your ticket than most you're unlikely to be disturbed, or nore more than anywhere else these days. Sadly the blue glow of mobiles is a modern scourge, but that's for another thread I guess.
> 
> Back on topic, I find it annoying when applause is too extended during a scene. Some loud bravos are good for an exceptional rendition of an aria, then let's get back to the drama in hand.


Thanks for answering!
and my apologies for the off topic...


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Jon Vickers had his own way of dealing with intrusive audience noise!


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