Do you clap when no one's done anything?

[unicorn]

Am I alone in thinking it's a bit silly when the audience claps as the conductor enters the orchestra pit, or when the curtains rise at the start of a play, musical, or opera? I certainly clap after a piece is played, or after a well-sung aria, and so on. But should just showing up for work merit applause? Occasionally, I will applaud as the curtains are raised, when I see an impressive set. But then I'm applauding the set designer(s)/production crew, whose work is on display, rather than the actors or singers, who haven't started working yet. 

[PeterRS]

I have been to quite a few opera performances in my time and never thought about the tradition of applauding the conductor as he enters the orchestra pit. I think it is partly a mark of respect, in just the same way the audience applaud when a conductor walks to the podium in a symphony concert. I always do it, but I think it is also an ideal way of getting the audience to become perfectly quiet before an opera/concert starts. I actually do not like applause after a particularly well sung aria as this slows down the dramatic action. Nor am I a fan of applauding as the curtain rises just because the scenery is particularly impressive. I think applause should wait till the end of each Act. As @unicorn points out, although the designers' work is finished by then, on opening night all on the production team will appear on stage after the singers and take their own applause.

I love two videos of the Richard Strauss opera Der Rosenkavalier, one conducted by Herbert von Karajan and the other by arguably the finest conductor of the 20th century Carlos Kleiber. Both enter the pit to applause but then do not pause: they start the orchestra virtually at the height of the applause. They get straight into the orchestral prelude which, prior to the curtain rising, depicts two of the main characters making passionate love in bed. It concludes with four quick "upthrusts" on the horns - and what that signifies is perfectly obvious! 

On a side note, a dozen years ago I spent three lovely days in Dresden just to attend a Rosenkavalier performance at the renowned Semper Opera. This was mostly destroyed during the war in the massive air raids on Dresden and it took the city 40 years to reconstuct it. It was where Strauss was Music Director for many years and many of his operas were given their premiere, although not Rosenkavalier. The acoustics are superb. Just next to the hotel where we stayed is the glorious Frauenkirche which was aso partially destroyed during the Dresden bombing. The interior is superb. A burst of colour hits you as you enter.

The exterior of the Semper Opera 

The glorious interior of the Dresden Frauenkirche

[unicorn]

4 hours ago, PeterRS said:

... I think it is also an ideal way of getting the audience to become perfectly quiet before an opera/concert starts. I actually do not like applause after a particularly well sung aria as this slows down the dramatic action...

I never thought of it as a great way to get people to shut up before the overture. Yeah, you're right--that makes sense. As a friend of a professional opera tenor, I assure you that the singers greatly appreciate applause after a successful aria. I think that most of the rebuilding of Dresden came in the first 15 years after re-unification. I went there once in the late 80s when they were part of the DDR, then another time about 10 years ago. It was like an entirely different city. Until re-unification, the church was just a pile of bricks left at the site, labeled as a so-called "memorial to imperialism."

 

[PeterRS]

3 hours ago, unicorn said:

I never thought of it as a great way to get people to shut up before the overture. Yeah, you're right--that makes sense. As a friend of a professional opera tenor, I assure you that the singers greatly appreciate applause after a successful aria. I think that most of the rebuilding of Dresden came in the first 15 years after re-unification. I went there once in the late 80s when they were part of the DDR, then another time about 10 years ago. It was like an entirely different city. Until re-unification, the church was just a pile of bricks left at the site, labeled as a so-called "memorial to imperialism."

There are still many who believe that the three massive overnight bombings of the city by American and UK aircraft towards the end of the war were in fact a war crime. Many believed that Churchill intended to destroy what was a cultural landmark of major significance in retaliation for the Nazi bombing of Coventry earlier in the war. It was argued that there was little of military significance in the city apart from some railway junctions. 

I'm delighted you included Fabio Luisi's rendition of the Nozze di Figaro overture. He is one of the true major conductors of today. Some years ago he was hired by New York's Metropolitan Opera as the potential successor to James Levine. He would have been perfect. But the Met's GM, the perfectly dreadful Peter Gelb who should never have been given the job, decided as he has throughout his reign that he wanted someone younger.

SInce we are discussing music and opera in particular, one of the finest orchestras in the world is the Dresden Staatskapelle. I am thrilled to have heard it several times on tour in Taipei, the latest with Thielemann conducting Wagner and Brahms. In my earlier post I mentioned Carlos Kleiber. A notoriously difficult conductor for managements (who generally failed to realise that he was a deeply private, sensitive and insecure personality) although utterly adored by singers, he was hired by Deutsche Grammophon for a CD recording of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in Dresden. He wanted a more youthful voice for isolde and chose the glorious Welsh soprano Dame Margaret Price, even though she could never have sung it in a full live performance. The result is magnificent. But Kleiber was unhappy (not unusual for him) and he ended up walking out of the recording before it was complete. He then threatened to sue DGG if they ever tried to release any of it. Fortunately for posterity, the engineers had been recording all the rehearsals as well as the 'takes'. In the end DGG did release the full opera and Kleiber did not sue. Amazingly the full opera is available on youtube.

Remarkably, although the accolades for Kleiber as the finest conductor of the 20th century continue, in his lifetime it is extraordinary to realise he only conducted 400 opera performances and less than 100 symphony concerts. Thankfully there are a few videos available, including this of Beethoven's 7th Symphony with Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra. Many regard it as the finest ever recorded. But even for those who would not dream of sitting through more than a few minutes, do tr\y and watch the first five. See how Kleiber is unike almost every other conductor. He is truly living that music. How I wish I could have seen and heard him conduct.