While concertgoers today might resent those who unknowingly applaud or whisper between movements of a piece, it seems such gaffes have only recently begun to draw frowns. The familiar silent audience who applauds in appropriate places is of relatively new invention. Relative of course to the age of the music which makes up the classical repertoire. As it turns out, classical concerts used to be noisy, social gatherings where aristocrats could mingle and the public could turn bourgeois into a verb.
The September 8th issue of The New Yorker featured the article “Why So Serious?” In it, writer Alex Ross chronicles the history of classical concert tradition.
Ross cites examples from performances at the Paris Opera, and recitals by the pianist credited with creating modern piano performance tradition, Franz Liszt. Ross compares Liszt’s recitals to “The Ed Sullivan Show,” claiming that Liszt would solicit suggestions from the audience for subjects to improvise at the piano. Furthermore, Liszt is said to have modulated not only between tonal centers, but entire pieces. As Ross explains it:
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Posts Tagged ‘history’
The New Yorker: Why So Serious?
Let's Put a Smile on that Face
NY Times: Ancient Flute Offers Clues to Musical Past
Predates Band Camp By Thousands of years
The New York Times reported that a flute, at least 35,000 years old, was found in a cave in southwest Germany. The flute was created around the same time as the earliest known sculptures—an indication that the two art forms may have evolved simultaneously. This particular bone flute, archaeologists say, is the most complete they have found, possessing five finger holes. Along with other specimens, this flute suggests music may have been a widespread element of human culture around that time period. Until now, examples of instruments had been too scarce to confirm any suspicion on the matter. The Times speculates about the role of the flute—and music itself at the time—citing German archaeologists who said music “could have contributed to the maintenance of larger social networks, and thereby perhaps have helped facilitate the demographic and territorial expansion of modern humans.” Read the article at nytimes.com.