THE CLAPPING HABIT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 618, 21 March 1929, Page 14

THE CLAPPING HABIT

Too Much Applause

A writer in the “Dominant” inveighs against the clapping habit. He. has my sympathy. “There is too much applause,” he says, in regard to D'Oyley Carte per-

formanees of Gilbert and Sullivan in London, and goes on to quote the subtle remarks of Debussy’s imaginary friend, Monsieur Croche. the dilettante hater: —“Surely you know that a genuine appreciation of beauty can only result in silence? Tell me, when 3'ou see the daily wonder of the sunset have you ever thought of applauding?” “If musical composition is really a great work,” continues the “Dominant” writer, “and you have really assimilated it, then you do not want to clap; at least not until a few seconds or

- j minutes after the last note or chord *• ! has been sounded. Any justification ! for applause comes not from the ques--2 ! tion of appreciation, but from other - considerations.

“People who have really appreciated a great piece of music applaud at a concert because they wish to show the : performers that they have realised the excellence of their playing or singing, and therefore they will not try to | please us a second time. That may : be true. But—shouldn’t the genuine artist understand, by intuition, when he has gripped the audience? Are not those artists who desire a great i amount of applause the bad artists? i “The real artist’s desire should be ! to convey to the audience the com--1 poser’s message, not his own.