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Comment by thinkingtoilet | Hacker News Reader

Classical music needs to drop all pretensions. Silly rules about conductors walking on and off stage, no clapping between movements (or sections or whatever), dress codes, etc... I'm a music lover and I go see a classical concert once every few years and it's easily the least fun concert experience (apart from the music). Also, god forbid they have someone come out and talk for 2 minutes and tell the context of the piece, why it might have been different or interesting at the time it was written, what to look for, etc... Some of these composers were literally rock stars of their time, let the audience know about that. It's fun! But no, you should just know all that. The old rich white people that run it would rather cling to the past and watch it continue to slowly die than modernize.

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I actually like those a lot. It's one of the few places where people are not shouting, there's no bright lights or loud background music. People don't use cellphones much. I assume a certain (minority) of the population likes those things. There sure are enough loud and flashy things for people to choose from.

In the Mozart biography that I'm reading, it talks about how the opera during his time was much more social: people openly chatted, played cards, and were busy catching eyes during the show. It was a seen or be seen type of social affair, or something to do to pass the time. It was the job of the composer to draw attention from that other stuff to the show and singers.

All this puffed up pomposity around opera or classical we currently deal with is much different than in the "hey-days".

Well really it's about respecting the performers and your fellow attendees. I once saw Mitsuko Uchida storm off the stage in Southbank because there was an alarm outside going off non stop lol.

If you went to a nice restaurant and I came over and started talking loudly with spit flying into your dish or took some food from your plate it would ruin your enjoyment. When we're trying to hear the subtleties of interpretation from the performers, the faintest sound detracts from that.

I think most people can accept that talking in a cinema or using your phone is pretty anti social so I don't know why classical music gets such a bad rap for being pretentious when it has a conduct. The only thing that drives me crazy is people always seem to cough when the music slows down and gets quiet. Please do the exact opposite. Don't spoil those tranquil serene moments with your coughing. Cough when the percussion and the tubas are storming and no one will hear.

That said, I'm all for bawdy music experiences - I once saw a tiny production of Le Docteur Miracle in a bar in London which was extremely fun (by Popup Opera UK) and if you go to Sarastro's by Covent Garden you'll get some fun rowdy opera hits sung at you while you dine. Plenty of outdoor picnic concerts are similarly laid back

The latter part of what you suggested - the pre-concert talk - is a very common thing to have now, and often it's a 30-minute thing. Program notes are also getting better and better about this. People will also often talk about the context when they give recitals.

As to clapping: As late as the late 1800s, it was okay to clap during the loud parts of the song. Baroque music also often has long cadenzas that end in a big trill, which was a signal for the crowd to go wild. I agree about getting less strict about this, and historically things were less strict. At the same time, I recently saw a performance of Tchaikovsky 6 where the audience started clapping between the last two movements (a triumphal march followed by a tragic final movement), and a large part of the energy of the piece was lost from the audience doing this. I think this rule mostly comes from the audience not understanding when not to clap.

Also, lots of classical music is done in environments that aren't concert halls and these are much looser about the etiquette. A concert hall is a nice place to go, and many people go on dates at concert halls, and a lot of the vibe for the audience comes from the fact that people dress up for the occasion.

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