normative

Concert silence rules should be case-by-case not dogmatic

Rules forbidding noise or applause between movements should not be dogmatic—some pieces, like the end of the Emperor Concerto's first movement, are built to provoke applause—yet there is good reason audiences are quiet because the dynamic extremes (the whispery opening of Beethoven's Ninth or the subliminal E-flat opening of the Ring) require silence, so the standard should be case-by-case across a thousand-year tradition of music with different social functions.

normativepending

Speaker

Alex Ross

Evidence Quote

there should never be a hard-and-fast rule

Source

Alex RossConversations with Tyler
Created: 6/13/2026, 12:04:38 AM

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