Billing the concerts last week as the
Season Finale suggested we might be entering the realm of Alternate
Facts, since many knew the ensemble was scheduled to return for four
more performances. The season would really end with the orchestra
accompanying a week-long run of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New
Hope, yet another of the film night performances sneaking across the
boarder between classical and popular music to infest our schedule.
Cherubini, Chant sur la mort du Joseph Haydn was an interesting
choice in this era of Fake News; the work was composed in reaction to
a (failing?) London publication's erroneous report that the revered
composer had died. Having survived in spite of Cherubini's request
that all copies be destroyed once he learned the error upon which it was
based, the star-crossed composition was given an interesting
performance here on Saturday evening. About seven measures into the
quiet introduction, in response to an inadvertent noise from the
stage, the Maestro stopped the performance, turned and excoriated the
audience for the disruption. Breaking the fourth wall is often an
invitation for the least inhibited among us to open up their own
particular jar of crazy, and so, true to form, in the uncomfortable
silence following the Maestro's remarks somebody yelled out
something, a few people clapped, a few more tittered, none of which
did anything but make the atmosphere more tense. With all hope of
quickly putting a minor disturbance behind us gone, we started again
from the beginning.
There were many theories put forth by
musicians to try and explain what had happened. Perhaps the Maestro
reacted to some audience members' spontaneous expressions of surprise
over the onstage noise, which also had a visual component. Maybe the
quick assignation of blame to the audience was a show of solidarity
with musicians. The only constant was the poor reporting in the
press, beginning of course with the premature pronouncement of
Haydn's death, and continuing with both local papers writing up the
incident as a concert halted due to 'coughing', a misrepresentation
parroted by one of the more popular classical music blogs.
Humans, on either side of the
proscenium, occasionally make unintended noises. With training and
concentrated focus on the task at hand, most musicians are able to
block out whatever the audience is doing, even when it is startling,
like someone talking loudly, falling ill, or even a fistfight breaking out
in the box seats (the so-called Brawl at the Hall). Unexpected
surprises from the stage can be harder to ignore, since (ostensibly)
we are paying close attention to each other. Where force of
concentration is insufficient, the professional code of conduct keeps
most musicians focused on their own tasks when faced with anything
from a broken string or dropped mute to someone vomiting onstage
(yes, that happened). Lacking the training, not bound by a
professional code of conduct, and probably not concentrating as
deeply, audience members can be forgiven for spontaneous reactions to
something startling or unusual.
Coughs, on the other hand, are often
symptoms of a bored or uninvolved audience. A disinterested group of
people tends to cough and fidget more. Sometimes the very same
audience that coughed a lot during one part of a performance will
become riveted later on, and much more quiet. Concerts with
superstar performers tend to draw audiences that contain more people
who are not really there to hear the music, so these crowds often
contain more people who are disengaged from the performance,
inattentive, and noisy. But, no matter who is performing, audience
behavior is a reflection on what is happening on stage.
Becoming irritated with an audience is like yelling at the wind.
Asking people not to cough is like telling someone not to think of a
pink elephant and then getting upset when they do.
