Performance in context

At most classical concerts today we expect the audience to remain silent in rapt attention, but this is a quite recent social phenomenon, far removed from music-making of any kind before the beginning of the twentieth century. At the premiere of his ‘Paris’ Symphony in July 1778, Mozart was delighted by a respectful audience which nevertheless responded actively rather than passively:

More than a century later, a painting now in the archives of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden shows the inaugural concert of London's Queen's Hall in 1893; conductor and orchestra are in full flight, yet conversation is also flowing freely in the front rows of the audience. Less controlled was the celebrated riotous premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in Paris in 1913, one of the last documented instances of active audience response within the Western concert tradition.