Clapped out
Sir: I enjoyed Serban's Turandot, in spite of the odd patch of silliness (those skulls!) but I agree with David Tang (Letters, 20 October) about the applause. There's far too much clapping at operas. Let's face it, the average opera performance just ISO t worth the two curtain calls which seem t° be considered a minimum nowadays. Hardly any performance is worth the two curtain calls per act given at Covent Gar- den last night. We need an accepted calculus of clap' iping, like the one we have for tipping. suggest a standard of 15 percussions ea for conductor, orchestra and cast, provided that they don't fluff whole bars of music or knock over the scenery. Anything more should be earned. Bad performers shot›
get boos and slow handclaps, and any customer who's sat through a really poor show should clamour for his money back.
Undiscriminating applause may be gra- tifying for the players, but it can hardly be doing opera standards any good. Reading histories of the form, one can't help think- ing that there's been a deplorable loss of audience vitality these last hundred years. Whatever happened to claques? ,
Giles Mathews
62 Friars Avenue, Delapre, Northampton
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