APPLAUSE (Lat. applaudere, to strike upon, clap)

This article appears in Volume V02, Page 223 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: APO-ARN

APPLAUSE (Lat. applaudere, to strike upon, clap) , primarily the expression of approval by clapping of hands, &c.; generally any expression of approval. The custom of applauding is doubt-less as old and as widespread as humanity, and the variety of its forms is limited only by the capacity for devising means of making a noise. Among civilized nations, however, it has at various times been subject to certain conventions. Thu's the Romans had a set ritual of applause for public performances, expressing degrees of approval: snapping the

finger

FINGER

and thumb, clapping with the flat or hollow palm, waving the flap of the toga,
2 From Beneventum he followed the older line of the Via Appia to Trevicum; thence, leaving the main road at Aquilonia, he went to Ausculum (" quod versu dicere non est "), the mod. Ascoli Satriano, by a by-road, for the milestones which have been found there, though they probably belong to the Via Traiana, cannot be in their

original

ORIGINAL

position, but must have been transplanted thither (Th. Mommsen in Corp. Inscrip. Lat., ix. 1883, No. 6016)and on to Herdoniae (why Mommsen says that he left Herdoniae on the left, op. cit. p. 592, is not clear), where he joined the line of the later'Via Traiana.
for which last the emperor Aurelian substituted a handkerchief (orarium), distributed to all Roman citizens (see

STOLE

STOLE (Lat. stela and orarium, Fr. etole, It. stola, Sp. estola, Ger. Stela)

). In the theatre, at the close of the play, the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

actor called out " Valete et plaudite! ", and the

audience

AUDIENCE (from Lat. audire, to hear)

, guided by an unofficial choregus, chaunted their applause antiphonally. This was often organized and paid for (

Bottiger

BOTTIGER, KARL AUGUST (176o-1835)

, Uber das Applaudieren im Theater bei den Allen, Leipz., 1822). When Christianity became fashionable the customs of the theatre were transferred to the churches.

Eusebius

(His'. Eccl. vii. 30) says that Paul of Samosata encouraged the

congregation

CONGREGATION (Lat. congregatio, a gathering together, from cum, with, grex, gregis, a flock, herd)

to applaud his preaching by waving linen cloths (bObvacs), and in the 4th and 5th centuries applause of the rhetoric of popular preachers had become an established custom. Though, however, applause may provide a healthy stimulus, its abuse has led to attempts at abolishing or restricting it even in theatres. The institution of the claque, people hired by performers to applaud them, has largely discredited the custom, and indiscriminate applause has been felt as an intolerable interruption to serious performances. The reverential spirit which abolished applause in church he-tended to spread to the theatre and the concert-room, largely under the influence of the quasi-religious atmosphere of the Wagner performances at Baireuth. In Germany (e.g. the court theatres at Berlin) applause during the performance and " calling before the curtain " have been officially forbidden, but even in Germany this is felt to be in advance of public

opinion

OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

. (See also ACCLAMATION and CHEERING.)

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