That’s about when I noticed standing ovations becoming common.
It may be a bit more complicated than that. Northern European audiences for symphony concerts tend to be much more reserved than Italian opera fans (think of the claques, or a relatively recent hoo-ha when the audience reaction led to the conductor reprising a tenor aria and the soprano made everyone wait for her subsequent entrance).
That’s partly a reflection of social class differences, partly something to do with the nature of the material being performed.
On the other hand, the keenest and most knowledgeable fans at the BBC Proms are in the standing areas anyway - and if they like the performance, they certainly let you know (their thing is stamping for an encore); but even then, sometimes you can tell how well some pieces have gone over by the silence before the storm of applause.
But yes, here in the UK too it does seem as though the more showbizzy the show, the more likely it is that the audience is determined to give standing ovations for just breathing (and the performers to clap as well like a bunch of over-caffeinated toddlers).
Standing up shows a level of excitement, that the work has moved you. The standing is usually enthusiastic in and of itself. It’s not just standing up to get ready to leave: there will still be a curtain call or something. The lights shouldn’t have even come up yet.
Standing has long been a sign of respect, like the old standing when a woman enters the room, or standing when, say, royalty enters the room. Or standing for the flag.
As for the inflation issue: I tend to agree. That said, while there is social pressure to stand, I find that people who didn’t want to stand don’t tend to clap.
It’s almost impossible for a performance at the Proms to get a standing ovation for just this reason. Across several decades, I think I’ve seen it happen when I’ve been in the hall only three times and all had unusual circumstances. So Placido Domingo got one when he did his very, very belated Proms debut in Die Walküre and (if I recall correctly) when he did his only other Proms appearance in Simon Boccanegra. Then Daniel Barenboim got one from most of the audience when he did his speech from the podium attacking Brexit the other year (followed up with the pointed choice as an encore of a killer rendition of Land of Hope and Glory).
But those are exceptions, outnumbered by Proms occasions that surely would have received a standing ovation in other venues. Gergiev conducting Boris Godunov comes to mind (though it was the following night when he held the audience in silence for some ridiculous length of time before releasing their applause - but without getting a standing ovation).
I attended last night’s performance of the Charlotte Symphony (a bunch of “royal” music: Handel Water Music and Fireworks Music, etc.). As always, there were standing ovations at the end of the first half (after the Water Music) and at the end of the concert. As almost always, there were two “curtain calls” for the conductor.
Now, the orchestra did its usual, competent job. I like listening to them, and I like Christopher Warren-Green’s interpretations of works. Last night was no exception. But the performance was hardly exceptional, so as everyone around me stood, I sat and applauded.
Now, as this was going on, I started thinking about what causes this. And I think there are two main causes:
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Lack of truly knowing what is an “exceptional” performance, as opposed to merely “very good” or “good”. I think this is certainly true of locations that don’t have top quality orchestras. When you don’t know for sure if you’re hearing something really exceptional, it leaves you uncertain what to do when others start standing.
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Validation of effort. We hate acting critical of effort. It’s the participation trophy thing. NOT standing is a presumptive criticism of the result: you didn’t do your best. I think that’s especially true in a place like Charlotte, where people tend to be nice by nature anyway. It’s a smaller city’s patrons showing their appreciation for even HAVING a quality symphony orchestra. How much appreciation? Why, as much as possible, which, of course, is the standing O.
I had the opportunity in the spring to watch Warren-Green conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra in London (Holst’s The Planets and Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony). They played quite well. Did they get a standing O? No. I sometimes wonder if Christopher gets a bit bemused by all the standing ovations…
I saw lots of plays and concerts in the late '70s and early '80s and it was going on then. I still hate it.
Not every show is good. Those that are not good should get a brief smattering of applause(basically saying "we’re glad it’s over). Good shows should get a loud but still brief applause. Great shows deserve a loud, sustained applause. I have never seen a show that I thought deserved a standing O.
Someone up in the previous life of this thread mentioned an ovation for Carol Channing. I took my parents to see Channing do a mediocre Hello Dolly in Baltimore in 1978 and the standing ovation went on forever.