Editing Applause (section)

==History==
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| description  = Audience applauding a performance of {{lang|it|[[Cavalleria rusticana]]}} by [[Pietro Mascagni]] (2011)
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The age of the custom of applauding is uncertain, but is widespread amongst human [[Culture|cultures]]. Varieties of applause typically serve as the means to show appreciation as an audience participant and fulfils the need to be included. The variety of its forms is limited only by the capacity for devising means of making a noise<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Applause|volume=2|pages=222–223}}</ref> (e.g., stomping of feet or rapping of fists or hands on a table). However, within each culture it is usually subject to [[Convention (norm)|conventions]]. 

The [[Ancient Rome|ancient Romans]] had set rituals at public performances to express degrees of approval: [[Finger snapping|snapping the finger and thumb]], clapping with the flat or hollow palm, and waving the flap of the [[toga]]. Upper-class spectators expressed approval by waving their togas, while lower-class spectators, who were not allowed to wear togas, waved pieces of cloth, which may have been a precursor to the handkerchief. [[Aurelian]], [[Roman emperor]] from AD 270 to 275, substituted the waving of napkins (''{{Lang|la|[[Stole (vestment)|orarium]]}}'') that he had distributed to the Roman people for the toga-flapping.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080502141834/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0850.html Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, page 843<!-- Bot generated title -->]}}</ref> In [[Theatre of Ancient Rome|Roman theatre]], at the close of the play, the chief actor called out "{{Lang|la|Valete et plaudite!}}" (farewell and applaud), and the audience, guided by an unofficial [[choregos]], chanted their approval [[antiphon|antiphonally]].<ref name="EB1911"/> This was often organized and paid for.<ref>Böttiger, ''Über das Applaudieren im Theater bei den Alten'', Leipz., 1822</ref>

Similarly, a [[claque]] ([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]: /klak/) (French for "slapping") was an organized body of professional applauders in French [[Theater (structure)|theatres]] and [[Opera house|opera houses]] who were paid by the performer(s) to create the illusion of an increased level of approval by the audience. Alternatively, if they were not paid they may [[booing|boo]] and perhaps throw things at the stage.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saxon |first=A. H. |orig-date=1964-05-01 |date=2010-10-21 |version=online |title=A Brief History of the Claque |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/theatre-survey/article/abs/brief-history-of-the-claque/D7EC923C2DFC0FFFEEE769DAFC13AF96 |journal=Theatre Survey |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=10–26 |doi=10.1017/S0040557400006888 |s2cid=163320193 |issn=1475-4533|url-access=subscription }}</ref> By the 1830s this had become commonplace.{{cn|date=February 2025}} Heads of theatres and opera houses could get many professional clappers whenever they needed a boost.{{clarify|date=February 2025}} The leader of the claque would decide when and where to begin the cheering. The claque consisted of people participating in a variety of roles: some would memorize the show to emphasize key scenes or moments, so-called "laughers" may feign laughter so as to incite the audience to laugh along, "criers" would fake tears, {{clarify span|and some were there just to keep the mood up.|date=February 2025}} The emergence of claques made [[Composer|composers]] like [[Gustav Mahler]], [[Robert Schumann]] and [[Felix Mendelssohn]] begin to request in their scores that their works were to be performed with no break between movements as to avoid applause, becoming a catalyst to the well-known applause [[etiquette]] upheld in many classical performance settings.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

In [[Christianity]] customs of the theatre were adopted by the churches. The [[Early Christianity|early Christian]] scholar [[Eusebius]]<ref>''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Church History]]'', vii. 30</ref> says that [[Paul of Samosata]] encouraged the [[Congregational church|congregation]] to indicate approval of his preaching by waving linen cloths ({{Lang|grc-Grek|οθοναις|italic=no}}), and in the 4th and 5th centuries applause of the rhetoric of popular preachers had become an established custom. Applause in church eventually fell out of fashion, however. Partly due to the influence of the quasi-religious atmosphere of the performances of the German composer [[Richard Wagner]]'s operas at the {{Lang|de|[[Bayreuth Festspielhaus]]|italic=no}}, the reverential spirit that inspired this soon extended back to the theatre and the concert hall.<ref name="EB1911"/>