In my previous post I made a throw away reference to the fact that anyone would have been daft to have left the concert before the encores. On reflection, that was a thoughtless thing to say.
I was at Tosca once, in front of some Welsh people who were clearly fans of Bryn Terfel, who was playing Scarpia, who gets killed off at the end of Act II. These people did not re-appear for Act III and I scoffed at them in my head. I didn't know whether their whole trip, seeing Bryn sing Scarpia for the first time, depended on being out of the opera house in time to catch the last train - staying for the final act may have meant an expensive night in a hotel.
I was at a concert in St George's Hanover Square. The chap next to me was calculating the time at which he would have to dash to catch his train. He had been in London for the day for work, and had been attracted by the concert, but knew that he would have to miss the last few minutes, plus any encores.
I had booked for all of Cycle 3 of the Ring at ROH but also managed to get a ticket for Cycle 2 Die Walkure. I left at the end of Act II, after Plácido as Siegmund had been killed off, not because I was uninterested in Act III, but because I already knew that a full cycle the next week would take a lot out of me physically, and I had been warned to 'pace' myself. And also because I was sitting next to the second smelliest man ever to cross the threshold of an opera house.
In an ideal world, we would all have stayed until the end, and it's not right for me to impose an 'all-or-nothing' view. Disappointing to have to miss the end, but better than missing the entire performance for fear of being judged by others.
So I apologise if anyone thinks I was being insulting, it was just a careless figure of speech (but I have been to concerts where the lacklustre or cringe-making encores really weren't worth staying for!)
