Composer
|
Title
|
Date
|
Location
|
Details
|
Francesco Balilla Pratella
|
Musica Futurista
|
March 9, 1913
|
Rome
|
At the second performance of the work, the audience booed and threw refuse at the orchestra, and some fighting occurred.
[10]
[11]
|
Alban Berg
|
Altenberg Lieder
|
March 31, 1913
|
Vienna
|
As part of a front in Vienna's ongoing style wars, the audience booed and catcalled loudly, and some punches were thrown. The event came to be known as the
Skandalkonzert.
[12]
|
Igor Stravinsky
|
The Rite of Spring
|
May 29, 1913
|
Paris
|
Dueling factions tried to drown each other out during the ballet's premiere, unwittingly launching generations of exaggerations of what actually happened in the hall that night.
[13]
[14]
[15]
|
Sergei Prokofiev
|
Piano Concerto No. 2
|
September 5, 1913
|
St. Petersburg
|
The work was met with hisses and catcalls.
[16]
|
Luigi Russolo
|
The Awakening of a City, The Meeting of Automobiles and Aeroplanes
|
April 21, 1914
|
Milan
|
A concert organized by the
Futurists to provide the first public demonstration of their experimental "noise-making" instruments called
intonarumori resulted in an expected fracas,
[17] with Futurists led by
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti fighting members of the audience in the stalls.
[18]
|
Erik Satie
|
Parade
|
May 18, 1917
|
Paris
|
One faction of the audience booed, hissed, and was generally unruly, but they were eventually silenced by an enthusiastic ovation.
[19]
[20]
|
Anton Webern
|
Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5
|
August 8, 1922
|
Salzburg
|
Webern attended, interrupting his summer with Schoenberg, who remained in
Traunkirchen. Webern praised the
Amar Quartet's performance to Berg, but what unfolded left him "out of sorts" and disturbed his plans to continue composing that summer. The
Moldenhauers described the "Salzburg affair" as "a riot ... subdued only by police intervention".
Wilhelm Grosz constantly laughed, crying "'furchtbar!' [terrible]" during the fourth movement.
Adolf Loos and
Rudolf Ganz defended Webern. A London
Daily Telegraph reporter wrote, "I never saw an angrier man" of Webern's taking the stage amid the fray, "as if he were going to kill". The Quartet was able to play the music in full to an invitation-only audience the next day.
Arthur Bliss,
Arthur Honegger,
Francis Poulenc, and
Jean Wiéner reassured Webern.
[21]
|
Edgard Varèse
|
Hyperprism
|
March 4, 1923
|
New York
|
The audience laughed throughout and hissed at the conclusion, which prompted Varèse to repeat the work in hopes of a more serious response.
[22]
|
George Antheil
|
Sonata Sauvage
|
October 4, 1923
|
Paris
|
Very raucous physical altercations and verbal fights broke out within three minutes of Antheil playing, with many distinguished guests in attendance. Artist
Man Ray reportedly punched a man in the nose,
Marcel Duchamp began hurling obscenities at a fellow audience member, and Erik Satie was heard shouting, "What precision! What precision!"
[23]
|
Henry Cowell
|
Antinomy
|
October 15, 1923
|
Leipzig
|
The audience threw program notes at Cowell and clambered onto the stage, leading to a large physical altercation and the arrest of over 20 audience members.
[24]
|
Henry Cowell
|
Five Encores to Dynamic Motion
|
October 31, 1923
|
Vienna
|
An audience member began screaming at Cowell, "Stop! Stop!" and would not be quiet when shushed by audience members, leading to an attempt to drown one other out with continuous catcalling.
[25]
|
Erik Satie
|
Mercure
|
June 15, 1924
|
Paris
|
The police were called to the premiere due to unruly behavior that sprang from the Parisian cultural infighting of the time.
[26]
|
George Antheil
|
Ballet Mécanique
|
June 19, 1926
|
Paris
|
The premiere performance received a large ovation despite some unruly behavior in the audience, including an outburst by
Ezra Pound, but there were some fistfights in the street after the concert.
[27]
|
Béla Bartók
|
The Miraculous Mandarin
|
November 27, 1926
|
Cologne
|
The plot caused a commotion in the audience, which began leaving during the performance.
[28]
|
Kurt Weill
|
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
|
March 9, 1930
|
Leipzig
|
Organized bands of right-wing agitators planted themselves in the audience and created a large commotion, directed towards the opera's supposed anti-German sentiment. It was subsequently banned by the
Nazis in 1933.
[29]
[30]
|
Igor Stravinsky
|
Danses concertantes
|
February 27, 1945
|
Paris
|
A group of students from
Olivier Messiaen's class, including
Serge Nigg and
Pierre Boulez, protested noisily with police whistles against the
neoclassical style of the compositions.
[31]
|
Igor Stravinsky
|
Four Norwegian Moods
|
March 15, 1945
|
Paris
|
Same as above.
|
Pierre Boulez
|
Polyphonie X
|
October 6, 1951
|
Donaueschingen
|
Musicologist
Antoine Goléa, who attended the concert, recalled: "Those who experienced this Donaueschingen première will remember the scandal as long as they live. Shouts, caterwauling, and other animal noises were unleashed from one half of the hall in response to applause, foot-stamping and enthusiastic bravos from the other".
[32] Boulez was unable to attend, but, after hearing a tape of the concert, decided to withdraw the piece.
[32]
|
Edgard Varèse
|
Déserts
|
December 2, 1954
|
Paris
|
The audience loudly booed and jeered the piece.
[33]
|
Richard Wagner
|
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
|
1956
Bayreuth Festival
|
Bayreuth
|
A new interpretation of Die Meistersinger by Wagner's grandson
Wieland Wagner removed elements associated with
German nationalism and introduced a minimalist, modernist staging. Particularly controversial was the removal of scenery depicting the city of
Nuremberg – setting of the play, but also a central city to Nazi propaganda. The production was booed by the audience throughout the summer of 1956, beginning a tradition of booing at future Bayreuth Festivals.
[34]
|
Luigi Nono
|
Intolleranza 1960
|
April 13, 1961
|
Venice
|
The opera's premiere was disrupted by shouts from a
neo-fascist faction in the audience.
[35]
[36]
|
John Cage
|
Atlas Eclipticalis
|
February 6, 1964
|
New York
|
Part of an avant-garde season of music featuring the
New York Philharmonic conducted by
Leonard Bernstein, most performances had received lukewarm responses. This one, with Cage as performer, was met with boos and hisses. Allegedly, the orchestra failed to take the music seriously, and in so doing, effectively sabotaged it. The event was recorded, and released as part of a Bernstein retrospective set.
[37]
[38]
|
Hans Werner Henze
|
Das Floß der Medusa
|
December 9, 1968
|
Hamburg
|
Students hung a
Che Guevara banner, the
Red, and
Black flags, and after the chorus responded in protest, the police began making arrests, prompting Henze to cancel the concert.
[39]
|
Steve Reich
|
Four Organs
|
January 18, 1973
|
New York
|
At a
Carnegie Hall performance of the work, the conservative audience tried yelling and sarcastically applauding to hasten the end of the piece, which received both boos and cheers during the ovation.
[40] One of the performers,
Michael Tilson Thomas, recalls: "One woman walked down the aisle and repeatedly banged her head on the front of the stage, wailing 'Stop, stop, I confess.' "
[41]
[42]
|
John Adams
|
Grand Pianola Music
|
1982
|
New York
|
Premiere of the piece at the Horizons Festival, held at
Lincoln Center, New York. Audience was booing and cheering.
[43]
|
Harrison Birtwistle
|
Panic
|
1995
|
London
|
BBC received thousands of complaints after its broadcast to millions during the
Last Night of the Proms
[44]
|