thumbnail| by [[Honoré Daumier, 1842]]
A claque is an organized body of professional applauders in French theatres and opera houses. Members of a claque are called claqueurs.
History
Hiring people to applaud dramatic performances was common in classical times. For example, when the Emperor Nero acted, he had his performance greeted by an encomium chanted by five thousand of his soldiers.
The recollection of this gave the 16th-century French poet, Jean Daurat, an idea which has developed into the modern claque. Buying up a number of tickets for a performance of one of his plays, Daurat distributed them to people who promised to give him applause. In 1820 claques underwent serious systematization when an agency in Paris opened to manage and supply claqueurs.
or have their work booed.
Richard Wagner withdrew a staging of his opera from the Parisian operatic repertory after the claque of the Jockey Club derisively interrupted its initial performances in March 1861.
Later Arturo Toscanini and Gustav Mahler discouraged claques, as a part of the development of concert etiquette.
Although the practice mostly died out during the mid- to late-20th century, instances of actors paid to applaud at performances still occasionally appear, most famously with the Bolshoi Ballet.
See also
- Astroturfing
- Cheerleading
- Kakegoe
- Laugh track
- ōmukou (:ja:大向う) – case of Kabuki
- Payola
- Professional mourning
- Shill
- Social proof
- Tifosi
Notes
References
- The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John Warrack and Ewan West (1992), 782 pages,