The Anthem at Symphony Hall
L. and I found ourselves in the high-backed side loge chairs of Springfield's Symphony Hall on Saturday night to hear the Springfield Symphony Orchestra's opening concert of the season. After the orchestra had tuned and Maestro Kevin Rhodes walked out onto the stage, he quickly signalled the timpanis to start a drum roll and turned to the audience to lead a singing of the National Anthem. It was playful and, I thought, joyous. But there were several people sitting behind us who apparently thought otherwise.
"Play ball," one said, with a decided note of disaffection. Another said he had never heard that from the symphony before. A woman speculated that it was because it was opening night. The first man said that he didn't see where they were hiding the flag. I could be wrong, but I detected this inference that these people thought it was dreadfully gauche for the symphony to begin with a singing of the National Anthem. For some reason, this really bothered me.
Perhaps I'll chew on this some more later.
"Play ball," one said, with a decided note of disaffection. Another said he had never heard that from the symphony before. A woman speculated that it was because it was opening night. The first man said that he didn't see where they were hiding the flag. I could be wrong, but I detected this inference that these people thought it was dreadfully gauche for the symphony to begin with a singing of the National Anthem. For some reason, this really bothered me.
Perhaps I'll chew on this some more later.