Maintaining proficient command of an audience throughout the duration of a performance can be an arduous ordeal which often seems overwhelming to almost every performer, exclusive to those who emit airs of natural charisma and produce works that whet their audience’s desire for their works from the beginning of a performance. Angela Hewitt and her masterful rendition of Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Art of Fugue is an exemplary combination which attained, and maintained, high levels of audience enthrallment from the outset. This control was achieved through the continuous interplay of Angela Hewitt’s charm and master crafted piano play. The effects of this control were made evident during the brief intermissions between the various fugues and various canons.
Audiences are most susceptible towards engrossment during the first crucial moments of a performance. These moments often dictate how an artist and his or her performance will be perceived. Angela Hewitt evoked audience interest in her work by giving brief synopses of the various fugues and canons of the performance. By doing this, Hewitt provides an audience member, who may or may not be versed in works composed for the piano, with vital background information which mollifies most confusion associated with the appreciation of a new art form. Audience captivation is further augmented through subtle humor. This humor serves to mitigate the communicative gap seen between a performer and their audience, increasing audience reception of a work due to lessened levels of bewilderment created by a sense of relatedness between a performer and their audience. The coupling of these two mediums serves to gather audience intrigue, but the maintenance of this intrigue is only possible through the use of other avenues.
Audiences are not structurally uniform from venue to venue: they differ in terms of attendance and overall intrigue. Given this fact, one can assume that the continuous retention of intrigue can also differ from audience to audience. For a work to be appealing to multiple audiences, it must be produced in such a way that delights the senses. The Art of Fugue is one such work that appeals to these senses. The continuous interplay seen between Hewitt’s body movement and her playing piques audience captivation. Body movement targets the sense of sight. An individual who sees Hewitt overcome by the sounds of a fugue may further provoke senses of enthrallment in that individual. In addition to the visual aspect of this performance, stands the integral, perhaps more prominent, aspect of audio. The adroit tapping of keys produces melodious tunes masks all other noises within the performance hall. An audience member is compelled to give into the auditory splendors of the fugue, given that the main focal points of the performance is the music itself. Part of Bach’s The Art of Fugue features undertones which evoke feelings of melancholy within an individual. This production of feeling is the embodiment of audience captivation. By limiting an audience to two means of sensing, a performer can exploit these senses to preserve audience engrossment.
Audience captivation can be gauged by the presence of sounds in a performance hall during brief gaps in play. If an audience produces no sound, then the performer has succeeded in garnering the full extent of audience allurement. If an audience produces sound, then the audience is showcasing signs of unconcerned with that work at hand. The Art of Fugue maintains the former throughout the duration of its performance. During the gaps between various cannons and fugues, the audience was left primarily muted: a pin could not be heard dropping. The extent to which this silence was heard, or not heard, is indicative of the Hewitt’s enchantment of the audience.
The Art of Fugue was a work which exemplified the extent at which an audience could become enthralled by a work. This engrossment was not created through the use of one medium, but the unity of charisma and proficient piano play. During the ninety or so minutes of this performance, the audience was enthralled by Hewitt and her piano. These two beings exercised authority throughout the performance hall space, mitigating any and all resistance to the melodic sounds which erupted from center stage. The audience was encapsulated and left with a yearning for the continuation of this performance.
