Overview
Soloists or classical music groups like orchestras often show off their artistic potential by playing fast, high or loud pieces in the encore, but sometimes they also close the performance with slow and calm pieces to let the applause ebb down. It is also common to play a popular music song or the most famous pieces of a composer in the encore. A well-known example is the performance of the Radetzky March and The Blue Danube at the end of the Vienna New Year's Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; neither piece is ever listed in the official program, but they are traditionally played every year.
‘Bans’ on encores
By tradition, some world-class opera houses, such as la Scala and the Metropolitan Opera, officially discourage encores, especially for vocal solos, as encores were associated with less serious performances.
In the mid-19th century, encores were officially banned in northern Italy, since the Austrian-Italian authorities felt they would lead to public disorder. In 1921, encores were forbidden at la Scala (in northern Italy), because the conductor Toscanini felt they would interrupt the pace of the opera and drew attention to individual singers as opposed to the work. Toscanini had, in 1887, been challenged to a duel after stubbornly refusing an aria's encore. Wagner was similarly against encores.
The ban at the Metropolitan was explicit in the printed programs at the beginning of the 20th century, but was nevertheless often broken at the insistence of the audience. Encores at the Met became rarer later in the century.
