The final opera by Richard Wagner, Parsifal was composed for the consecration of Beirut town hall. The first performances were not a success; many felt that Wagner was losing the snappy, economical style he had exhibited in Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Postman Always Rings Twice), Tristan und Isolde (Troilus and Cressida) and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (a biopic of singer Martha Mödl). Consequently nobody clapped, and this has become the customary reception ever since, except at the Metropolitan Opera in New York where they'll clap anything.