Contemporary audiences may be familiar with the phenomenon of “breaking the fourth wall” in television, film, theater, and other forms of media. In these instances, creators and performers address the audience directly or draw attention to the conventions of a performance in a way that disrupts its immersive or continuous nature.

In this podcast, Mark Evan Bonds (NHC Fellow, 1995–96; 2021–22), professor of music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, examines what it means to break the fourth wall in classical music composition and performance. Understanding the way that composers like Franz Joseph Haydn used their compositions to subvert audience expectations can help us to understand the ways that styles of music appreciation have changed from the Enlightenment to the present day.