command performance

American  

noun

1. a performance of a play, opera, ballet, or the like, given at the request of a sovereign or head of state.

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command performance British  

noun

1. a performance of a play, opera, etc, at the request of a ruler or of royalty

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command performance Idioms  

1. An occasion that one is obliged to attend, as in My boss's invitations to dinner are always a command performance. This term originally (late 1800s) denoted a theatrical or musical performance presented at the behest of a sovereign or head of state. By the 1930s it was also used figuratively for any more or less obligatory occasion or performance.

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Etymology

Origin of command performance

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Thank goodness Zaha is capable of producing the occasional performance like this.

From BBC • Dec. 11, 2016

One evening, in a warehouse and occasional performance space in Eastern Market, I attended a talk on the ruins of Detroit.

From New York Times • Nov. 9, 2012

Eventually the players found that they could not make a living from $750 gross per occasional performance, split four ways.

From Time Magazine Archive

Fanny's reading, which was only an occasional performance, was confined to the cheapest stories published.

From The Rise of David Levinsky by Cahan, Abraham

He urged that the receipts of the house were sufficient evidence that without the occasional performance of pantomimes he could not afford to produce plays of a higher class.

From A Book of the Play Studies and Illustrations of Histrionic Story, Life, and Character by Cook, Dutton

Related Words

• world premiere