Mountaineers no longer wear the scratchy tweeds favored by their 19th-century forebears. Modern swimwear bears little resemblance to the flesh-covering woolen bathing costumes of summers long past. But orchestra musicians still tend to saw away at Beethoven and Mahler in hot, constricting formal attire that would be instantly recognizable to audiences of a century ago.

If you ask them, many players will tell you: It is none too comfortable.

So when word spread that a Dallas violinist and businessman had engineered a stretchable, breathable men’s tuxedo shirt, a mix of formal attire and athletic performance wear that he calls “performal,” musicians flocked to his website.

It is not true that orchestra dress has been completely frozen in amber: Men’s stockings and powdered wigs are now rare. But the grip of formal attire has been tight. In 1958 Leonard Bernstein tried to wean the New York Philharmonic from evening dress on Thursdays, but he soon dropped the new, relaxed uniforms, dismissing them as “Bernstein’s folly.”

More recently, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has been working with designers to reimagine its concert dress. And last year the Colorado Symphony replaced tuxedos at its classical concerts with an all-black look.