The Proms
Encyclopedia
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestra
l classical music
concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall
in London
. Founded in 1895, each season currently consists of more than 70 concerts in the Albert Hall, a series of chamber concerts
at Cadogan Hall
, additional Proms in the Park events across the United Kingdom on the last night, and associated educational and children's events. In 2009 the total number of concerts reached 100 for the first time. In the context of classical music festivals, Jiří Bělohlávek
has described the Proms as "the world's largest and most democratic musical festival".
Prom is short for promenade concert
, a term which originally referred to outdoor concerts in London
's pleasure gardens, where the audience was free to stroll around while the orchestra was playing. Promming now refers to the use of the standing areas inside the hall (the arena and gallery) for which ticket prices are much lower than for the reserved seating. Single-concert Promming tickets can be bought, with few exceptions, only on the day of the concert, which can give rise to long queues for well-known artists or works. Proms concert-goers, particularly those who stand, are sometimes described as "Promenaders", but are most commonly referred to as "Prommers". Prommers can buy full- or half-season tickets instead for guaranteed entry (until 20 minutes before the concert is due to start), although not the assurance of a particular standing position. A number of Prommers are particularly keen in their attendance. In 1997, one programme in the BBC
documentary series Modern Times covered this dedicated following of enthusiasts.
s had existed in London's pleasure gardens since the mid 18th century, but on 10 August 1895 impresario Robert Newman
arranged the first series of indoor promenade concerts, in the Queen's Hall
in Langham Place
. Newman's idea was to encourage an audience for concert hall music who, though not normally attending classical concerts, would be attracted by the low ticket prices and more informal atmosphere. In addition to promenading, eating, drinking and smoking were all allowed. He stated his goal as follows:
With financial backing from the otolaryngologist Dr George Cathcart, Newman hired Henry Joseph Wood as the conductor for this series of concerts, called "Mr Robert Newman's Promenade Concerts". Wood built the "Queen's Hall Orchestra" as the ensemble devoted to performing the promenade concerts. Although the concerts gained a popular following and reputation, Newman went bankrupt in 1902, and the banker Edgar Speyer
took over the expense of funding the concerts. In 1914, anti-German feeling forced Speyer out of his post. After Speyer, music publishers Chappell & Co.
took control of the concerts.
Newman continued to work in the artistic planning of these promenade concerts until his sudden death in November 1926. With time, Wood became the name which was most closely associated with the concerts. As conductor from that first concert, Wood was largely responsible for expanding the repertoire heard in later concerts, such that by the 1920s the concerts had grown from being made up of largely more popular, less demanding works, to presenting music by contemporary composers such as Claude Debussy
, Richard Strauss
and Ralph Vaughan Williams
. A bronze bust of Wood, belonging to the Royal Academy of Music
, is placed in front of the Organ
for the whole season. While now known as the BBC Proms, the text on the tickets (along with the headline "BBC Proms" next to the BBC logo), still says "BBC Music presents the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts".
In 1927, the BBC
– later based at Broadcasting House
next to the hall – took over the running of the concerts. When the BBC Symphony Orchestra
(BBC SO) was formed in 1930, it became the main orchestra for the concerts. At this time the season consisted of nights dedicated to particular composers; Mondays were Wagner
, Fridays were Beethoven, with other major composers being featured on other days. There were no Sunday performances.
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the BBC withdrew its support. The Proms continued though, under private sponsorship, until the Queen's Hall was gutted by an air raid
in 1941 (its site is now the St George's Hotel and BBC Henry Wood House). The following year, the Proms moved to their current home, the Royal Albert Hall, and the BBC took over once more. In 1944, however, increased danger to the Royal Albert Hall from bombing meant that the Proms moved again, this time to the Bedford Corn Exchange
. This venue had been the home of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 1941 and played host to the Proms until the end of the war. After the war, other orchestras were invited to perform in the Proms, such that the BBC SO was no longer the sole orchestra responsible for all Proms concerts.
and Basil Cameron
took on principal conducting duties for the Proms until the advent of Malcolm Sargent
as Proms chief conductor in 1947. Sargent held this post until 1966. He was noted for his immaculate appearance (evening dress
, carnation
) and his witty addresses where he good-naturedly chided the noisy Prommers. Sir Malcolm championed choral music and classical and British composers, especially Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
. The charity founded in his name, CLIC Sargent
, continues to hold a special Promenade Concert each year shortly after the main season ends. CLIC Sargent, the Musicians' Benevolent Fund
and further musical charities (chosen each year) also benefit from thousands of pounds in donations from Prommers after most concerts. When asking for donations, Prommers from the Arena regularly announce to the audience the running donations total at concert intervals through the season, or before the concert when there is no interval.
After Wood's death, Julian Herbage acted as de facto principal administrator of The Proms for a number of years, as a freelance employee after his retirement from the BBC, with assistance from such staff as Edward Clark and Kenneth Wright. During the tenure of William Glock
as Controller of the Proms, beginning in 1959, the Proms repertory expanded both forwards in time, to encompass then contemporary and avant-garde composers such as Boulez, Berio, Carter, Dallapiccola, Peter Maxwell Davies
, Gerhard, Henze, Ligeti, Lutosławski, Lutyens, Maw, Messiaen, Nono, Stockhausen, and Tippett, as well as backwards to include music by past composers such as Purcell, Cavalli, Monteverdi, Byrd, Palestrina, Dufay, Dunstaple and Machaut, as well as less-often performed works of Johann Sebastian Bach
and Joseph Haydn
. From the 1960s, the number of guest orchestras at the Proms also began to increase, with the first major international conductors (Leopold Stokowski
, Georg Solti
and Carlo Maria Giulini
) performing in 1963, and the first foreign orchestra, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra
, performing in 1966. Since that time, almost every major international orchestra, conductor and soloist has performed at the Proms. In 1970, Soft Machine
's appearance led to press attention and comment as the first "pop" band to perform there.
, an increasing number are televised on BBC Four
with some also shown on BBC One
and BBC Two
. The theme tune played at the beginning of each programme broadcast on television is an extract from the end of the "Red" movement of Arthur Bliss
's A Colour Symphony
. It is also possible to hear the concerts live from the BBC Proms website. The Last Night is also broadcast in many countries around the world.
In 1996, a related series of eight lunchtime chamber concerts was started, taking place on Mondays during the Proms season. In their first year these were held in the Britten Hall of the Royal College of Music
(just across Prince Consort Road
from the Albert Hall). The following year they moved slightly further afield, to the Henry Cole
Lecture Theatre at the Victoria and Albert Museum
. In 2005 they moved further again, to the new Cadogan Hall, just off London's Sloane Square
. These allow the Proms to include music which is not suitable for the vast spaces of the Albert Hall.
From 1998 to 2007, the Blue Peter Prom, in partnership with long-running BBC television programme Blue Peter
, was an annual fixture. Aimed at children and families, the Prom is informal, including audience participation, jokes, and popular classics. High demand for tickets – which are among the lowest priced in the season – saw this Prom be split in 2004 into two Proms with identical content. In 2008, the Blue Peter Prom was replaced with a Doctor Who Prom
.
The 2004 season also featured the Hall's newly rebuilt pipe organ
. It took two years to complete the task (2002–2004) and was the work of Noel Mander, Ltd., of London. It was the first complete restoration of the instrument since Harrison and Harrison's work in 1936.
The tradition of Promming remains an important aspect of the festival, with over 1000 standing places available for each concert, either in the central arena (rather like the groundling
s in the pit at Shakespeare's Globe
) or high in the hall's gallery. Promming tickets cost the same for all concerts (£5 as of 2010), providing a considerably cheaper option for the more popular events. Since the tickets cannot be bought in advance (although there are season tickets and weekend passes available), they provide a way of getting in to otherwise sold-out concerts.
In 2010, the Proms Archive was introduced on the BBC Proms webpage, to allow for systematic searching of all works that have been performed, and all artists who have appeared, at The Proms over its history. On 1 September 2011 a Prom given by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
was severely affected by interruptions from pro-Palestinian protesters. While the Palestine Solidarity Campaign
had urged a boycott, they denied being behind the disruption inside the Royal Albert Hall. For the first time ever, the BBC took a Prom concert off the air.
and the centenary of Shostakovich
's birth. New initiatives included four Saturday matinee concerts at the Cadogan Hall and the chance for audience members to get involved with The Voice, a collaborative piece performed in two Proms on 29 July. On 3 September 2006, a concert was cancelled due to a fire. The season saw the launch of a venture called the Proms Family Orchestra in which children and their extended families can make music with BBC musicians.
and included Elgar's Cello Concerto
performed by Paul Watkins
and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
. Following the previous year's Voice day, brass instrument
s were specially featured with two concerts on 28 July 2007. Early press coverage focused heavily on the fact that musical theatre star Michael Ball
would be the central performer in a concert on 27 August and a concert of British film music on 14 July. This led to media accusations of "dumbing down
", despite Nicholas Kenyon
's defence of the programme. Anniversaries marked in this Proms season included the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Edward Elgar, the 100th anniversary of the death of Edvard Grieg
and the 50th anniversary of the death of Jean Sibelius
as well as marking 80 years since the first BBC sponsorship of the Proms. The series also included an additional series of four Saturday matinee concerts at Cadogan Hall.
The 2007 season was Nicholas Kenyon's last season as controller of the BBC Proms, before he became Managing Director at the Barbican Centre
from October 2007. Roger Wright
became controller of the Proms in October 2007, whilst retaining responsibility for BBC Radio 3
and taking up a broader role controlling the BBC
's classical music output across all media.
The celebration of Stockhausen was centred on two large-scale concerts on 2 August 2008, and complementing Vaughan Williams's interest in folk music
, the first Sunday was given over to a celebration of various aspects of British folk, including free events in Kensington Gardens and the Albert Hall, and ending with the first-ever céilidh
in the Albert Hall itself.
Other changes included additional pre-Prom talks and events. For the first time, there was a related talk or event before every Prom, held in the Royal College of Music
. The popular family-oriented Prom this year became the Doctor Who Prom, (in place of the Blue Peter Prom of recent years). The Doctor Who Prom included a mini-episode of Doctor Who
, "Music of the Spheres
".
Just over a month before the announcement, Margaret Hodge
, a Minister of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
suggested "that the Proms was one of several big cultural events that many people did not feel comfortable attending" and advocated an increase in multicultural works and an effort to broaden the audience. Her comments received wide criticism in the musical world and media as being a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the Proms, with Gordon Brown even distancing himself from her remarks.
Other composer anniversaries noted in the 2009 Proms included:
The humorist and music impresario
Gerard Hoffnung
was also remembered with the performance in the Last Night of Malcolm Arnold
's A Grand Grand Overture, which was commissioned for the first Hoffnung Music Festival. The 2009 Proms featured Bollywood
music for the first time, as part of a day-long series of concerts and events also covering Indian classical music
. Performers in the day included Ram Narayan
, Rajan and Sajan Mishra
, and Shaan
. Noted historical anniversaries covered in the 2009 Proms included the 75th anniversary of the MGM film musical, and the 10th year of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
There was a child-oriented Prom to mark the Darwin
bicentenary as well as a Free Family Prom including the Proms Family Orchestra.
Other anniversaries of composers featured at The Proms included:
In addition, Hubert Parry
and Alexander Scriabin
received particular focus. One day was dedicated particularly to Sir Henry Wood, including a recreation of the 1910 Last Night. For families, the Doctor Who
Prom, first introduced in 2008, received new renditions hosted by the newest Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companions Amy Pond
(Karen Gillan
)and Rory Williams
(Arthur Darvill
). The booking system was also revised with a new online system to allow ticket buyers to set up a personalised Proms plan in advance to speed up the booking process.
It saw the first ever 'Comedy Prom' hosted by comedian and pianist Tim Minchin
, and featuring a series of other comedians, which reflects the growing relationship between music and comedy.
Many people's perception of the Proms is taken from the Last Night, although this concert is very different from the others. It usually takes place on the second Saturday in September, and is broadcast in the UK on BBC2
(first half) and BBC1
(second half). The concert is traditionally in a lighter, 'winding-down' vein, with popular classics being followed by a series of British patriotic pieces in the second half of the concert. This sequence traditionally begins with Edward Elgar
's Pomp and Circumstance March
No. 1 (Land of Hope and Glory
), and continues with Sir Henry Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs
, which culminates in Thomas Arne's Rule, Britannia!
. However, the Fantasia has not featured since 2007, though Rule, Britannia! has retained its place in the programme in its own right. The concert concludes with Hubert Parry
's Jerusalem (a setting of a poem by William Blake
), and the British national anthem
. The repeat of the Elgar march at the Last Night can be traced to the spontaneous audience demand for an encore at its premiere at the 1901 Proms. The closing sequence of the second half became fully established in 1954 during Sargent's tenure as chief conductor of The Proms. The Prommers have made a tradition of singing Auld Lang Syne
after the end of the concert, but it is not in the programme. However, when James Loughran
, a Scot, conducted at the Last Night in the 1970s he did include the piece in the programme.
Tickets are highly sought after. Promming tickets are the same price as for other concerts during the season, but tickets for seats are more expensive. To buy a seat in advance, it is necessary to have bought tickets for at least five other Proms in the season to have a chance of getting a Last Night ticket, and either an advance booking must include those five concerts, plus an application for a Last Night ticket, or the ticket stubs must be presented at the box office when purchasing a Last Night ticket for that season; tickets can only be purchased in an equivalent (or lower) price band to that for the previous tickets. Once the advance booking period ends, there is no requirement to have booked for additional concerts, but the concert is generally sold out by this time, though returns may be available. For standing places, full season tickets automatically include last night admission, half-season ticket holders have access to a special distribution of tickets, but must purchase their Last Night ticket in addition to the cost of the season ticket; day Prommers also have to present five ticket stubs at the box office. Some standing tickets are sold on the day, just as for other concerts during the season. In the post-War period, with the growing popularity of the "Last Night", the only way to obtain tickets was through a postal ballot system where prospective buyers submitted an application well in advance, along with a stamped and addressed reply envelope. The lucky ones received their tickets by return. A ballot remains for the chance to win 1 of 100 stalls seats. Prior to 2009, the requirement was for six concerts in addition to the Last Night when purchasing a ticket in advance.
Prommers with tickets are likely to queue up much earlier than usual (many overnight, and in past years, some slept outside the hall up to three weeks to guard their place in the queue) in order to ensure a good place to stand in the hall. The resulting camaraderie adds to the atmosphere. Fancy dress is an optional extra: from dinner jackets to patriotic T-shirts. Many use the occasion for an exuberant display of Britishness
. Union Flag
s are carried and waved by the Prommers, especially during Rule Britannia. Flags (mostly national flags and regional flags), balloons and party poppers are all welcome. Sir Henry Wood's bust is crowned with a laurel chaplet
by representatives of the Promenaders, who often wipe an imaginary bead of sweat from his forehead or make some similar gentle visual joke.
Another tradition of the Last Night is that near the end, the conductor makes a speech thanking the musicians and audiences, mentioning the main themes covered through the season, noting the cumulative season's donations collected by the Promenaders' Musical Charities raised over the season, and announcing the date of the First Night of the Proms for the next season. The tradition of the Last Night speech dates from 1941, when Sir Henry Wood gave the first such speech at the close of that Proms season, the first at the Royal Albert Hall, where he thanked colleagues and sponsors. Wood gave another similar speech of thanks at the 1942 Last Night, and a pre-recorded version was aired to the audience at the 1943 Last Night. During his tenure, Sargent established the tone of making the Last Night speeches more humorous in nature. Subsequent conductors at the Last Night have generally continued this tradition, although one exception was in 1997 when Sir Andrew Davis
more seriously addressed the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales
, Mother Teresa
, and Sir Georg Solti
in his 1997 Last Night speech.
The Royal Albert Hall could be filled many times over with people wishing to attend the Last Night. To accommodate these people, and to cater for those who are not near London, the Proms in the Park concerts were started in 1996. Initially there was only one, in Hyde Park
, adjacent to the Hall. More locations have been added in recent years, and in 2005, Belfast
, Glasgow
, Swansea
and Manchester
hosted a Last Night Prom in the Park which was broadcast live from each venue. 2007 saw Manchester's prom being replaced by one in Middlesbrough
. 2008 featured a reduction from 5 to 4 Proms in the Park, in Hyde Park, Belfast, Glasgow and Swansea. 2009 returned to a total of 5 Proms in the Park, in Hyde Park, Glasgow, Swansea, County Down
and Salford. Each location has its own live concert, typically playing the countries' respective national anthems, before joining in a live big screen video link up with the Royal Albert Hall for the traditional finale.
Leonard Slatkin
, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 2000–2004, expressed a desire to tone down the nationalism of the Last Night somewhat, and on the Last Night of the seasons from 2002 until 2007 Rule Britannia has only been heard as part of Henry Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs
(another piece traditional to the Last Night) rather than separately. Slatkin, an American and the first non-Commonwealth
citizen to lead the Last Night, conducted his first Last Night in 2001, just days after the 9/11 attacks. The atmosphere was more restrained and less festive than normal, with a heavily revised programme where the finale of Beethoven's 9th Symphony
replaced the Sea Songs, and Samuel Barber
's Adagio for Strings
was performed in tribute to the victims of the attacks.
On the day of the 2005 Last Night, the hall management received word of a bomb threat, which led to a thorough search of the Albert Hall for 5 hours, but the concert took place with a modest time delay. This has led to increased security concerns, given the stature of the Last Night in British culture, which Jacqui Kelly of the Royal Albert Hall staff noted:
2008 also contained some departures from the traditional programme. Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 was moved to after the conductor's speech. In addition, most of Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs was replaced by Vaughan Williams's Sea Songs
as a final tribute in his
anniversary year. However, Wood's arrangements of naval bugle calls from the start of the Fantasia were retained, and Sargent's arrangement of Rule Britannia returned with Bryn Terfel
as soloist. As on his 1994 Last Night appearance, he sang one verse in a Welsh translation, with the chorus also translated into Welsh.
2009 saw the continued absence of Wood's Sea Songs, this time replaced by specially commissioned fanfares, and extracts from Handel
's Music for the Royal Fireworks. In 2009, for the first time, the Last Night was shown live in several cinemas across Asia and in Canada and Australia.
s of the Last Night of the Proms. Normally, the Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra
leads this concert, but guest conductors have directed the Last Night on several occasions.
Duties undertaken as Guest conductor, rather than as resident Chief Conductor, BBC Symphony Orchestra
The seasons of 1940 and 1944 were curtailed by German bombing, so there was no official "Last Night", Wood died shortly before what should have been the end of the 1944 season Sir Henry from 1911 onwards Later Sir Colin Later Sir Mark Sir Andrew from 1994 onwards Constant Lambert, Basil Cameron and Sir Adrian Boult jointly undertook proceedings upon the return in 1945 Robertson has been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC SO since 2005
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Founded in 1895, each season currently consists of more than 70 concerts in the Albert Hall, a series of chamber concerts
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
at Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall is a 900-seat capacity concert hall on Sloane Terrace in Chelsea / Belgravia in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, United Kingdom...
, additional Proms in the Park events across the United Kingdom on the last night, and associated educational and children's events. In 2009 the total number of concerts reached 100 for the first time. In the context of classical music festivals, Jiří Bělohlávek
Jirí Belohlávek
Jiří Bělohlávek is a Czech conductor. His father was a barrister and judge. In his youth Bělohlávek studied cello with Miloš Sádlo and was later a graduate of the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague...
has described the Proms as "the world's largest and most democratic musical festival".
Prom is short for promenade concert
Promenade concert
See The PromsAlthough the term Promenade Concert is normally associated today with the series of concerts founded in 1895 by Robert Newman and the conductor Henry Wood – a festival known today as the BBC Proms – the term originally referred to concerts in the pleasure gardens of London where the...
, a term which originally referred to outdoor concerts in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's pleasure gardens, where the audience was free to stroll around while the orchestra was playing. Promming now refers to the use of the standing areas inside the hall (the arena and gallery) for which ticket prices are much lower than for the reserved seating. Single-concert Promming tickets can be bought, with few exceptions, only on the day of the concert, which can give rise to long queues for well-known artists or works. Proms concert-goers, particularly those who stand, are sometimes described as "Promenaders", but are most commonly referred to as "Prommers". Prommers can buy full- or half-season tickets instead for guaranteed entry (until 20 minutes before the concert is due to start), although not the assurance of a particular standing position. A number of Prommers are particularly keen in their attendance. In 1997, one programme in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary series Modern Times covered this dedicated following of enthusiasts.
History
Origins and Henry Wood
Promenade concertPromenade concert
See The PromsAlthough the term Promenade Concert is normally associated today with the series of concerts founded in 1895 by Robert Newman and the conductor Henry Wood – a festival known today as the BBC Proms – the term originally referred to concerts in the pleasure gardens of London where the...
s had existed in London's pleasure gardens since the mid 18th century, but on 10 August 1895 impresario Robert Newman
Robert Newman (impresario)
Robert Newman was an English businessman and musical impresario. He is most celebrated as the founder of the series of classical music concerts that are now known as The Proms....
arranged the first series of indoor promenade concerts, in the Queen's Hall
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect T.E. Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert...
in Langham Place
Langham Place, London
Langham Place is a street in Westminster, central London, England. It connects Portland Place to the north with Regent Street to the south in London's West End.- Buildings :...
. Newman's idea was to encourage an audience for concert hall music who, though not normally attending classical concerts, would be attracted by the low ticket prices and more informal atmosphere. In addition to promenading, eating, drinking and smoking were all allowed. He stated his goal as follows:
I am going to run nightly concerts and train the public by easy stages. Popular at first, gradually raising the standard until I have created a public for classical and modern music.
With financial backing from the otolaryngologist Dr George Cathcart, Newman hired Henry Joseph Wood as the conductor for this series of concerts, called "Mr Robert Newman's Promenade Concerts". Wood built the "Queen's Hall Orchestra" as the ensemble devoted to performing the promenade concerts. Although the concerts gained a popular following and reputation, Newman went bankrupt in 1902, and the banker Edgar Speyer
Edgar Speyer
Sir Edgar Speyer, 1st Baronet was an American-born financier and philanthropist. He became a British subject in 1892 and was chairman of Speyer Brothers, the British branch of his family's international finance house, and a partner in the German and American branches...
took over the expense of funding the concerts. In 1914, anti-German feeling forced Speyer out of his post. After Speyer, music publishers Chappell & Co.
Chappell & Co.
Chappell & Co. was an English company that published music and manufactured pianos.-History:It was founded in 1810 by Samuel Chappell in partnership with music professors Francis Tatton Latour and Johann Baptist Cramer. Cramer was also a well-known London composer, teacher and pianist...
took control of the concerts.
Newman continued to work in the artistic planning of these promenade concerts until his sudden death in November 1926. With time, Wood became the name which was most closely associated with the concerts. As conductor from that first concert, Wood was largely responsible for expanding the repertoire heard in later concerts, such that by the 1920s the concerts had grown from being made up of largely more popular, less demanding works, to presenting music by contemporary composers such as Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
, Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
and Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
. A bronze bust of Wood, belonging to the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, is placed in front of the Organ
Royal Albert Hall Organ
The Grand Organ situated in the Royal Albert Hall in London, is the second largest pipe organ in the United Kingdom. It was originally built by Henry "Father" Willis and most recently rebuilt by Mander Organs, having 147 stops and 9,997 speaking pipes....
for the whole season. While now known as the BBC Proms, the text on the tickets (along with the headline "BBC Proms" next to the BBC logo), still says "BBC Music presents the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts".
In 1927, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
– later based at Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters and registered office of the BBC in Portland Place and Langham Place, London.The building includes the BBC Radio Theatre from where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience...
next to the hall – took over the running of the concerts. When the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
(BBC SO) was formed in 1930, it became the main orchestra for the concerts. At this time the season consisted of nights dedicated to particular composers; Mondays were Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, Fridays were Beethoven, with other major composers being featured on other days. There were no Sunday performances.
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the BBC withdrew its support. The Proms continued though, under private sponsorship, until the Queen's Hall was gutted by an air raid
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
in 1941 (its site is now the St George's Hotel and BBC Henry Wood House). The following year, the Proms moved to their current home, the Royal Albert Hall, and the BBC took over once more. In 1944, however, increased danger to the Royal Albert Hall from bombing meant that the Proms moved again, this time to the Bedford Corn Exchange
Corn Exchange, Bedford
Bedford Corn Exchange is located on St Paul's Square in the Castle area of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England.-History of the Corn Exchange:The building was designed to be a concert venue and meeting space, as well as a place of business. The basement contained offices, cloakrooms, kitchen, hall...
. This venue had been the home of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 1941 and played host to the Proms until the end of the war. After the war, other orchestras were invited to perform in the Proms, such that the BBC SO was no longer the sole orchestra responsible for all Proms concerts.
Post-war
Wood continued his work with the Proms until his death in 1944. In the years after the war, Sir Adrian BoultAdrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
and Basil Cameron
Basil Cameron
Basil Cameron, CBE was an English conductor. He was born in Reading, Berkshire, England, the son of a German immigrant family. His birth name was Basil George Cameron Hindenberg. -Career:...
took on principal conducting duties for the Proms until the advent of Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
as Proms chief conductor in 1947. Sargent held this post until 1966. He was noted for his immaculate appearance (evening dress
Evening dress
Evening dress may refer to:* White tie, the most formal civilian dress code in Western fashion* Black tie, a semi-formal dress code for evening events and social functions in Western fashion...
, carnation
Carnation
Dianthus caryophyllus is a species of Dianthus. It is probably native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years. It is the wild ancestor of the garden carnation.It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 80 cm tall...
) and his witty addresses where he good-naturedly chided the noisy Prommers. Sir Malcolm championed choral music and classical and British composers, especially Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer who achieved such success that he was once called the "African Mahler".-Early life and education:...
. The charity founded in his name, CLIC Sargent
CLIC Sargent
CLIC Sargent is charity in the United Kingdom that was formed by the merger of Sargent Cancer Care for Children and Cancer and Leukaemia in Childhood in 2005. The charity specializes in providing support for children with cancer....
, continues to hold a special Promenade Concert each year shortly after the main season ends. CLIC Sargent, the Musicians' Benevolent Fund
Musicians' Benevolent Fund
The Musicians' Benevolent Fund is a United Kingdom charity offering help and support to working and retired musicians, other professionals in the music industry, and their dependants....
and further musical charities (chosen each year) also benefit from thousands of pounds in donations from Prommers after most concerts. When asking for donations, Prommers from the Arena regularly announce to the audience the running donations total at concert intervals through the season, or before the concert when there is no interval.
After Wood's death, Julian Herbage acted as de facto principal administrator of The Proms for a number of years, as a freelance employee after his retirement from the BBC, with assistance from such staff as Edward Clark and Kenneth Wright. During the tenure of William Glock
William Glock
Sir William Frederick Glock was a British music critic and musical administrator.-Biography:Glock was born in London. He read history at the University of Cambridge and was an organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...
as Controller of the Proms, beginning in 1959, the Proms repertory expanded both forwards in time, to encompass then contemporary and avant-garde composers such as Boulez, Berio, Carter, Dallapiccola, Peter Maxwell Davies
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
, Gerhard, Henze, Ligeti, Lutosławski, Lutyens, Maw, Messiaen, Nono, Stockhausen, and Tippett, as well as backwards to include music by past composers such as Purcell, Cavalli, Monteverdi, Byrd, Palestrina, Dufay, Dunstaple and Machaut, as well as less-often performed works of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
. From the 1960s, the number of guest orchestras at the Proms also began to increase, with the first major international conductors (Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
, Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
and Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini was an Italian conductor.-Biography:Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, to a father born in Lombardy and a mother born in Naples; but he was raised in Bolzano, which at the time of his birth was part of Austria...
) performing in 1963, and the first foreign orchestra, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra
Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio
The Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio is a Russian classical music orchestra established in 1930. Originally founded as the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, it served as the official symphony for the Soviet All-Union Radio network...
, performing in 1966. Since that time, almost every major international orchestra, conductor and soloist has performed at the Proms. In 1970, Soft Machine
Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
's appearance led to press attention and comment as the first "pop" band to perform there.
Since 1990
The Proms continue today, and still present newly commissioned music alongside pieces more central to the repertoire and early music. Innovations continue, with pre-Prom talks, lunchtime chamber concerts, children's Proms, Proms in the Park either appearing, or being featured more heavily over the past few years. In the UK, all concerts are broadcast on BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
, an increasing number are televised on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
with some also shown on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
and BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. The theme tune played at the beginning of each programme broadcast on television is an extract from the end of the "Red" movement of Arthur Bliss
Arthur Bliss
Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
's A Colour Symphony
A Colour Symphony
A Colour Symphony, Op. 24, F. 106, was written by Arthur Bliss in 1921–22. It was his first major work for orchestra and remains one of his best known...
. It is also possible to hear the concerts live from the BBC Proms website. The Last Night is also broadcast in many countries around the world.
In 1996, a related series of eight lunchtime chamber concerts was started, taking place on Mondays during the Proms season. In their first year these were held in the Britten Hall of the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
(just across Prince Consort Road
Prince Consort Road
Prince Consort Road is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The road is named for Albert, Prince Consort to Queen Victoria. The road is located between Queen's Gate to the west, and Exhibition Road to the east, and runs parallel to Kensington Gore.Several notable buildings have...
from the Albert Hall). The following year they moved slightly further afield, to the Henry Cole
Henry Cole
Sir Henry Cole was an English civil servant and inventor who facilitated many innovations in commerce and education in 19th century Britain...
Lecture Theatre at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
. In 2005 they moved further again, to the new Cadogan Hall, just off London's Sloane Square
Sloane Square
Sloane Square is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the fashionable London districts of Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Chelsea, located southwest of Charing Cross, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The square is part of the Hans Town area designed in 1771 by Henry...
. These allow the Proms to include music which is not suitable for the vast spaces of the Albert Hall.
From 1998 to 2007, the Blue Peter Prom, in partnership with long-running BBC television programme Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
, was an annual fixture. Aimed at children and families, the Prom is informal, including audience participation, jokes, and popular classics. High demand for tickets – which are among the lowest priced in the season – saw this Prom be split in 2004 into two Proms with identical content. In 2008, the Blue Peter Prom was replaced with a Doctor Who Prom
Doctor Who Prom
Prom 13: Doctor Who Prom was a concert showcasing incidental music from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, along with classical music, performed on 27 July 2008 in the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of the BBC's annual Proms series of concerts...
.
The 2004 season also featured the Hall's newly rebuilt pipe organ
Royal Albert Hall Organ
The Grand Organ situated in the Royal Albert Hall in London, is the second largest pipe organ in the United Kingdom. It was originally built by Henry "Father" Willis and most recently rebuilt by Mander Organs, having 147 stops and 9,997 speaking pipes....
. It took two years to complete the task (2002–2004) and was the work of Noel Mander, Ltd., of London. It was the first complete restoration of the instrument since Harrison and Harrison's work in 1936.
The tradition of Promming remains an important aspect of the festival, with over 1000 standing places available for each concert, either in the central arena (rather like the groundling
Groundling
A groundling was a person that frequented the Globe Theatre in the early 17th century who was too poor to pay to be able to sit on one of the three levels of the theatre. By paying one penny, they could stand in "the Pit", also called "the Yard", just below the stage to watch the play. Standing in...
s in the pit at Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
) or high in the hall's gallery. Promming tickets cost the same for all concerts (£5 as of 2010), providing a considerably cheaper option for the more popular events. Since the tickets cannot be bought in advance (although there are season tickets and weekend passes available), they provide a way of getting in to otherwise sold-out concerts.
In 2010, the Proms Archive was introduced on the BBC Proms webpage, to allow for systematic searching of all works that have been performed, and all artists who have appeared, at The Proms over its history. On 1 September 2011 a Prom given by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is the leading symphony orchestra in Israel. It was originally known as the Palestine Orchestra, and in Hebrew as התזמורת הסימפונית הארץ ישראלית The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit...
was severely affected by interruptions from pro-Palestinian protesters. While the Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is a campaign in the United Kingdom promoting solidarity with the Palestinian people. It was founded in 1982 during the build-up to Israel's invasion of Lebanon.The campaign states:...
had urged a boycott, they denied being behind the disruption inside the Royal Albert Hall. For the first time ever, the BBC took a Prom concert off the air.
Proms seasons: 2006-2011
2006 season
The 2006 season (the 112th) marked the 250th birthday celebrations of MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
and the centenary of Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
's birth. New initiatives included four Saturday matinee concerts at the Cadogan Hall and the chance for audience members to get involved with The Voice, a collaborative piece performed in two Proms on 29 July. On 3 September 2006, a concert was cancelled due to a fire. The season saw the launch of a venture called the Proms Family Orchestra in which children and their extended families can make music with BBC musicians.
2007 season
The 2007 season ran from 13 July–8 September 2007, with the first concert beginning with Walton's Portsmouth PointPortsmouth Point (Walton)
Portsmouth Point is an overture for orchestra by the English composer William Walton, composed in 1925. The work was inspired by Rowlandson's print depicting Portsmouth Point. Walton recalled that the main musical had come into his mind whilst riding the #22 bus in London...
and included Elgar's Cello Concerto
Cello Concerto (Elgar)
Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, his last notable work, is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. Elgar composed it in the aftermath of the First World War, by which time his music had gone out of fashion with the concert-going public...
performed by Paul Watkins
Paul Watkins (cellist)
Paul Watkins is a Welsh classical cellist and conductor. His brother is the composer Huw Watkins. Watkins studied cello with William Pleeth, Melissa Phelps and Johannes Goritzki. In 1988, he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year in the string section...
and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
. Following the previous year's Voice day, brass instrument
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
s were specially featured with two concerts on 28 July 2007. Early press coverage focused heavily on the fact that musical theatre star Michael Ball
Michael Ball (singer)
Michael Ashley Ball, born 27 June 1962) is a British actor, singer, and radio and TV presenter who is best known for the song "Love Changes Everything" and musical theatre roles such as Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Edna Turnblad...
would be the central performer in a concert on 27 August and a concert of British film music on 14 July. This led to media accusations of "dumbing down
Dumbing down
Dumbing down is a pejorative term for a perceived trend to lower the intellectual content of literature, education, news, and other aspects of culture...
", despite Nicholas Kenyon
Nicholas Kenyon
Sir Nicholas Roger Kenyon CBE is an English music administrator, editor and writer on music. He was responsible for the BBC Proms 1996-2007 following which he was appointed Managing Director of the Barbican Centre, Europe's largest multi-arts centre.-Education and career:After attending St Bede's...
's defence of the programme. Anniversaries marked in this Proms season included the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Edward Elgar, the 100th anniversary of the death of Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
and the 50th anniversary of the death of Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
as well as marking 80 years since the first BBC sponsorship of the Proms. The series also included an additional series of four Saturday matinee concerts at Cadogan Hall.
The 2007 season was Nicholas Kenyon's last season as controller of the BBC Proms, before he became Managing Director at the Barbican Centre
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
from October 2007. Roger Wright
Roger Wright (music administrator)
Roger Wright is an English radio administrator and arts administrator. He is currently the Controller of BBC Radio 3 and Director of The Proms....
became controller of the Proms in October 2007, whilst retaining responsibility for BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
and taking up a broader role controlling the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's classical music output across all media.
2008 season
The 2008 season ran from 18 July to 13 September 2008. The BBC released details of the season slightly earlier than usual, on 9 April 2008. Composers whose anniversaries were marked include:- Ralph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
, 2008 being 50 years since his death - Elliott CarterElliott CarterElliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
and Olivier MessiaenOlivier MessiaenOlivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
, each in his centenary year - Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
, to mark the centenary of his death - Karlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
, whose 80th birthday would have fallen during the season (he died on 5 December 2007).
The celebration of Stockhausen was centred on two large-scale concerts on 2 August 2008, and complementing Vaughan Williams's interest in folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, the first Sunday was given over to a celebration of various aspects of British folk, including free events in Kensington Gardens and the Albert Hall, and ending with the first-ever céilidh
Céilidh
In modern usage, a céilidh or ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland, but is now common throughout the Irish and Scottish diasporas...
in the Albert Hall itself.
Other changes included additional pre-Prom talks and events. For the first time, there was a related talk or event before every Prom, held in the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
. The popular family-oriented Prom this year became the Doctor Who Prom, (in place of the Blue Peter Prom of recent years). The Doctor Who Prom included a mini-episode of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, "Music of the Spheres
Music of the Spheres (Doctor Who)
"Music of the Spheres" is a mini-episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that premièred at the Royal Albert Hall in London before the Intermission of the Doctor Who Prom on 27 July 2008, for which it was especially made. The Doctor Who Prom, including the audio for...
".
Just over a month before the announcement, Margaret Hodge
Margaret Hodge
Margaret Hodge MBE MP, also known as Lady Hodge by virtue of her husband's knighthood, is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Barking since 1994. She was the first Minister for Children in 2003 and was Minister of State for Culture and Tourism at the Department...
, a Minister of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet....
suggested "that the Proms was one of several big cultural events that many people did not feel comfortable attending" and advocated an increase in multicultural works and an effort to broaden the audience. Her comments received wide criticism in the musical world and media as being a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the Proms, with Gordon Brown even distancing himself from her remarks.
2009 season
In the 2009 season, which ran from 17 July to 12 September 2009, the total number of concerts reached 100 for the first time. The principal anniversary composers included:- George Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
(250th anniversary of his death) - Joseph HaydnJoseph HaydnFranz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
(200th anniversary of his death) - Felix MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
(200th anniversary of his birth) - Henry PurcellHenry PurcellHenry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
(350th anniversary of his birth)
Other composer anniversaries noted in the 2009 Proms included:
- Louis AndriessenLouis AndriessenLouis Andriessen is a Dutch composer and pianist based in Amsterdam. He teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...
(70th birthday) - Harrison BirtwistleHarrison BirtwistleSir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have...
(75th birthday) - John CaskenJohn CaskenJohn Casken is an English composer, born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England.Casken read music at the University of Birmingham, studying composition and contemporary music with John Joubert and Peter Dickinson. He then went on to study in Poland with Andrzej Dobrowolski on a Polish government...
(60th birthday) - George CrumbGeorge CrumbGeorge Crumb is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques. Examples include seagull effect for the cello , metallic vibrato for the piano George Crumb (born...
(80th birthday) - Frederick DeliusFrederick DeliusFrederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
(75th anniversary of his death) - Edward ElgarEdward ElgarSir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
(75th anniversary of his death) - Jonathan HarveyJonathan Harvey (composer)Jonathan Harvey is a British composer. He has held teaching positions at universities and music conservatories in Europe and the USA and is frequently invited to teach in summer schools around the world.-Life:...
(70th birthday) - Gustav HolstGustav HolstGustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
(75th anniversary of his death) - Albert KetèlbeyAlbert KetèlbeyAlbert William Ketèlbey , born Ketelbey, was an English composer, conductor and pianist.-Biography:...
(50th anniversary of his death) - Bohuslav MartinůBohuslav MartinuBohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...
(50th anniversary of his death) - Peter Maxwell DaviesPeter Maxwell DaviesSir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
(75th birthday) - Heitor Villa-LobosHeitor Villa-LobosHeitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
(50th anniversary of his death)
The humorist and music impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
Gerard Hoffnung
Gerard Hoffnung
Gerard Hoffnung was an artist and musician, best known for his humorous works.- Early years :Born in Berlin, and named Gerhard, he was the only child of a well-to-do Jewish couple, Hildegard and Ludwig Hoffnung...
was also remembered with the performance in the Last Night of Malcolm Arnold
Malcolm Arnold
Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE was an English composer and symphonist.Malcolm Arnold began his career playing trumpet professionally, but by age thirty his life was devoted to composition. He was ranked with Benjamin Britten as one of the most sought-after composers in Britain...
's A Grand Grand Overture, which was commissioned for the first Hoffnung Music Festival. The 2009 Proms featured Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
music for the first time, as part of a day-long series of concerts and events also covering Indian classical music
Indian classical music
The origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
. Performers in the day included Ram Narayan
Ram Narayan
Ram Narayan , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician who popularized the bowed instrument sarangi as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani classical music and became the first internationally successful sarangi player....
, Rajan and Sajan Mishra
Rajan and Sajan Mishra
Rajan and Sajan Mishra are brothers, renowned singers of the khyal style of Indian classical music. They were awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2007, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, jointly in 1998 and the Gandharwa National Award for 1994-1995....
, and Shaan
Shaan (singer)
Shaan , is an Indian playback singer, and television host. He hosted the shows Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs, Star Voice of India and "Star Voice of India 2"...
. Noted historical anniversaries covered in the 2009 Proms included the 75th anniversary of the MGM film musical, and the 10th year of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
There was a child-oriented Prom to mark the Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
bicentenary as well as a Free Family Prom including the Proms Family Orchestra.
2010 season
The 2010 Proms season ran from 16 July to 11 September. The principal anniversary composers included:- Frédéric ChopinFrédéric ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
(200th anniversary of his birth) - Gustav MahlerGustav MahlerGustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
(150th anniversary of his birth) - Robert SchumannRobert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
(200th anniversary of his birth) - Stephen SondheimStephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
(80th birthday) - Arvo PärtArvo PärtArvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
(75th birthday) - Rodgers and HammersteinRodgers and HammersteinRichard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
(50th anniversary of the death of Oscar Hammerstein IIOscar Hammerstein IIOscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
)
Other anniversaries of composers featured at The Proms included:
- Thomas Arne (300th anniversary of his birth)
- Wilhelm Friedemann BachWilhelm Friedemann BachWilhelm Friedemann Bach , the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach, was a German composer and performer...
(200th anniversary of his birth) - Samuel BarberSamuel BarberSamuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
(100th anniversary of his birth) - Alban BergAlban BergAlban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
(125th anniversary of his birth) - George BenjaminGeorge Benjamin (composer)George William John Benjamin, CBE is a British composer of classical music. He is also a conductor, pianist and teacher....
(50th birthday) - James DillonJames Dillon (composer)James Dillon, born October 29, 1950 in Glasgow, Scotland, is a Scottish composer often regarded as belonging to the New Complexity school. Dillon studied art and design, linguistics, piano, acoustics, Indian rhythm, mathematics and computer music, but is self-taught in composition.Honors include...
(60th birthday) - Bayan NorthcottBayan NorthcottBayan Northcott is an English composer and music critic.Born in London, he studied English at Oxford University, then taught the subject for six years before taking up music criticism. Later, encouraged by Alexander Goehr and Hans Keller, he took up composition...
(70th birthday) - Gunther SchullerGunther SchullerGunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
(85th birthday) - Mark-Anthony TurnageMark-Anthony TurnageMark-Anthony Turnage is a prolific English composer of classical music. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller...
(50th birthday) - Hugo WolfHugo WolfHugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in...
(150th anniversary of his birth)
In addition, Hubert Parry
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
and Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
received particular focus. One day was dedicated particularly to Sir Henry Wood, including a recreation of the 1910 Last Night. For families, the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
Prom, first introduced in 2008, received new renditions hosted by the newest Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companions Amy Pond
Amy Pond
Amelia Jessica 'Amy' Pond is a fictional character portrayed by Karen Gillan in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
(Karen Gillan
Karen Gillan
Karen Sheila Gillan is a Scottish actress and former model who is best known for her current portrayal of Amy Pond in the British science fiction series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
)and Rory Williams
Rory Williams
Rory Williams is a fictional character portrayed by Arthur Darvill in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Having been introduced at the start of the 5th series, Rory joins the Eleventh Doctor as a companion in the middle of Series 5...
(Arthur Darvill
Arthur Darvill
Thomas Arthur Darvill is an English actor, known professionally as Arthur Darvill. He is noted for his work in the plays Terre Haute and Swimming with Sharks , but is probably best known for his role as the Eleventh Doctor's Companion Rory Williams in the television series Doctor Who.-Early and...
). The booking system was also revised with a new online system to allow ticket buyers to set up a personalised Proms plan in advance to speed up the booking process.
2011 season
The 2011 Proms season began on 15 July 2011 and ran until 10 September 2011.It saw the first ever 'Comedy Prom' hosted by comedian and pianist Tim Minchin
Tim Minchin
Timothy David "Tim" Minchin is a British-Australian comedian, actor, and musician.Tim Minchin is best known for his musical comedy, which has featured in six CDs, three DVDs and a number of live comedy shows which he has performed internationally. He has also appeared on television in Australia,...
, and featuring a series of other comedians, which reflects the growing relationship between music and comedy.
Last Night of the Proms
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
(first half) and BBC1
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
(second half). The concert is traditionally in a lighter, 'winding-down' vein, with popular classics being followed by a series of British patriotic pieces in the second half of the concert. This sequence traditionally begins with Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's Pomp and Circumstance March
Pomp and Circumstance Marches
The "Pomp and Circumstance Marches" , Op. 39 are a series of marches for orchestra composed by Sir Edward Elgar....
No. 1 (Land of Hope and Glory
Land of Hope and Glory
"Land of Hope and Glory" is a British patriotic song, with music by Edward Elgar and lyrics by A. C. Benson, written in 1902.- Composition :...
), and continues with Sir Henry Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs
Fantasia on British Sea Songs
Fantasia on British Sea Songs or Fantasy on British Sea Songs is a piece of classical music arranged by Sir Henry Wood in 1905 to mark the centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar. It is a medley of British sea songs and for many years was seen as an indispensable item at the BBC's Last Night of the...
, which culminates in Thomas Arne's Rule, Britannia!
Rule, Britannia!
"Rule, Britannia!" is a British patriotic song, originating from the poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740...
. However, the Fantasia has not featured since 2007, though Rule, Britannia! has retained its place in the programme in its own right. The concert concludes with Hubert Parry
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
's Jerusalem (a setting of a poem by William Blake
And did those feet in ancient time
"And did those feet in ancient time" is a short poem by William Blake from the preface to his epic Milton a Poem, one of a collection of writings known as the Prophetic Books. The date on the title page of 1804 for Milton is probably when the plates were begun, but the poem was printed c. 1808...
), and the British national anthem
God Save the Queen
"God Save the Queen" is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms and British Crown Dependencies. The words of the song, like its title, are adapted to the gender of the current monarch, with "King" replacing "Queen", "he" replacing "she", and so forth, when a king reigns...
. The repeat of the Elgar march at the Last Night can be traced to the spontaneous audience demand for an encore at its premiere at the 1901 Proms. The closing sequence of the second half became fully established in 1954 during Sargent's tenure as chief conductor of The Proms. The Prommers have made a tradition of singing Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...
after the end of the concert, but it is not in the programme. However, when James Loughran
James Loughran
James Loughran CBE, DMus., FRNCM, FRSAMD is a Scottish conductor.-Early life:Educated at St Aloysius' College in Glasgow, Loughran conducted at school and afterwards, while studying economics and law...
, a Scot, conducted at the Last Night in the 1970s he did include the piece in the programme.
Tickets are highly sought after. Promming tickets are the same price as for other concerts during the season, but tickets for seats are more expensive. To buy a seat in advance, it is necessary to have bought tickets for at least five other Proms in the season to have a chance of getting a Last Night ticket, and either an advance booking must include those five concerts, plus an application for a Last Night ticket, or the ticket stubs must be presented at the box office when purchasing a Last Night ticket for that season; tickets can only be purchased in an equivalent (or lower) price band to that for the previous tickets. Once the advance booking period ends, there is no requirement to have booked for additional concerts, but the concert is generally sold out by this time, though returns may be available. For standing places, full season tickets automatically include last night admission, half-season ticket holders have access to a special distribution of tickets, but must purchase their Last Night ticket in addition to the cost of the season ticket; day Prommers also have to present five ticket stubs at the box office. Some standing tickets are sold on the day, just as for other concerts during the season. In the post-War period, with the growing popularity of the "Last Night", the only way to obtain tickets was through a postal ballot system where prospective buyers submitted an application well in advance, along with a stamped and addressed reply envelope. The lucky ones received their tickets by return. A ballot remains for the chance to win 1 of 100 stalls seats. Prior to 2009, the requirement was for six concerts in addition to the Last Night when purchasing a ticket in advance.
Prommers with tickets are likely to queue up much earlier than usual (many overnight, and in past years, some slept outside the hall up to three weeks to guard their place in the queue) in order to ensure a good place to stand in the hall. The resulting camaraderie adds to the atmosphere. Fancy dress is an optional extra: from dinner jackets to patriotic T-shirts. Many use the occasion for an exuberant display of Britishness
Britishness
Britishness is the state or quality of being British, or of embodying British characteristics, and is used to refer to that which binds and distinguishes the British people and forms the basis of their unity and identity, or else to explain expressions of British culture—such as habits, behaviours...
. Union Flag
Union Flag
The Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
s are carried and waved by the Prommers, especially during Rule Britannia. Flags (mostly national flags and regional flags), balloons and party poppers are all welcome. Sir Henry Wood's bust is crowned with a laurel chaplet
Laurel wreath
A laurel wreath is a circular wreath made of interlocking branches and leaves of the bay laurel , an aromatic broadleaf evergreen. In Greek mythology, Apollo is represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head...
by representatives of the Promenaders, who often wipe an imaginary bead of sweat from his forehead or make some similar gentle visual joke.
Another tradition of the Last Night is that near the end, the conductor makes a speech thanking the musicians and audiences, mentioning the main themes covered through the season, noting the cumulative season's donations collected by the Promenaders' Musical Charities raised over the season, and announcing the date of the First Night of the Proms for the next season. The tradition of the Last Night speech dates from 1941, when Sir Henry Wood gave the first such speech at the close of that Proms season, the first at the Royal Albert Hall, where he thanked colleagues and sponsors. Wood gave another similar speech of thanks at the 1942 Last Night, and a pre-recorded version was aired to the audience at the 1943 Last Night. During his tenure, Sargent established the tone of making the Last Night speeches more humorous in nature. Subsequent conductors at the Last Night have generally continued this tradition, although one exception was in 1997 when Sir Andrew Davis
Andrew Davis (conductor)
Sir Andrew Frank Davis CBE is a British conductor.Born in Ashridge, Hertfordshire to Robert J. Davis and his wife Florence J. née Badminton, Davis grew up in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and in Watford. Davis attended Watford Boys' Grammar School, where he studied classics in his sixth form years...
more seriously addressed the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
, Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
, and Sir Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
in his 1997 Last Night speech.
The Royal Albert Hall could be filled many times over with people wishing to attend the Last Night. To accommodate these people, and to cater for those who are not near London, the Proms in the Park concerts were started in 1996. Initially there was only one, in Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
, adjacent to the Hall. More locations have been added in recent years, and in 2005, Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
hosted a Last Night Prom in the Park which was broadcast live from each venue. 2007 saw Manchester's prom being replaced by one in Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
. 2008 featured a reduction from 5 to 4 Proms in the Park, in Hyde Park, Belfast, Glasgow and Swansea. 2009 returned to a total of 5 Proms in the Park, in Hyde Park, Glasgow, Swansea, County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
and Salford. Each location has its own live concert, typically playing the countries' respective national anthems, before joining in a live big screen video link up with the Royal Albert Hall for the traditional finale.
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 2000–2004, expressed a desire to tone down the nationalism of the Last Night somewhat, and on the Last Night of the seasons from 2002 until 2007 Rule Britannia has only been heard as part of Henry Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs
Fantasia on British Sea Songs
Fantasia on British Sea Songs or Fantasy on British Sea Songs is a piece of classical music arranged by Sir Henry Wood in 1905 to mark the centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar. It is a medley of British sea songs and for many years was seen as an indispensable item at the BBC's Last Night of the...
(another piece traditional to the Last Night) rather than separately. Slatkin, an American and the first non-Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
citizen to lead the Last Night, conducted his first Last Night in 2001, just days after the 9/11 attacks. The atmosphere was more restrained and less festive than normal, with a heavily revised programme where the finale of Beethoven's 9th Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
replaced the Sea Songs, and Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber
Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
's Adagio for Strings
Adagio for Strings
Adagio for Strings is a work by Samuel Barber, arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11. Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year as he wrote the quartet...
was performed in tribute to the victims of the attacks.
On the day of the 2005 Last Night, the hall management received word of a bomb threat, which led to a thorough search of the Albert Hall for 5 hours, but the concert took place with a modest time delay. This has led to increased security concerns, given the stature of the Last Night in British culture, which Jacqui Kelly of the Royal Albert Hall staff noted:
"That was quite a nerve-racker—our biggest event, the one everybody knows the Albert Hall for, and we were in real danger of losing it. We're an iconic thing, up there in the public eye, so we have to expect that."
2008 also contained some departures from the traditional programme. Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 was moved to after the conductor's speech. In addition, most of Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs was replaced by Vaughan Williams's Sea Songs
Sea Songs
Sea Songs is an arrangement of three British sea-songs by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. It is based on the songs "Princess Royal", "Admiral Benbow" and "Portsmouth". The work is a march of roughly four minutes duration...
as a final tribute in his
anniversary year. However, Wood's arrangements of naval bugle calls from the start of the Fantasia were retained, and Sargent's arrangement of Rule Britannia returned with Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....
as soloist. As on his 1994 Last Night appearance, he sang one verse in a Welsh translation, with the chorus also translated into Welsh.
2009 saw the continued absence of Wood's Sea Songs, this time replaced by specially commissioned fanfares, and extracts from Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's Music for the Royal Fireworks. In 2009, for the first time, the Last Night was shown live in several cinemas across Asia and in Canada and Australia.
Last Night Conductors
The following table lists by year the conductorConducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
s of the Last Night of the Proms. Normally, the Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
leads this concert, but guest conductors have directed the Last Night on several occasions.
| Conductor | | Last Night(s) ... | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19th c.–1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | |
| Sir Henry Wood | 1895–1939, 1941–1943 | |||||||
| Sir Adrian Boult Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was... |
1945, 1946 | |||||||
| Basil Cameron Basil Cameron Basil Cameron, CBE was an English conductor. He was born in Reading, Berkshire, England, the son of a German immigrant family. His birth name was Basil George Cameron Hindenberg. -Career:... |
1945 | |||||||
| Constant Lambert Constant Lambert Leonard Constant Lambert was a British composer and conductor.-Early life:Lambert, the son of Russian-born Australian painter George Lambert, was educated at Christ's Hospital and the Royal College of Music... |
||||||||
| Sir Malcolm Sargent Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works... |
1947–1966 | |||||||
| Colin Davis Colin Davis Sir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor. His repertoire is broad, but among the composers with whom he is particularly associated are Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett.... |
1967-1969 | 1970–1972 | ||||||
| Norman Del Mar Norman Del Mar Norman Del Mar CBE was a British conductor, horn player, and biographer. As a conductor, he specialized in the music of late romantic composers; including Edward Elgar, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. He left a great legacy of recordings of British music, in particular Elgar, Vaughan Williams,... |
1973, 1975 | 1983 | ||||||
| Sir Charles Groves Charles Groves Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors.... |
1974, 1976, 1978 | |||||||
| James Loughran James Loughran James Loughran CBE, DMus., FRNCM, FRSAMD is a Scottish conductor.-Early life:Educated at St Aloysius' College in Glasgow, Loughran conducted at school and afterwards, while studying economics and law... |
1977, 1979 | 1981, 1982, 1984 | ||||||
| Sir Charles Mackerras Charles Mackerras Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan... |
1980 | |||||||
| Vernon Handley Vernon Handley Vernon George "Tod" Handley CBE was a British conductor, known in particular for his support of British composers. He was born of a Welsh father and an Irish mother into a musical family in Enfield, London. He acquired the nickname "Tod" because his feet were turned in at his birth, which his... |
1985 | |||||||
| Raymond Leppard Raymond Leppard Raymond "Def" Leppard, CBE is a British conductor and harpsichordist.He was born in London and grew up in Bath, where he was educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, now known as the Beechen Cliff School... |
1986 | |||||||
| Mark Elder Mark Elder Sir Mark Philip Elder, CBE is a British conductor. He is the music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.-Biography:Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England, the son of a dentist... |
1987 | 2006 | ||||||
| Sir Andrew Davis Andrew Davis (conductor) Sir Andrew Frank Davis CBE is a British conductor.Born in Ashridge, Hertfordshire to Robert J. Davis and his wife Florence J. née Badminton, Davis grew up in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and in Watford. Davis attended Watford Boys' Grammar School, where he studied classics in his sixth form years... |
1988 | 1990–1992, 1994–2000 | ||||||
| Sir John Pritchard | 1989 | |||||||
| Barry Wordsworth Barry Wordsworth Barry Wordsworth is a British conductor.From 1989 to 2006, Wordsworth was principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and now holds the title of conductor laureate. From 1990 to 1995, Wordsworth was music director of the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden. He began his second tenure in that post in... |
1993 | |||||||
| Leonard Slatkin Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,... |
2001–2004 | |||||||
| Paul Daniel Paul Daniel Paul Daniel CBE is an English conductor. He is particularly noted for performances and recordings of opera and of British music.... |
2005 | |||||||
| Jiří Bělohlávek Jirí Belohlávek Jiří Bělohlávek is a Czech conductor. His father was a barrister and judge. In his youth Bělohlávek studied cello with Miloš Sádlo and was later a graduate of the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague... |
2007 | 2010 | ||||||
| Sir Roger Norrington Roger Norrington Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington, CBE is a British conductor. He is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington.... |
2008 | |||||||
| David Robertson David Robertson (conductor) David Eric Robertson is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.-Early life:... |
2009 | |||||||
| Edward Gardner Edward Gardner (conductor) Edward Gardner is a British conductor.Gardner sang as a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral. As a youth, he played piano, clarinet and organ. He attended the King's School, Gloucester and Eton College. At the University of Cambridge, he continued as a music student, and was a choral scholar in... |
2011 | |||||||
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
The seasons of 1940 and 1944 were curtailed by German bombing, so there was no official "Last Night", Wood died shortly before what should have been the end of the 1944 season Sir Henry from 1911 onwards Later Sir Colin Later Sir Mark Sir Andrew from 1994 onwards Constant Lambert, Basil Cameron and Sir Adrian Boult jointly undertook proceedings upon the return in 1945 Robertson has been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC SO since 2005
See also
- BBC Electric PromsBBC Electric PromsThe BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms was an October music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006-2010...
- List of music festivals in the United Kingdom
Proms Controllers
- William GlockWilliam GlockSir William Frederick Glock was a British music critic and musical administrator.-Biography:Glock was born in London. He read history at the University of Cambridge and was an organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...
(1960–1973) - Robert Ponsonby (1973–1985)
- John DrummondJohn Drummond (arts administrator)Sir John Richard Gray Drummond CBE was an English arts administrator who spent most of his career at the BBC. He was the son of a master mariner in the British India line and an Australian lieder singer....
(1986–1995) - Nicholas KenyonNicholas KenyonSir Nicholas Roger Kenyon CBE is an English music administrator, editor and writer on music. He was responsible for the BBC Proms 1996-2007 following which he was appointed Managing Director of the Barbican Centre, Europe's largest multi-arts centre.-Education and career:After attending St Bede's...
(1996–2007) - Roger WrightRoger Wright (music administrator)Roger Wright is an English radio administrator and arts administrator. He is currently the Controller of BBC Radio 3 and Director of The Proms....
(2007–present)