The Proms: A Living Tradition

When Henry Wood, a fine pianist and conductor and Robert New­man, an enterprising manager launched that first season of Prome­nade Concerts in 1895, the idea of informal, cheap, standing concerts was by no means new. Such concerts had their origin in the famous eighteenth-century pleasure gardens, where 'promenade' really did mean walking around.

Many series of light promenade concerts took place in the middle years of the nineteenth century in London's music-halls and theatres; what they all had in common was a popular choice: of music, low prices, and the availability of refreshments.

Socially, the early Proms were never aimed at London's fashion­able society. They took place during the summer months when the more leisured classes would be out of London, and as a consequence there was little other serious music to be heard. The more serious music was confined to the first part of the concert.

In the 1890s up to half of a programme might consist of solo items: songs with piano accompaniment (often ballads of the most rip-roar­ing patriotism or mawkish sentimentality), and solos for all sorts of instruments, particularly the cornet. The earliest Proms would of­ten finish with a rousing march or waltz to send the audience away happy.

All the time Wood and Newman were succeeding in raising stan­dards and introducing the Prom audiences to a wider and more seri­ous range of music.

By the fifth season Wood had introduced music by such 'modern' composers as Rimsky-Korsakov, Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky,

Chabrier, Glazunov, Dvorak, Saint-Saens and Balakirev. By the sec­ond season, in 1896, a practice had been established of Wagner Nights on Mondays and Beethoven Nights on Fridays. Within a few years the ballads and the cornet solos had begun to fade away, and improb­able fantasias on operatic tunes were giving way to properly prepared extracts from the operas.

One very positive by-product of World War I was the increasing number of women orchestral players. Apart from the harp, tradition­ally a ladies' instrument, orchestras had until then been strictly male preserves. It was in 1913 that Wood had first encouraged as "mixed bathing in the sea of music", and he continued to support the engage­ment of women players.

The Proms, now a traditional institution, continued to flourish after War. In 1919 the Queen's Hall was redecorated. Broadcasting was to be the salvation of the Proms. In 1927 the British Broadcast­ing Company had become a Corporation with the mandate 'to in­form, educate and entertain'. After intricate negotiations, the BBC agreed to take over the Proms. Starting in 1927, broadcasting opened the Proms to a far wider audience.

The Proms in the 1930s were particularly favourable to British music. There was hardly any British composer of significance who failed to have a piece introduced at the Proms during this decade, from the elderly Elgar to the young Benjamin Britten playing the solo part of his new Piano Concerto.

At this time, the only place in London suitable for large scale or­chestral concerts was the Royal Albert Hall. Neither more beautiful nor more elegant, but nearly twice the size of the Queen's Hall, with a capacity of nearly 6,500 the Royal Albert Hall began its Prom ca­reer in the summer of 1941.

By 1947 almost every note performed at the Proms was being broadcast, divided between the BBC Light Programme, Home Ser­vice and the new Third Programme. The First Night of the Proms was televised for the first time in 1953, and the Last Night the fol­lowing year.

By the early 1960s there was a growing feeling that the Proms were in need of change and renewal. The history of the Proms during the 1960s is essentially that of a transformation from a mainly Brit­ish enterprise — to an international festival.

In 1966 the Moscow Radio Orchestra, conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky (later to become chief conductor of the BBC SO),

became the first of many distinguished foreign orchestras to play at the Proms. Although today the mainstay of the Proms is still provid­ed by the BBC orchestras, a modern season will be performed by lit­erally dozens of other orchestras and ensembles from Britain and from all over the world.

In 1970 an extra late-night concert was held for the first time, and starting in 1971 there were experiments with different venues for some concerts. The Royal Opera House hosted a Prom performance of Boris Godunov.

Other Prom events which have gone beyond the 'traditional' repertory have included brass band and steel band performances (linked with a picnic in Kensington Gardens); children's Proms; and jazz of various shades performed by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

If you buy a ticket for one of the seats in Albert Hall — whether in the stalls, the boxes or the balcony — you will realize long before the players come on to the stage what makes the Proms so special and different from other concerts: the arena in front of you is crowded with people, many of them very young, who have come to stand through the concert.

Over the years, many foreign musicians have expressed their as­tonishment at the concentration of the Prommers, who can stand in perfect silence during the longest works. This intensity is much ap­preciated by performers, who sense an immediate communication, often hard to achieve on other large halls. The BBC's patronage also extends to performers, and many young artists owe their first wide exposure to an appearance at the Proms. For some, it has been the beginning of a long relationship with their audience.

There is no doubt about the continuing vitality of the Proms as they complete their first hundred years. Audiences are consistently large and enthusiastic. Another sign of vitality is the level of public debate which the Proms can stimulate. Planning and repertory are under constant discussion; there is the perennial question of the cor­rect balance between old and new music, young or mature artists, British and foreign, the familiar and unfamiliar.

Less well-known music, both old and new, can be given more prom­inence. The range of artists performing in any one season is now truly

BBC SO - BBC Symphony Orchestra

international, and includes new talents alongside the world's biggest names.

For the variety and quantity of music performed, for the standards of performance and for the huge numbers of listeners, the Proms have over the years become a unique and irreplaceable festival, not just in the musical life of Britain, but of the world.

Answer the following questions.

1. Who were Henry Wood and Robert Newman and what did they launch in 1895?

2. Why wasn't the idea of cheap and standing concerts new?

3. What did the concerts have in common?

4. What kind of audience were the early Proms aimed at?

5. What can you say about the programs of the early proms?

6. What kind of music had Wood introduced by the fifth sea­son?

7. What was one very positive by-product of World War I?

8. How successful were the Proms in the after-war period?

9. What can be said about the 1930s?

 

10. What role did the Royal Albert Hall play in the history of the Proms?

11. When were the Proms broadcast and televised for the first time?

12. The history of the Proms during the 1960s is essentially that of a transformation. What transformation?

13. Whose orchestra became the first of many distinguished for­eign companies to play at the Proms?

14. Who became the chief conductor of the BBC SO?

15. What makes the Proms so special and different from other con­certs and what have many foreign musicians expressed astonishment at?

16. What has made the Proms a unique and irreplaceable festival?