By now Wood's phenomenal energies were waning, and he passed away a whisker short of his half-century of conducting the Proms. “Democratising the message of music” was, in … With this support, the Proms, or the Mr Robert Newman’s Promenade Concerts, as they were officially named, were born. Newman arranged to meet Wood at Queen's Hall one spring morning in 1894 to talk about the project. And promenading in the Royal Albert Hall's arena continues to be a central feature, lending the Proms its unique, informal atmosphere. The first ‘First Night’ After the War, the traditional Wagner Nights became unfashionable. The first Proms concert took place on 10 August 1895 and was the brainchild of the impresario Robert Newman, manager of the newly built Queen's Hall in London. As a child and teenager, I used to go to the Proms every year with my parents, who would pour over the programme as soon as it was published (this, of course, Robert Newman. In 2011 the Budapest Festival Orchestra, conducted by Iván Fischer, offered on-the-spot programming, when the pieces, selected by tickets drawn from a tuba’s bell, were then put to a vote. "Robert Newman, founder (with Henry Wood) of Proms concerts" published on by Oxford University Press. Read about our approach to external linking. Initially the Proms under Henry Wood and Robert Newman had been much more populist than nowadays. Sir Henry Wood surveys the bomb damage after an air raid destroys the earlier home of the Proms, Queen’s Hall, close by Broadcasting House in London, in 1941, Promenaders queue outside the Royal Albert Hall in 1945, This timeline made for the 90th anniversary, 10 extraordinary facts that sum up the spirit of the Proms. In BBC Proms In 1894 Robert Newman, the manager of London’s newly constructed Queen’s Hall, conceived of a series of concerts that would be available to the public at an affordable price and that would cultivate a broader audience for classical and contemporary art music. By the 1920s, Wood had steered the repertoire entirely to classical music. Robert Newman were Henry Wood and Robert Newman were the pioneers who set up the Proms. Share. By 1920 Wood had introduced to the Proms many of the leading composers of the day, including Richard Strauss, Debussy, Rakhmaninov, Ravel and Vaughan Williams. Last weekend the Last Night of the Proms was held at Royal Albert Hall, the culmination of the summer music season’s 117th year. ‘Proms’ is short for Promenade concerts – informal and inexpensive concerts where Promenaders (‘Prommers’) stand to listen. When in 1926 Robert Newman died, the future of the Proms seemed in doubt. To realize his vision, he… He was well known for organising and financing musical events. Henry Wood, who conducted almost every concert for nearly half a century, lifted his baton for the first time on Saturday 10 August 1895. 'Popular at first, gradually raising the standard until I have created a public for classical and modern music.' 'I am going to run nightly concerts to train the public in easy stages,' he explained. The British Broadcasting Corporation. The festival focuses on Western classical tradition and is held over an eight-week period each summer. This year, over its two months, there are more than 90 concerts. I n 1895, when Henry Wood and Robert Newman founded the Proms, their idea was not to give the people what they want but to expand people’s tastes, creating an audience and educating it … He asked him to be the conductor of the Proms. The Proms was the brainchild of impresario Robert Newman, whose ambition was to enable people to enjoy ‘serious music’. A man called Dr Cathcart gave them enough money to get an orchestra together. The Proms may be over for another year, but you don't have to wait that long to find incredible classical performances. 1937. BBC Proms, official name the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, large-scale British music festival, sponsored by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The first Proms concert took place on 10 August 1895 and was the brainchild of the impresario Robert Newman, manager of the newly built Queen's Hall in London. The more 'serious' items were confined to the first half, and a major attraction of the shorter second half was the orchestral Grand Fantasia - choice morsels extracted from popular operas. Three days after Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, the BBC decentralised its Music Department and announced that it was unable to support the Proms. The first “Promenade Concert” was held at the Queen’s Hall in London on 10 August 1895 at the instigation of theatrical impresario Robert Newman. A Proms Robert Newman impresszárió elgondolása alapján született. És conegut per la fundació de la sèrie de concerts de música clàssica que ara es coneixen com The Proms.. Nascut el 1858 en una família acomodada, Newman va tenir una carrera inicial com a "Stockjobber" a la ciutat de Londres. Other articles where Robert Newman is discussed: BBC Proms: In 1894 Robert Newman, the manager of London’s newly constructed Queen’s Hall, conceived of a series of concerts that would be available to the public at an affordable price and that would cultivate a broader audience for classical and contemporary art music. He asked him to be the conductor of the Proms. He was engaged by the impresario Robert Newman to conduct a series of promenade concerts at the Queen's Hall, offering a mixture of classical and popular music at low prices. The Proms now reached a far wider audience and although some feared that broadcasting would reduce audience numbers, Wood emphasised its role in achieving his aim 'of truly democratising the message of music, and making its beneficent effect universal'. In 1895, ‘The Proms’ was an idea conceived by businessman Robert Newman to bring the joys of orchestral, classical music to people across London and the rest of the UK. The price of a promenade ticket (a ticket for a standing place) was one shilling. 1944 marked two anniversaries: the fiftieth anniversary of the Proms, and Henry Wood's seventy-fifth birthday. On 10 August 1895 the first Promenade Concert took place in the Queen’s Hall. Malcolm Sargent, Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1950, gave most of the performances, but the 1950s also saw a gradual increase in the number of orchestras taking part. Promenade concerts were still popular when the entrepreneur Robert Newman invited conductor Henry Wood to launch a new series at London’s Queen’s Hall in 1895. It was not until the following season that the BBC returned to sponsor the Proms. Such concerts were held in London’s pleasure gardens in the mid-18th century, yet the term is now most notably associated with the BBC Proms. europe England. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts ("The Proms") founded by Robert Newman together with Henry Wood. It became London's principal concert venue. ‘Mr Robert Newman’s Promenade Concerts’ are better known, 123 years later, as the Proms. The Proms was founded in 1895 by impresario Robert Newman, who decided to plug a hole in the culturally fallow summer months by experimenting with … Newman appointed Henry Wood as conductor for the first Promenade concert in 1895 and Wood went on to wield the baton for nearly half a century of Proms. The idea was conceived by well-known impresario Robert Newman, along with a young conductor named Henry Wood. Robert Newman and Henry Wood staged the very first of ‘Mr Newman’s Promenade Concerts’ (the event we now know as the BBC Proms) over 100 years ago, in August 1895. Wood and Newman were keen to introduce audiences to an ever wider range of music. The Proms was the brainchild of Robert Newman, whose ambition was to enable people to enjoy ‘serious music’. The BBC took over the Proms, and for three years the concerts were given by 'Sir Henry Wood and his Symphony Orchestra', until the BBC Symphony Orchestra was formed in 1930. The two key names behind the creation of the Proms are Robert Newman, the businessman and music impresario, and Sir Henry Wood, the conductor.Inspired by the increasingly popular outdoor promenade concerts mentioned above, Newman wished to create a wider audience for classical music concerts by offering low ticket prices and an informal atmosphere, … In the first seasons, a tradition was established of a Wagner Night on Mondays and a Beethoven Night on Fridays. An increasing number of Proms concerts include contemporary works. The annual series of Proms continuing today had their roots in that movement. The 2015 BBC Proms start in two weeks’time. “Democratising the message of music” was, in … Visit the Proms performance archive, containing details of all concerts since 1895. With this support, the Proms, or the Mr Robert Newman’s Promenade Concerts, as they were officially named, were born. The 1963 season brought international figures such as Georg Solti, Leopold Stokowski and Carlo Maria Giulini, and in 1966, the first foreign ensemble, the Moscow Radio Orchestra, appeared, followed soon after by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic. Wood continued to present an enterprising mixture of the familiar and the adventurous, programming new works each season (referred to as 'novelties'). The first ‘First Night’ The only other hall available in London for orchestral concerts was the Royal Albert Hall, opened in 1871, and the Proms took place there in 1941. Robert Newman knew a very good young conductor, Henry Wood. A BBC Proms, vagy ahogy szintén ismert, The Proms, avagy hivatalos nevén Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, 1895 óta Londonban évente megrendezett komolyzenei fesztivál. With the arrival of William Glock as BBC Controller, Music, in 1959, the identity of the Proms began to change. But the Proms were running at a loss, and in 1927 Chappell's announced its withdrawal of financial support. Find out how to listen to this year's performances if you live outside the UK. While Newman had previously organised symphony orchestra concerts at the hall, his aim was to reach a wider audience by offering more popular programmes, adopting a less formal promenade arrangement, and keeping ticket prices low. 1944. The 1970s brought other new features such as a series of Late Night concerts and Pre-Prom Talks. BBC Proms Featured in. In this unprecedented year – as the Royal Albert Hall’s seats lie empty and as music-lovers more than ever experience the Proms on radio, TV and online – Leanne Langley explores the ways in which the Proms and its audiences have shaped each other The core orchestral repertoire, a mainstay of the Proms, was reduced to accommodate a more experimental style of programming, one which carried bold juxtapositions and reflected current musical trends from around the world. The series was known as 'Mr Robert Newman's Promenade Concerts' and the programmes were perhaps over-generous by today's standards, lasting around three hours. ENT specialist Dr George Cathcart gave Newman’s idea the financial backing on the condition that Henry Wood be employed as the sole conductor for the series. NEXT> 8. Basil Cameron featured prominently alongside Sargent, but other influential figures also began to appear: Charles Groves, Colin Davis, Norman Del Mar, Charles Mackerras. The idea was to have concerts played along the promenade, and allow cheap standing tickets to get sold to the public. The festival dates back to the late 19th century when a series of orchestra concerts wer e held under the guidance of Robert Newman who aimed at broadening the audience with a more casual atmosphere and affordable pricing. In the same year the BBC had established its status as a Corporation with a mandate 'to inform, educate and entertain', clearly a vision that Henry Wood held for the Proms. Public voting entered the Proms in 2001–7, when Radio Times readers and BBC website users were polled for their choice of arias and overtures for the Nation’s Favourite Prom. The informal atmosphere was encouraged by cheap promenade tickets - one shilling (5p) for a single concert, or a guinea (£1.05) for a season ticket. This timeline made for the 90th anniversary explores the BBC’s ongoing relationship with a very British institution. Audiences have been central to the unique atmosphere of the Proms ever since the festival began 125 years ago. He wanted to broaden the audience for classical concerts by offering popular music in an informal atmosphere. The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Sir Henry Wood, founder-conductor of the Proms, believed in making the best-quality classical music available to the widest possible audience and that ambition remains central to the BBC Proms today. On 10 August 1895 the first Promenade Concert took place in the Queen’s Hall. The series of classical concerts was founded by conductor Henry Wood and businessman and music impresario Robert Newman in 1895. A brief history of the Proms. To realize his vision, he… Even then, Prom concerts were not a new idea: they started in France in the 1830s and were introduced to the UK shortly afterwards. The Proms began in 1895 as the brainchild of impresario Robert Newman and conductor Henry Wood. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. In 1915 the publishers Chappell and Co., having earlier taken over the lease of the hall when Newman had run into financial troubles, also took over the orchestra, which was renamed the New Queen's Hall Orchestra. the Proms is normally very The atmosphere at The atmosphere at the Proms is normally very friendly. The Proms were the brainchild of the Victorian impresario, Robert Newman. A Robert Newman impresszárió elképzeléseként elindított nyári rendezvénysorozat a brit kultúra jelentős eseménye, az egyik legnagyobb és legdemokratikusabb komolyzenei fesztiválja. Wood and co-founder Robert Newman had a vision for a series of concerts that anyone could attend, regardless of how much money they earned. BBC Proms (Map)Royal Albert Hall. Robert Newman knew a very good young conductor, Henry Wood. Since the first home of the Proms, the Queen’s Hall, was destroyed in 1941, concerts have been held in the Royal Albert Hall, near Hyde Park in London. Part of the Proms . Promenade concerts were still popular when the entrepreneur Robert Newman invited conductor Henry Wood to launch a new series at London’s Queen’s Hall in 1895.