The Original Venue
In 1895 London had a newly built concert hall, the Queens Hall. Located in central London, with seventeen entrances from three different streets, the hall could seat more than 2,500 people. Crucially, it was reputed to have excellent acoustics.
Mr Robert Newman, the hall’s manager, organised the first Promenade Concert season in August 1895. The size of the Queen’s Hall made this an excellent venue because Newman planned programmes of popular music for large audiences at low prices. Some concerts would last for several hours and the price of a ticket was one shilling. (5p or a few cents.) A season ticket could be purchased for one guinea. (This is the equivalent of £1.05 or about 2 US dollars.)
Henry Wood and the Promenade Concerts
Newman appointed Henry Wood to conduct the concerts. By 1895 Wood was an established musician with several publications to his credit. Throughout his life he published arrangements of music by popular composers such as Purcell and Bach sometimes using the pseudonym Paul Klenovsky.
The Promenade Concert season became an annual event and was soon established as a great British tradition. Programmes slowly developed to include both popular and classical music to suit the changing tastes of British audiences.
Informal Atmosphere
In the informal atmosphere of the Queen’s Hall the promenaders, as they were called, would bring their picnics. Not something that you’ll see in today’s concert halls! In theatre terms to promenade is to walk around a performance area rather than to be seated in formal rows of seats.
As the concerts became more popular a wide variety of both popular and classical music was introduced. In the early concerts it was traditional to dedicate some evenings to specific composers. The music of Wagner was played at Monday concerts with other nights devoted to other popular composers.
Death of Robert Newman
Robert Newman died suddenly in 1926. The twenty years prior to his death had been fraught by financial troubles at the Queen’s Hall. Chappell & Co., the music publishers, managed the hall for a short period, and then handed over control to the newly established British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Managers at the BBC liked what they saw at the Queen’s Hall and decided that the Promenade Concerts should not be allowed to pass into history.
World War II
The start of World War II saw tough cut backs at the BBC and the Proms were under threat. Wood refused to be defeated and with private support the 1940 and 1941 seasons went ahead despite heavy air raids on London. The 1941 season ended prematurely on 10th May when the Queen’s Hall was completely destroyed.
There were very few concerts halls still functioning at this time but Henry Wood, once again, refused to be defeated. One alternative was the Royal Albert Hall with seating for at up to seven thousand people. This would certainly help to fulfil Newman’s original dream of providing concerts for the masses. Henry Wood died on 19th August 1944 after conducting the Proms for nearly fifty years.
In the post-1950’s period the repertoire of the Promenade Concerts continued to expand. Henry Wood led a fascinating life and many books have been written.
Information about this year’s Promenade Concerts can be found at the BBC website.
Sources:
“The Henry Wood Proms” written by David Cox BBC, 1980, ISBN 0-563-17697-0
“The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians” S. Sadie, Macmillan 1980, ISBN: 0333231112
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