by Peggy Tee

Created on: August 01, 2011   Last Updated: August 02, 2011

One of the most popular events during the London summer season of events is the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, or as it is more widely known, the BBC Proms. The Proms is a series of daily classical music concerts that run for two months. It is mostly held in the Royal Albert Hall or Cadagon Hall, but an offshoot of the event, Proms in the Park, also broadcasts the music live on screens in Hyde Park.

The London Proms was founded in 1895 with the aim of presenting “the widest possible range of music, performed to the highest standards, to large audiences” (BBC). The very first concert was held in August of that year and was first conceived by Robert Newman, a stage manager at Queen’s Hall. Newman put together programmes showcasing more popular music, adopted a casual promenade arrangement and kept the prices for the performances low, in order to draw in a larger crowd.

His revolutionary approach to classical music came to the attention of Henry Wood, who worked as a conductor of orchestras and opera companies. The two men met up in the spring of 1894 to discuss Newman’s new project – running daily evening concerts offering popular music, then gradually increasing the complexity of the music to satisfy the appetite of the public. Wood was offered the role of conductor of the orchestra and led the first Proms season.

The concerts were first called Robert Newman’s Promenade Concerts, and focused on offering an informal atmosphere. Tickets were cheap by today’s standards: one shilling, for a single entry, or a guinea for a season ticket, and a bargain, considering that the first Proms lasted for about three hours. Patrons were also allowed to eat, drink and smoke during performances.

Newman’s approach to programming the Proms was to schedule the serious, high-end music and opera pieces in the first half, and place more popular works in the shorter second half. He also created the Grand Fantasia, which showcased choice passages from more common operas. Both Wood and Newman wanted to develop public taste and expose audiences to a growing range of music. They highlighted Wagner, Mozart and Beethoven, but also dabbled with adventurous new programming each season, dubbing them ‘novelties’.

Wood focused on raising orchestral standards and encouraged rising performers, composers and conductors. He introduced many of the leading composers of the day to the Proms, such as Strauss, Debussy, Ravel and Rakhaminnov –

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