Salud, Kids!
We are nearing the last night (work with me) in July and lo-and-behold, Brian and Mo over there in the UK have given us the Last Night of the Proms to mull over. You heard me...Proms. No, not PRAWNS or High School PROM...Proms.
Wanna know more?
You gotta read on.
Oh, one little thing-I know my readers (short attention span us all) and I know we all love, Rule Britannia, but just in case you need to know the lyrics I have provided a special video for ya.
You can't have it both ways, you can have the video with words, or the video with the singer, well, singing the lyrics.
AND, just because I also know we are all especially low-brow 'round here, I've given you a little sumpin'-sumpn' with, Donna Summer crooning over a last dance. You know the one, but go ahead and listen anyway.
Okay, I'm exhausted from trying to 'splain...read Brian...he RULES. Or, dance with Donna. It's up to you!
Contributed by: Brian Wilson
United Kingdom
All rights reserved and copyrighted.
##
“If music be the food of love – play on”.
The Promenade Concerts are here again – Yippee
Music is our lifeblood – is it yours?
This 8 week season (started in 1895) includes over 100 concerts and other events; mainly in The Royal Albert Hall - not forgetting Proms in the Park across the United Kingdom on the Last Night.
The Proms are truly "the world's largest and most democratic musical festival"
Prom is short for promenade concert. Promming refers to the use of the standing areas in the Royal Albert Hall (the arena and gallery) for which ticket prices are much lower than for the reserved seating (at £5 or $7 a ticket!)
Seats are often sold out (as is the case for Verdi Requiem this year)
So a “top tip” if you’ve just arrived in London and want a ticket for a sold out concert, then you can join the long queues for the Promenade tickets– and you will meet people from all over the world waiting in the queue (us Brits do like to queue!)
Mo and I used to go “promming” in the 60’s and 70’s (but we had yet to meet up!) - standing outside for hours waiting to get that ticket that would allow you into this wonderful world of music.
Perhaps the most well known part of the Proms is the Last Night, when the series come to an end and where us Brits really let our hair down. I know that many non-Brits find it hard to understand what it is all about – so let me try.
The Last Night of the Proms celebrates British tradition and our love of music, plus a good serving of patriotism.
This year the first half encompasses serious music by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (World Premiere) - Bartók
- Wagner
Götterdämmerung - Liszt
Piano Concerto No. 1 - but then the party starts as tradition and British eccentricity takes over.
This year the Last Night party will include music from many countries – Chopin:
Grande Polonaise – Grainger:
(My Dark-Haired Maiden) – Britten:
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra – Rodgers:
The Sound of Music - 'Climb ev'ry mountain' and from Carousel - 'You'll never walk alone.'
Then we move into the music that means so much to us Brits – Elgar:
Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 ('Land of Hope and Glory') – Arne:
Rule Britannia – and finally Parry:
Jerusalem (orch. Elgar) (4 mins).
In my time I have been to so many Last Nights and met people from all over the world – but many misunderstand us Brits.
In Land of Hope and Glory we sing of us Brits living in “the land of the free” – it is rather jingoistic.
Rule Britannia celebrates our past mastery of the sea – jingoism again.
When we come to “Jerusalem”, well we seem to be going over the top. We sing of “England’s green and pleasant land” - but wait the words were written by Blake and he was railing against the beginning of the industrial revolution. So, in fact us Brits are singing what was a revolutionary tract – I think that only Brits could carry this off.
But we are not jingoistic, we do not think we should rule the world (as we did years ago), but we are proud of what we were and what we are – is that so bad?
If I have got you interested and you are in London and you want a ticket – you’ve got a problem.
Last night Tickets are highly sought after.
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 (this is decided by ballot – truly a British way of doing things).
How much is a ticket – if you are promming then you can stand and listen to the world’s best series of concerts for £5/night (yes only $7). If you buy a promming season ticket the average cost falls to a meager £3 (that’s $5) per concert.
Where in the world could you get into a concert for such a low price to hear world class performers sat their peak?
Prommers with tickets queue up for each concert - but for the last night many queue overnight, others sleep outside the hall for up to three weeks to guard their place in the queue to ensure a good place to stand in the hall. I have done this and it is great fun – well it was when I was much younger!
The resulting camaraderie adds to the atmosphere. Fancy Dress is optional – from dinner jackets to patriotic T-shirts. Many use the occasion for an exuberant display of Britishness. Union Flags are carried and waved by the Prommers (as well as flags of all countries) , especially during Rule Britannia.
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.
This can be an ordeal for some conductors, who can expect some friendly “Comments” from the Prommers.
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 – with big screen.
For 2011 the venues will be – Hyde Park (London) – Caerphilly Castle (Wales) – Bangor (Northern Ireland) – and Dundee (Scotland).
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.
Now, through the marvel that is the Internet you can see the Last Night – and many other Proms on the BBC web site.
Go on, join in the party – listen to the superb music – be amazed at how “daft” us Brits can be – listen to the Last Night.
Mo and I will be watching it all on TV – so we will be raising a glass to you all over the pond – will anyone be doing the same over there?
Love to you all – Brian and Mo
##
See ya 'round the beaches-real or virtual.
Read me fictionally, The Bainbridges of the Palm Beaches, Barnes & Noble, eBooks.
No comments:
Post a Comment