The 'Last night of the Proms' in historical perspective

Historical Research

Volumn 81, Issue 212, 2008, Pages 315-349

  Cannadine, David ^a  

^a Institute of Historical Research

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EID: 57749134674     PISSN: 09503471     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2281.2008.00466.x     Document Type: Review

References (181)

1. See E. J. Hobsbawm, 'Introduction: inventing traditions', in The Invention of Tradition, ed. E. J. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger (Cambridge. 1983), pp. 1-14
2. Many of these issues have been brilliantly addressed in The Proms: a New History, ed. N. Kenyon, J. Doctor and D. Wright (2007). Also of relevance are: A. Orga, The Proms (Newton Abbot. 1974)
3. D. Cox, The Henry Wood Proms (1980)
4. B. Hall, The Proms and the Men Who Made Them (1981)
5. N. Kenyon, The B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra: the 1st 50 Years, 1930-80 (1981)
6. D. Cannadine. 'The context, performance and meaning of ritual: the British monarchy and the "invetitioti of tradition", c.1820-1977'. in Hobsbawm and Ranger, pp. 101-64. at p. 162
7. P. Kildea. 'The Proms: an industrious revolution', in Kenyon and others, pp. 10-30. at p. 22
8. Compare, e.g., M. Portillo. 'The prometiaders don their headdresses and fly their flags'. New Statesman, 20 Sept. 2004
9. and A. Holden. 'Time to ban the banners'. The Observer, 11 Sept. 2005
10. For a pioneering study, to which this article is much indebted, see L. Tzidon, 'The ritual of the last nights of the proms and the role of invented tradition' (unpublished University of London M.A. thesis, 2001)
11. The fullest treatment of this first, founding phase, is now L, Langley. 'Building an orchestra, creating an audience: Robert Newman and the Queen's Hall Promenade Concerts. 1895-1926', in Kenyon and others, pp. 32-74
12. For the pre-Wood Proms, see Cox. pp. 9-21
13. Orga, pp. 9-40
14. and T. Russell. The Proms, (1949), pp- 12-18
15. R. Aldous, Tunes of Glory: the Life of Malcolm Sargent (2002), pp. 19, 131-8
16. C. Reid. Malcolm Sargent: a Biography (1968). pp. 400-1
17. Russell, p. 26
18. Orga, pp. 46-7
19. Cf. Russell, p. 10, which insists that Wood 'was creating a tradition, and he knew it'. There is no evidence that Wood thought he was doing anything of the kind
20. F. Howes, The English Musical Renaissance (1966)
21. M, Hughes and R. Stradling, The English Musical Renaissance, 1840-1040: Constructing a National Music (2nd edn., Manchester, 2001)
22. Cox. pp. 82-6, 109-26
23. A. Briggs. The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, ii: the Golden Age of Wireless (Oxford, 1965). pp. 63. 172-3
24. Russell, p. 58
25. A.Jacobs. Henry J. Wood: Maker of the Proms (1994). p. 4
26. Jacobs, pp. 41, 457, 459
27. Tzidon, pp. 17-19
28. H. Wood, My Life of Music (1938), p. 92
29. Jacobs, pp. 47-8
30. Cox, p. 47
31. D. Armitage, The Ideological Origins of the British Empire (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 173, 185
32. Wood, p. 155
33. Jacobs, pp. 73-4
34. Jacobs, pp. 104-5
35. Cox, pp. 51-2
36. Russell, pp. 42-3. For the broader context of these national and imperial celebrations, see J. MacKenzie, 'Nelson goes global: the Nelson myth in Britain and beyond', in Admiral Lord Nelson: Context and Legacy, ed. D. Cannadine (Basingstoke, 2005). pp. 144-65, at pp. 157-60
37. M. Czisnk. 'Commemorating Trafalgar: public celebration and national identity', in Trafalgar in History: a Battle and its Afterlife, ed. D. Cannadine (Basingstoke. 2006), pp. 139-154, at pp. 146-7
38. Hall, p. 63
39. Tzidon. pp. 3-7. 22 Tzidon. p. 21
40. For this phase in the history of the Proms, see J. Doctor. 'A new dimension: the BBC takes on the Proms, 1920-44', in Kenyon and others, pp. 74-129
41. Briggs, Golden Age of Wireless, p. 6
42. Cox. pp. 72-4
43. Jacobs, pp. 62. 127. 200-1. 280, 339
44. Russell, p. 21
45. Orga. pp. 95-6
46. Jacobs, pp. 166. 172. 204. 207, 236, 413, 442-61
47. Kenyon, B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra, p. 46
48. Hall, pp. 80-1. 99
49. Doctor, pp. 96, 114
50. Wood. p. 192
51. Jacobs, p. 281
52. Jacobs, pp. 328-9
53. Jacobs, pp. 341-2. 406-7
54. Kenyon, BBC Symphony Orchestra, p. 154
55. Cox, pp. 109-10
56. Doctor, pp. 125-6
57. Jacobs, pp. 361-2
58. Jacobs, pp. 370-1
59. Jacobs, p. 380
60. S. Martin, The Order of Merit: One Hundred Yean of Matchless Honour (2007). pp. 495-6
61. Jacobs, p. 391
62. Cox, pp. 127-33, 137-8
63. A. Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, iii: the War of Words (Oxford, 1970). pp. 709-10
64. Cox, pp. 139-47
65. A. Garnham, 'The B.B.C. in possession, 1945-59'. in Kenyon and others, pp. 130-48
66. Cox. p. 152
67. Aldous, pp. 129-31
68. Reid, p. 446
69. D. Camiaditie, In Churchill's Shadow: Confronting the Past in Modem Britain (2002). pp. 36-7
70. B. Levin, The Pendulum Years: Britain and the Sixties (1970)
71. A. Marwick. The Sixties: Cultural Revolution in Britain, France, Italy and the United States, C.1958-C.1974 (Oxford, 1998)
72. Carmadine, 'Context, performance and meaning of ritual', pp. 153-4
73. The Establishment: a Symposium, ed. H. Thomas (1959)
74. Aldous, pp. 97-112
75. Reid, pp. 270-81
76. J. Dimbleby. Richard Dimbleby: a Biography (1975), pp. 88-203
77. Aldous, pp. 117-20
78. Reid, pp. 309-31
79. Dimbleby, pp. 205-23
80. Aldous, pp. 139-40. 170-6
81. Reid, pp. 346-7, 375-81
82. Aldous, p. 187
83. Reid. pp. 387-8, 392
84. Dimbleby, pp. 234-64. 384-8
85. Hall, pp. 65-6
86. Aldous, pp. 23-4
87. Reid. pp. 99-102
88. Reid. pp. 220-8, 362-74
89. Sir Thomas Beecham once described Herbert von Karajan as 'a sort of musical Sir Malcolm Sargent'
90. Garnham, pp. 148-64
91. A. Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, iv: Sound and Vision (Oxford, 1979)- p- 219
92. Aldous, pp. 140-1
93. Cox. pp. 155-6
94. Hall. p. 127
95. Hall, pp. 127-9
96. M. Sargent, 'The conductor speaks'. Radio Times, 14-20 Sept. 1952
97. Tzidon, p. 8. See also Russell, pp. 11, 71
98. Aldous, pp. 154-65
99. Hall p. 131
100. Aldous, pp. 167-8
101. Briggs, Sound and Vision, p. 737
102. Cox, pp. 163-4
103. Reid, pp. 441-7
104. Cox. pp. 172-3
105. Hall, pp. 133-6
106. P. Mullen. The History of the Proms: Celebrating 100 Seasons (High Wycombe, 1994). pp. 66-7
107. Aldous, pp. 142-4
108. A. Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, v: Competition (Oxford, 1995), p. 144
109. P. Scatmel. 'Public service broadcasting and modern public life', in Culture and Power: a Media, Culture and Society Reader, ed. P. Scannel. P. Schlesinger and C. Sparks (1992), pp. 322-3
110. N. Kenyon, 'Planning the Proms: yesterday, today and tomorrow', in Kenyon and others, pp. 256-277, at p. 273
111. Kenyon. B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra, pp. 238-43, 244-7, 252-5, 261-2, 266-8
112. Cox. pp. 159-60
113. Aldous, pp. 160-6
114. Dirnbleby. pp. 319-40
115. Briggs, Competition, p. 230. n. 13
116. Aldous, pp. 179-89
117. Briggs, Competition, pp. 309-76. For a full account, see D. Wright, 'Reinventing the Proms: the Glock and Ponsonby eras, 1959-85', in Kenyon and others, pp. 168-95
118. N. Edmunds, 'William Glock and the British Broadcasting Corporation's music policy. 1959-73', Contemporary British Hist., xx (2006), 233-61, esp. pp. 241-4
119. Briggs, Competition. pp. 398-9
120. Kenyon, B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra, pp. 289-94, 297-8, 304-8. 318-19
121. Cox. p. 152
122. W. Glock, Notes in Advance: an Autobiography in Music (Oxford, 1991), p. 118
123. Pierre Botdez: a Symposium, ed. W. Glock (1986)
124. Glock. Notes in Advance, pp. 114-27
125. Aldous, pp. 203-13
126. Reid. pp. 405-10
127. Dimbleby. pp- 391-402
128. Aldous, pp. 222-32
129. Reid. p. 468
130. Reid. p. 339
131. Aldous, pp. 229-33
132. Hall, p. 158
133. Aldous, pp. xiv. 240-2
134. Reid, pp. 459-62
135. Reid; Aldous. Hall, p. 165
136. Aldous, p. xiv
137. Aldous, pp. xiv-xvi
138. Hall, p. ifi
139. E.g., V, Lewis-Smith, 'Largo louts' big night', Evening Standard, 13 Sept. 2004
140. This point was being made as early as 1958 (Gamhani, p. 163)
141. Hall, p. 168
142. Aldous, p. xiv
143. Cox. pp. 192-4
144. Wright, p. 195
145. Orga, pp. 158-9
146. R. Simpson, The Proms and Natural Justice (1981)
147. Cox, pp. 194, 250
148. J. Drummond. Tainted by Experience: a Life in the Arts (2000). pp. 393-4
149. Hall, pp. 190. 209
150. Tzidoti, p. n
151. Wright, pp. 195-8
152. Drummond, pp. xiv-xvii, 146
153. Tzidon, p. 12
154. Drummond, p. 389
155. Drummond, pp. xiii-xvi
156. T. Service. 'Branding the postmodern Proms, 1986-2007: reflecting on three last nights', in Kenyon and others, pp. 237-41
157. H. Wallace. 'Defining moment: Birtwistle's "panic", last night of the Proms, September 16 1995'. Financial Times Magazine, 11 Aug. 2007. p. 46
158. The Guardian, editorial, 9 Sept. 2006
159. Cox. pp. 229-32
160. Drummond, pp. 386-7
161. Hall, p. 15
162. I. Hewett, 'Joining the queue: the Proms audiences', in Kenyon and others. p. 227
163. Service, p. 241
164. Hewett, p. 227
165. Service, pp. 242-3
166. Drummond, p. 424
167. Service, pp. 244-9
168. David Mellor in the Mail on Sunday, 17 Sept. 2006
169. Sendee, pp. 249-52
170. R. Morrison, 'No encore please for last night of jingoism', The Times, 15 Sept. 2001
171. E. Seckerson. 'Music that rose to the occasion', The Independent 18 Sept. 2001
172. S. Pollard. 'Moved to tears', New Statesman, 24 Sept. 2001
173. R. Weight. Patriots: National Identity in Britain, 1940-2000 (2002), p. 725
174. Kenyon. 'Planning the Proms', pp. 256-77
175. Hughes and Stradling, p. 291
176. Gamham, p. 161
177. Hewett, p. 231
178. Cox. pp. 9-11
179. Gamham. p. 131
180. Tzidon, p. 12
181. A. Sherwin, 'Land of Hope and Glory moves to Germany', The Times, 3 Sept. 2004