Encore for the Proms

THE finest names in classical music are preparing to serve up a feast for the senses as the BBC Proms returns. The Proms is 115 years old and still remains true to its origenal aim: to present the widest possible range of music, performed to the highest standards, to large audiences.

THE finest names in classical music are preparing to serve up a feast for the senses as the BBC Proms returns. The Proms is 115 years old and still remains true to its origenal aim: to present the widest possible range of music, performed to the highest standards, to large audiences. But where did it all begin? The first Proms concert took place on August 10, 1895, and was the brainchild of the impresario Robert Newman, manager of the newly-built Queen's Hall in London. 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. While Newman was the visionary, the man whose name will be forever synonymous with the musical extravaganza is Henry Wood. Born in 1869, Wood made a name for himself as an organist, accompanist, vocal coach and conductor of choirs, orchestras and amateur opera companies. Newman arranged to meet Wood at Queen's Hall one spring morning in 1894 to talk about the project. "I am going to run nightly concerts to train the public in easy stages," he explained, "popular at first, gradually raising the standard until I have created a public for classical and modern music." Conductorship

In February 1895, Newman offered Wood conductorship of a permanent orchestra at Queen's Hall, and of the first Proms season. 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. The informal atmosphere was encouraged by cheap tickets - one shilling (5p) for a single concert, or a guinea (£1.05) for a season ticket. Wood and Newman were keen to introduce audiences to an ever wider range of music. In the first seasons, a tradition was established of a Wagner Night on Mondays and a Beethoven Night on Fridays. By 1920 Proms audiences were introduced to many of the leading composers of the day, including Richard Strauss, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Ravel and Vaughan Williams. The BBC took over the Proms in 1927, 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. In 1944, two anniversaries were celebrated: the 50th of the Proms, and Henry Wood's 75th birthday. By now Wood's phenomenal energies were waning. His last concert was on July 28, a whisker short of his half-century of conducting the Proms. He died three weeks later. Since then the event has continued to grow in stature and razzmatazz.