Promenade concert
Encyclopedia
See The Proms
Although the term Promenade Concert is normally associated today with the series of concerts founded in 1895 by Robert Newman
and the conductor
Henry Wood
– a festival
known today as the BBC Proms – the term originally referred to concerts in the pleasure gardens
of London
where the audience could stroll about while listening to the music (French se promener = to walk).
Pleasure gardens, which levied a small entrance fee and provided a variety of entertainment, had become extremely popular in London
by the eighteenth century. Music was provided from bandstand
s (known as ‘’orchestras’’) or more permanent buildings, and was generally of the popular variety: ballroom dances, quadrilles (medleys), cornet
solos etc. Other entertainments would have included fireworks
, masquerade
s and acrobatics
. There were 38 gardens which are known to have provided music. Perhaps the most famous of these were Vauxhall Gardens
(1661-1859), south of the Thames. Known at first as New Spring Gardens this was the favourite haunt of diarists Samuel Pepys
and John Evelyn
. The music of Handel
was very popular here in the eighteenth century, and in 1738 there was even a statue erected of Handel playing the lyre
. The Gardens were described as fashionable in the late 18th and early 19th century by Fanny Burney
and William Thackeray. Aristocracy
and royalty
mingled with the ordinary folk. On 21 April 1749 twelve thousand people paid 2s 6d each to hear Handel rehearsing his Music for the Royal Fireworks in Vauxhall Gardens, causing a three-hour traffic jam on London Bridge
. The music had been commissioned by the king in celebration of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
. The performance six days later in Green Park
was even more spectacular, especially when the building caught fire. The composer Dr Thomas Arne was appointed composer of Vauxhall Gardens in 1745. It was here that many of his songs achieved their great popularity. The musicians were housed in a covered building while the audience strolled outside. In the nineteenth century Sir Henry Bishop was the official composer to the Gardens. Many of his songs, which include Home! Sweet Home!
, were performed there. Vauxhall Gardens remained a national institution until 1859.
Another prestige venue for promenade concerts was Ranelagh Gardens
(1742-1803). Here both musicians and audience were under cover in a gigantic Georgian rotunda
which can be seen in a painting of Canaletto
in the National Gallery. It was here that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
performed on the harpsichord
and organ
as a child prodigy
in 1764. Joseph Haydn
, too, appeared here during his visits to London.
The term “promenade concert” seems to have been first used in England in 1838 when London’s Lyceum Theatre announced ‘Promenade Concerts a la Musard’. Philippe Musard was a French
musician who had introduced open air concerts in the English
style in Paris
. Musard came to England
in 1840 to conduct some of the concerts in the Lyceum Theatre. His programmes consisted of overtures, waltzes, popular instrumental solos and quadrilles. The success of Musard’s concerts led to further musical promenade concerts, both in London and other places including Bath and Birmingham
. The Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand
gave a series of concerts given by the band of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
under the direction of Henri Valentino. In 1840 Edward Eliason, leader of the orchestra of Drury Lane Theatre, started a series of ‘’Concerts d’été’’ with an orchestra of nearly a hundred players. Soon there was also a series of ‘’Concerts d’hiver’’ under Louis Antoine Jullien
(1812-1860). Jullien was a genuine musician whose performances were combined with outrageous showmanship: Beethoven was conducted with a jewelled baton. With his extravagant clothing and long black hair and moustache he would go through a series of circus antics including having his white kid gloves brought to him on a silver
salver
. He conducted with his back to the orchestra in order to face his audience. His orchestra were often joined by the bands of the Royal Artillery
or drummers from the French Garde Nationale
. Jullien died in a lunatic asylum. He was succeeded by the English conductor Alfred Mellon
(1820-1867), and then Luigi Arditi
(1822-1903). Another notable conductor was August Manns
(1825-1907) who is associated with the Saturday concerts at London’s Crystal Palace
, the enormous glass building which housed the Great Exhibition in 1851.
The pleasure gardens were the chief institutions for the performance of music by English composers. Songs and vocal pieces were composed especially for them. Strophic ballads were the staple diet. The songs were often on pastoral
subjects, or drinking songs, hunting songs or even songs on morbid subjects. Two famous songs that were written especially for the gardens include Arne’s Shakespeare setting Where the bee sucks and Charles Edward Horn
’s setting of Herrick
’s Cherry Ripe. Gradually opera started to influence the style of music, and larger concerted pieces would be heard. Choruses from Handel’s oratorios
were often included. Instrumental music included the popular concerto
. Organ music was played between the acts of ballad opera
s (Vauxhall and Ranelagh both had organs installed). In the late 19th century August Mann’s concerts were exploring works by well-known composers: Brahms
, Liszt
, Mendelssohn
, Schubert
, Schumann
, Smetana
and Wagner
. London audiences were starting to become more discerning, less likely to be taken in by extravagant showmanship, and eager to explore good music. By 1895 the time was ripe for Henry Wood
to start his series of promenade concerts which continue today as the BBC Proms.
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
Although the term Promenade Concert is normally associated today with the series of concerts founded in 1895 by Robert Newman
Robert Newman (impresario)
Robert Newman was an English businessman and musical impresario. He is most celebrated as the founder of the series of classical music concerts that are now known as The Proms....
and the conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
Henry Wood
Henry Wood (conductor)
Sir Henry Joseph Wood, CH was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundreds of new works to British audiences...
– a festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
known today as the BBC Proms – the term originally referred to concerts in the pleasure gardens
Pleasure gardens
A pleasure garden is usually a garden that is open to the public for recreation. They differ from other public gardens in that they serve as venues for entertainment, variously featuring concert halls or bandstands, rides, zoos, and menageries.-History:...
of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where the audience could stroll about while listening to the music (French se promener = to walk).
Pleasure gardens, which levied a small entrance fee and provided a variety of entertainment, had become extremely popular in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
by the eighteenth century. Music was provided from bandstand
Bandstand
A bandstand is a circular or semicircular structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts...
s (known as ‘’orchestras’’) or more permanent buildings, and was generally of the popular variety: ballroom dances, quadrilles (medleys), cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
solos etc. Other entertainments would have included fireworks
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
, masquerade
Masquerade ball
A masquerade ball is an event which the participants attend in costume wearing a mask. - History :...
s and acrobatics
Acrobatics
Acrobatics is the performance of extraordinary feats of balance, agility and motor coordination. It can be found in many of the performing arts, as well as many sports...
. There were 38 gardens which are known to have provided music. Perhaps the most famous of these were Vauxhall Gardens
Vauxhall Gardens
Vauxhall Gardens was a pleasure garden, one of the leading venues for public entertainment in London, England from the mid 17th century to the mid 19th century. Originally known as New Spring Gardens, the site was believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660 with the first mention being...
(1661-1859), south of the Thames. Known at first as New Spring Gardens this was the favourite haunt of diarists Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
and John Evelyn
John Evelyn
John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
. The music of Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
was very popular here in the eighteenth century, and in 1738 there was even a statue erected of Handel playing the lyre
Lyre
The lyre is a stringed musical instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later. The word comes from the Greek "λύρα" and the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists", written in Linear B syllabic script...
. The Gardens were described as fashionable in the late 18th and early 19th century by Fanny Burney
Fanny Burney
Frances Burney , also known as Fanny Burney and, after her marriage, as Madame d’Arblay, was an English novelist, diarist and playwright. She was born in Lynn Regis, now King’s Lynn, England, on 13 June 1752, to musical historian Dr Charles Burney and Mrs Esther Sleepe Burney...
and William Thackeray. Aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
and royalty
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
mingled with the ordinary folk. On 21 April 1749 twelve thousand people paid 2s 6d each to hear Handel rehearsing his Music for the Royal Fireworks in Vauxhall Gardens, causing a three-hour traffic jam on London Bridge
London Bridge
London Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames, connecting the City of London and Southwark, in central London. Situated between Cannon Street Railway Bridge and Tower Bridge, it forms the western end of the Pool of London...
. The music had been commissioned by the king in celebration of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748 ended the War of the Austrian Succession following a congress assembled at the Imperial Free City of Aachen—Aix-la-Chapelle in French—in the west of the Holy Roman Empire, on 24 April 1748...
. The performance six days later in Green Park
Green Park
-External links:*...
was even more spectacular, especially when the building caught fire. The composer Dr Thomas Arne was appointed composer of Vauxhall Gardens in 1745. It was here that many of his songs achieved their great popularity. The musicians were housed in a covered building while the audience strolled outside. In the nineteenth century Sir Henry Bishop was the official composer to the Gardens. Many of his songs, which include Home! Sweet Home!
Home! Sweet Home!
"Home! Sweet Home!" is a song that has remained well-known for over 150 years. Adapted from American actor and dramatist John Howard Payne's 1823 opera Clari, Maid of Milan, the song's melody was composed by Englishman Sir Henry Bishop with lyrics by Payne...
, were performed there. Vauxhall Gardens remained a national institution until 1859.
Another prestige venue for promenade concerts was Ranelagh Gardens
Ranelagh Gardens
Ranelagh Gardens were public pleasure gardens located in Chelsea, then just outside London, England in the 18th century.-History:The Ranelagh Gardens were so called because they occupied the site of Ranelagh House, built in 1688-89 by the first Earl of Ranelagh, Treasurer of Chelsea Hospital ,...
(1742-1803). Here both musicians and audience were under cover in a gigantic Georgian rotunda
Rotunda (architecture)
A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building . The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome...
which can be seen in a painting of Canaletto
Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal better known as Canaletto , was a Venetian painter famous for his landscapes, or vedute, of Venice. He was also an important printmaker in etching.- Early career :...
in the National Gallery. It was here that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
performed on the harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
and organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
as a child prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
in 1764. Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
, too, appeared here during his visits to London.
The term “promenade concert” seems to have been first used in England in 1838 when London’s Lyceum Theatre announced ‘Promenade Concerts a la Musard’. Philippe Musard was a French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
musician who had introduced open air concerts in the English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
style in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Musard came to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1840 to conduct some of the concerts in the Lyceum Theatre. His programmes consisted of overtures, waltzes, popular instrumental solos and quadrilles. The success of Musard’s concerts led to further musical promenade concerts, both in London and other places including Bath and Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
. The Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
gave a series of concerts given by the band of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
under the direction of Henri Valentino. In 1840 Edward Eliason, leader of the orchestra of Drury Lane Theatre, started a series of ‘’Concerts d’été’’ with an orchestra of nearly a hundred players. Soon there was also a series of ‘’Concerts d’hiver’’ under Louis Antoine Jullien
Louis Antoine Jullien
Louis Antoine Jullien was a French conductor and composer of light music.Jullien was born in Sisteron, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, and was baptised Louis George Maurice Adolphe Roche Albert Abel Antonio Alexandre Noë Jean Lucien Daniel Eugène Joseph-le-brun Joseph-Barême Thomas Thomas Thomas-Thomas...
(1812-1860). Jullien was a genuine musician whose performances were combined with outrageous showmanship: Beethoven was conducted with a jewelled baton. With his extravagant clothing and long black hair and moustache he would go through a series of circus antics including having his white kid gloves brought to him on a silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
salver
Salver
A salver is a flat tray of silver or other metal used for carrying or serving glasses, cups and dishes at table or for the presenting of a letter or card by a servant...
. He conducted with his back to the orchestra in order to face his audience. His orchestra were often joined by the bands of the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
or drummers from the French Garde Nationale
National Guard (France)
The National Guard was the name given at the time of the French Revolution to the militias formed in each city, in imitation of the National Guard created in Paris. It was a military force separate from the regular army...
. Jullien died in a lunatic asylum. He was succeeded by the English conductor Alfred Mellon
Alfred Mellon
Alfred Mellon was an English violinist, conductor and composer.Mellon was born in Birmingham. He played the violin in the opera and other orchestras, and afterwards became leader of the ballet at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden...
(1820-1867), and then Luigi Arditi
Luigi Arditi
Luigi Arditi was an Italian violinist, composer and conductor.Arditi was born in Crescentino, Piemonte . He began his musical career as a violinist, and studied music at the Conservatory of Milan. He made his debut in 1843 as a director at Vercelli, and it was there that he was made an honorary...
(1822-1903). Another notable conductor was August Manns
August Manns
Sir August Friedrich Manns was a German-born conductor who made his career in England. After serving as a military bandmaster in Germany, he moved to England and soon became director of music at London's Crystal Palace. He increased the resident band to full symphonic strength and for more than...
(1825-1907) who is associated with the Saturday concerts at London’s Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
, the enormous glass building which housed the Great Exhibition in 1851.
The pleasure gardens were the chief institutions for the performance of music by English composers. Songs and vocal pieces were composed especially for them. Strophic ballads were the staple diet. The songs were often on pastoral
Pastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
subjects, or drinking songs, hunting songs or even songs on morbid subjects. Two famous songs that were written especially for the gardens include Arne’s Shakespeare setting Where the bee sucks and Charles Edward Horn
Charles Edward Horn
Charles Edward Horn was an English composer and singer. He was born in St Martin-in-the-Fields, London to Charles Frederick Horn and his wife, Diana Dupont. He was the eldest of their seven children. His father taught him music; he also took music lessons briefly in 1808 from singer Venanzio...
’s setting of Herrick
Robert Herrick (poet)
Robert Herrick was a 17th-century English poet.-Early life:Born in Cheapside, London, he was the seventh child and fourth son of Julia Stone and Nicholas Herrick, a prosperous goldsmith....
’s Cherry Ripe. Gradually opera started to influence the style of music, and larger concerted pieces would be heard. Choruses from Handel’s oratorios
Oratórios
Oratórios is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Zona da Mata and to the microregion of Ponte Nova.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...
were often included. Instrumental music included the popular concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
. Organ music was played between the acts of ballad opera
Ballad opera
The term ballad opera is used to refer to a genre of English stage entertainment originating in the 18th century and continuing to develop in the following century and later. There are many types of ballad opera...
s (Vauxhall and Ranelagh both had organs installed). In the late 19th century August Mann’s concerts were exploring works by well-known composers: Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
, Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, Smetana
Bedrich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
and Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
. London audiences were starting to become more discerning, less likely to be taken in by extravagant showmanship, and eager to explore good music. By 1895 the time was ripe for Henry Wood
Henry Wood (conductor)
Sir Henry Joseph Wood, CH was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundreds of new works to British audiences...
to start his series of promenade concerts which continue today as the BBC Proms.
Further reading
- David Cox: The Henry Wood Proms; British Broadcasting Corporation 1980; ISBN 978-0-563-17697-8
- Article: “London” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music edited by Stanley Sadie 1980; ISBN 978-1-56159-174-9
- Michel Faul : Louis Jullien, musique, spectacle et folie au XIXe siècle - atlantica (2006)ISBN 978-2-35165-038-7. See specific site :
- Article: "Jullien et les concerts promenades: invention ou réalité de l'exportation d'une tradition française" in Le théâtre français à l'étranger au XIXe siècle, edited by Jean-Claude Yon, Nuveau Monde édition, ISBN 978-2-84736-364-7
External links
- http://www.vauxhallandkennington.org.uk/sgdetail.shtml
- http://louisjullien.site.voila.fr