The Proms A New History
Edited by Jenny Doctor David Wright Consultant Editor Nicholas Kenyon
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| '… will delight any proms buff; and the authoritative narration provides a kind of wide-angle record of British musical tastes over the 20th century … there are also many lovely illustrations’ | | – The Guardian |
| ‘Warm, weighty and welcoming … a richly illustrated tome packed with evocative anecdotes about the great and the good and a plethora of easily assimilable facts and figures’ | | – History Today |
| ‘The writing is lively and intelligent, and the personalities who leap from the pages are a fascinating bunch of musicians, promoters and rogues’ | | – The Times |
This is the story of one of the most famous institutions in British musical life: the London Promenade Concerts.
From its beginnings over a century ago, the Proms series has grown into one of the largest international music festivals in the world, famed for its wide repertory and uniquely committed audiences. Since the BBC began to promote the seasons eighty years ago, they have become known worldwide through radio and television broadcasts, especially of the Albert Hall's exuberant Last Night celebrations.
From the days of its first conductor, Henry Wood, through the early periods of crisis to the Proms of today, influences on the series are surveyed by expert authors – including Nicholas Kenyon, Controller, BBC Proms, Live Events and TV Classical Music. They discuss how key social trends have changed the Proms and how, moving with the times, the Proms have continued to shape the musical tastes and listening habits of a nation.
Fully illustrated with images from over a century – venues, celebrated performers, programmes and prospectuses, social context, and of course the Prommers themselves – this book brings the history of a great musical institution vividly to life.
Also of interest: The Chronicle of Classical Music: An Intimate Diary of the Lives and Music of the Great Composers Mozart, The Golden Years The Wagner Compendium Mahler: His Life,Work and World Haydn in England by H.C.Robbins Landon |
|  |  |  |  |  | ISBN 050051352X |  | ISBN-13 978-0500513521 |  |  |  | 25.4 x 17.8 cm |  | Hardback |  | 320pp |  | 155 illustrations, 42 in colour |  | First published 2007 |  |  |  | £19.95 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
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