Promenade Concerts

Promenade Concerts, concerts where inexpensive tickets are sold for promenaders who stand throughout in a specially designated area. They originally had a popular element, but now also have an educational and experimental one. They derive from open-air concerts given in the pleasure gardens of 18th-century London, where people would literally “promenade” to hear music, among other attractions. The term “promenade concert” supposedly derives from similar concerts given by Philippe Musard in Paris in the 1830s. Further informal concerts were given in London throughout the 19th century, such as the series of “Promenade Concerts à la Musard” held in 1838. A popular venue for such concerts later in the century was the Crystal Palace.

The most famous “proms” were those initiated by Robert Newman and Henry Wood, and conducted by the latter, first at the Queen’s Hall in London from 1895 to 1941, and from 1941 to 1944 at the Royal Albert Hall, in conjunction with Basil Cameron. Sir Malcolm Sargent was chief conductor from 1948 to 1967, and today the season still runs for two months each summer. After Sargent’s time the character of the series began to change: there was no longer a single chief conductor, foreign orchestras began to perform, and the range of music played widened considerably, with more early music as well as contemporary music, and non-Western music, including all-night proms of Indian music. The Proms have been sponsored since 1927 by the BBC, which broadcasts every concert live on national radio.

“Proms” have been given elsewhere in Britain, notably at Manchester by the Hallé Orchestra, at Covent Garden for opera and ballet, and at Glasgow by Scottish Opera. Similar “prom” concerts have been given in the United States, at New York and Boston, and in many other cities throughout the world.