225
Chappell & Co. (the Prom. proprietors), detested broadcasting and saw the
BBC's far-reaching demands and intentions in the control of musical
presentation as a danger to the future of public concerts altogether. He
decided to disband the New Queen's Hall Orchestra, which played for the last
time at a Symphony concert on 19 March 1927. He found it more expedient to
let the Queen's Hall to the broadcasting powers, rather than to continue the
Promenade concerts and other big series independently in an unequal
competition with what was effectively the Government itself. So the Proms.
were saved, but under a different kind of authority. The personnel of the New
Queen's Hall Orchestra effectively continued until 1930 as 'Sir Henry J. Wood
and his Symphony Orchestra.'
When the BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC
SO) was formed in 1930, it became the main orchestra for the concerts. At
this time the season consisted of nights dedicated to particular composers;
Mondays were Wagner, Fridays were Beethoven, with other major composers
being featured on other days. There were no Sunday performances.
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the BBC withdrew its support.
However private sponsors stepped in to maintain the Proms, always under Sir
Henry Wood's direction, until the Queen's Hall was devastated beyond repair
during an air raid in May 1941. The Proms were therefore moved to their
current home, the Royal Albert Hall, at which point the BBC resumed control.
The London Symphony Orchestra had sometimes assisted in the series since
(after 1927) the New Queen's Hall Orchestra had ceased to function, and in
1942 Sir Henry Wood also invited the London Philharmonic Orchestra under
its new leader Jean Pougnet to participate in this and subsequent
seasons.
[14]
In 1944, under increased danger from bombing, the Proms moved
again, this time to the Bedford Corn Exchange (home of the BBC Symphony
Orchestra since 1941) which hosted the concerts until the end of the War.
Достарыңызбен бөлісу: