User:David Underdown/Last Night of the Proms

The Last Night of the Proms usually refers to the final (and best known) concert of the annual Proms season, now held in the Royal Albert Hall on the second or third Saturday of September. The whole concert is broadcast within the United Kingdom on BBC Radio 3 with television coverage of the first half on BBC 2 and the second half on BBC 1. Coverage is also widely syndicated to other broadcasters around the world.

The second half of the concert traditionally ends with a sequence of musical items that begins with Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, during which the choir and audience sing Land of Hope and Glory; followed by Sir Henry Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs (which concludes with an arrangement of Rule, Britannia!); then a speech from the conductor, reflecting on the season; leading into Jerusalem; and concluding with God Save the Queen. This formally ends the concert, but the audience then joins in singing Auld Lang Syne to commemorate the end of the Season and look forward to the following one. Throughout this, many members of the audience wave Union Flags (or their own country's flag).

Due to the patriotic (or even jingoistic) nature of many of these musical items, the concert has become publically associated with the expression of a rather nationalistic "Britishness" which has frequently led to controversy between opposing camps who wish for it to be either "toned down", or who are against any perceived dilution of tradition.

The title is also widely used for a variety of other events featuring the same sequence of music, particularly the finale concert of summer outdoor concert series. For these concerts the sequence is often extended to include additional items which are perceived to be in a similar vein, such as The Dam Busters March. Such concerts are often alongside fireworks display, or even a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

History

In the most general sense the history of this concert goes back to the first Proms season, held in 1895 in the Queen's Hall (the season ended on 5 October 1895). However, founding conductor Henry Wood deliberately kept the final concert low key.