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Welcome to The Proms

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Fun Trivia : Quizzes : Classical Music : Welcome to The Proms

Introduction:
"The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts have for many years played a central role in London's musical life. This quiz is a short introduction to the history, music and strange rituals attached to this great music festival."


1. The concerts were originally known as "Mr Robert Newman's Promenade Concerts", after the impresario whose inspiration they were. In what decade did the first Proms concert take place?
    1870s
    1900s
    1880s
    1890s


2. When Henry Wood mounted the podium and picked up his baton at the start of the very first Proms concert, what piece did he conduct?
    Wagner's "Rienzi" Overture
    Rossini's "Largo al factotum" from "The Barber of Seville"
    Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody no 2"
    Thomas's "Mignon" Overture


3. In what concert hall were the Proms held for almost the first 50 years of their existance?
    Wigmore Hall
    Royal Albert Hall
    Queen's Hall
    Royal Festival Hall


4. For many years, there was a tradition of Monday night being “Wagner Night”. But whose music would an early promenader expect to hear if they pitched up on a Friday?
    Handel
    Mozart
    Beethoven
    Brahms


5. On 5th October 1929, Henry Wood conducted an arrangement of J S Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ”, orchestrated by Paul Klenovsky. What was notable about Mr Klenovsky?
    He was Henry Wood's illegitimate son
    He was only 14 when he wrote it
    The name was a pseudonym for Henry Wood himself
    "He" was actually a woman


6. When in 1926 Robert Newman died, the future of the Proms seemed in doubt. But what organisation stepped in to take over the organisation and funding of the Proms?
    The UK Government
    The Royal Philharmonic Society
    The Arts Council of Great Britain
    The British Broadcasting Corporation


7. In what year did Sir Henry Wood die?
    1937
    1949
    1939
    1944


8. During the 1950s and 60s, which conductor, Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1950-1957, became almost as intimately associated with the Proms as Henry Wood had been before him?

    Malcolm Sargent
    John Barbirolli
    Basil Cameron
    Adrian Boult


9. The Proms has an enviable reputation as a showcase for new music as well as established masterpieces, and many well-known works have been given their world premieres there. But of the following pieces, which did NOT receive its world premiere at a Prom concert?

    Britten's "Piano Concerto"
    Walton's "Viola Concerto"
    Mahler's "Fourth Symphony"
    Vaughan Williams' "Fifth Symphony"


10. Up until the 1960s, no orchestra from outside the UK had appeared at the Proms. Which foreign orchestra became the first to give a concert as part of the 1966 season?

    New York Philharmonic Orchestra
    Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
    Moscow Radio Orchestra
    Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra


11. Who was the director of the Proms from 1960-73, who shocked some of the more traditional concertgoers by programming such avant-garde works as Stockhausen’s “Kontakte” and Peter Maxwell Davies’ “Worldes Blis”?

    Victor Hely-Hutchinson
    John Drummond
    Robert Ponsonby
    William Glock


12. In 1974, during a televised performance of Karl Orff’s cantata “Carmina Burana”, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andre Previn, the baritone soloist Thomas Allen fainted during his big solo, "Estuans interius. What happened next?

    The conductor sang his part
    The rest of the concert was cancelled
    A promenader who knew the work replaced him
    He recovered after being ducked in the Arena fountain


13. What violinist made his or her Proms debut under Henry Wood in 1937, and was back for the 100th season in 1994?

    Yehudi Menuhin
    Ida Haendel
    Itzac Perlman
    Anne-Sophie Mutter


14. The world of the Proms is littered with arcane rituals that can puzzle outsiders. What activity prompts the Promenaders to cry “Heave-ho”?

    The conductor getting onto the podium
    The tuba player coming onto the stage
    Any overweight singer taking his or her bow
    The lid of the piano being raised


15. At the Last Night of the Proms, it has become traditional for the conductor to make a short speech, saying how successful the season has been and thanking all the participants. What was memorable about the speech made by Andrew Davis in 1992?

    He dropped his notes and swore loudly in front of a radio and television audience of millions
    He forgot his notes and had to go offstage to fetch them
    He sang it
    He had lost his voice, and the speech was given by the first violinist instead


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