Prom 76 (8.9.12): Last Night of the Proms 2012

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Also, has Roger Wright now installed 'You'll never walk alone' as a permanent fixture of the second half?

Clearly he has, and I wonder whether next year the Hyde Park concert will be moved to the RAH with the likes of Alfie Boe dumbing down even further.

[Pianorak]

. . . Calleja voice seemed effortless but I would imagine I would soon tire of it after some while as it seemed monotonous and he was no Luigi Pavarotti.

Thank goodness for that - surely Monotony was LP's middle name.

[verismissimo]

What a surprise (I'm sure it wasn't in the Prospectus) to hear the wonderful Britten National Anthem.

Best bit for me. Really lovely.

[Prommer]

Luigi? Luciano!

[Prommer]

Just got to the bit on the iPlayer where Jiri B. puts his CBE decoration around his neck to conduct Land of Hope and Glory, and think that was rather grand. Who was the last conductor to don medals, decorations, sashes or the like? Probably Flash Harry...

[VodkaDilc]

Best bit for me. Really lovely.

Always fun to watch the audience try to manage the last line, with the phrase being repeated from all sides. Then a final orchestral flourish with BB at his most deliciously vulgar!

[cloughie]

I'm going to lighten up in the Garden, as I stated I was going to about two hours ago. I may even hum a chorus or two of 'Drake was in his cabin, an' a thousan' miles away'.... etc.

Well let's hope you just hum it as you've got the words wrong.

[cloughie]

Clearly he has, and I wonder whether next year the Hyde Park concert will be moved to the RAH with the likes of Alfie Boe dumbing down even further.

Sneer as you may Alfie Boe actually has an excellent voice and would do an excellent Rule Britannia! Aside from that, actually I thought that the intrusions from the Parks were thankfully restrained this year. The whole format matched good old tradional Last Nights and JB did a good job in a gentle way.

[Pabmusic]

True, I stupidly wrote two nevers instead of my intended three, but actually, if we're really being pedantic, we could both be said to be wrong.

The original 1763 words by James Thomson were

Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
Britons never will be slaves.

With the last line possibly intending to be sung ne-e-e-e-ever and the penultimate one r-u-ule.

I agree that pretty much everyone today gives us Never, never, never... ("a corruption" according to good old Wikipedia) and many follow that with ...shall be... but an audible minority definitely stick to "will". You could hear it last night, and see it too on the subtitling. I'm not sure that there could actually be said to be a definitive version any more.

Bert

Almost there...

"The Score of The celebrated ODE, in Honour of Great BRITAIN call'd Rule BRITANNIA" was first performed as part of the masque Alfred (the Great - that's the naval connexion - both the Royal Navy and the US Navy regard him as their founder, to this day) on 1 August 1740 at Cliveden, for Frederick, Prince of Wales. It probably was not written for the occasion, since it seems there had been plans since at least February to perform it at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. There had been at least 25 performances of the complete work, at Drury Lane, King's Theatre, Covent Garden, Cliveden and in Dublin, before David Garrick opened his 1763 run at Drury Lane, which popularised it in the wake of the Seven Years' War. The libretto was by David Mallet and James Thomson. It was the Scot, Thomson, who wrote Rule, Britannia!

To be sung apparently by Alfred (not Boe) and chorus in C major, the words are:

When Britain first at hea'vns command,
Arose from out the azure main,
Arose, arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter, the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:

Rule, Britannia, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never* will be slaves.

*[slurred over five notes]

There are five more verses, but I'm not in the mood to type them out. The text I’ve quoted is from the Musica Britannia volume (XLVII) of Alfred.

As to the “shall –v- will” question, the ‘rule’ that I learnt at school, that “I will, you shall, he shall, etc” denotes emphasis, whereas “I shall, you will, he will, etc” is simple future, dates largely from the late 18th and early 19th Centuries (one of the myriad ‘rules’ of grammar invented then for the enjoyment of generations of pedants). Something from 1740 would not necessarily conform to a later rationalisation.

[VodkaDilc]

Clearly he has, and I wonder whether next year the Hyde Park concert will be moved to the RAH with the likes of Alfie Boe dumbing down even further.

I know little about Alfie Boe, but I'm afraid that I'm from a generation which instantly thinks of Alfie Bass (from The Army Game) whenever I hear the name.

[marvin]

Luigi? Luciano!

Oh God! Sorry for that faux pas. A senior moment, no doubt.

Isn't Alfie Boe's German impeccable! Just right for th cognoscenti in HP.

[salymap]

Just got to the bit on the iPlayer where Jiri B. puts his CBE decoration around his neck to conduct Land of Hope and Glory, and think that was rather grand. Who was the last conductor to don medals, decorations, sashes or the like? Probably Flash Harry...

I don't think MS, aka Flash Harry, had any British decorations, apart from his knighthood at 52 but I believe he had several foreign awards, one or two from King Frederick of Denmark, with whom he was quite friendly. Bless, he knew a lot of Royals.

[cloughie]

I know little about Alfie Boe, but I'm afraid that I'm from a generation which instantly thinks of Alfie Bass (from The Army Game) whenever I hear the name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfie_Boe

[PhilipT]

Now I know the Prommers like to think they own this Scottish song, but they don't own it any more than the conductor, or the rest of the audience does. However, the conductor is the one person in the hall who could ensure a bit of togetherness, and a little humility often goes a long way.

Come on, EA. It's our (the audience's, not just the Prommers') song in this context. We will sing it if we choose to, whether it's in the programme or not. But you do have a point. Perhaps what we need is for another Scottish conductor to make an attempt at getting it right. Donald Runnicles?

[amateur51]

I don't think MS, aka Flash Harry, had any British decorations, apart from his knighthood at 52 but I believe he had several foreign awards, one or two from King Frederick of Denmark, with whom he was quite friendly. Bless, he knew a lot of Royals.