Thanks to the miracle of the internet, one can listen to the Last Night of the BBC Proms concert series live.
When: Saturday, 8 September, 7:30 p.m. GMT (2:30 p.m. EDT, 1:30 p.m. CDT)
Where to listen on the internet:
Your public radio station may be carrying it as well. Check your local public radio station’s web site to see. If it’s not, tune in online, and be sure to sing along with “Land of Hope and Glory,” “Rule, Britannia!” and “Jerusalem.”
Readers in the UK (and I know we have at least 5 ot 6) can also watch it on television. The first hour will be on BBC 2 and the second hour on BBC 1.
13:38 – It just occurred to me that I may be the only person in the world who is watching Alabama beat Vanderbilt (with the sound turned down) while listening to the BBC Symphony Orchestra play Dvorak on the Last Night of the Proms.
14:26 – Joshua Bell is incredible. Elgar is highly underrated here in the US. I let Iain turn off the Alabama game: it was a total bloodbath. They were so far ahead, it wasn’t even fun to watch. So he’s playing Zelda and I’m now listening to Bellini.
14:56 – Got a lovely beverage and am now listening to some Celtic music that Radio 3 is playing during the interval. Apparently that was from one of the Proms in the Park events: I didn’t catch which one. Anyone know? Was anyone there? I’m sorry they’re not doing “See, the Conquering Hero Comes” from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus this year: it’s always fun to hear everyone whistle the tune the first time through. Wish I could whistle. Stephen Sondheim was wrong.
15:07 – They said the guy singing “Some Enchanted Evening” was at the Proms in the Park event at Glasgow Green, but his vibrato stretched from Inverness to Dorchester.
15:29 – I had never heard Anna Netrebko before. What a singer!
15:39 – Lyrics for your convenience:
“Land of Hope and Glory”
Land of Hope and Glory,
Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee,
Who are born of thee?
Wider still and wider
Shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty,
Make thee mightier yet
God, who made thee mighty,
Make thee mightier yet.
“Rule, Britannia!”
When Britain first at Heav’n’s 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, never, never shall be slaves!
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves!
“Jerusalem”
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England?s mountains green?
And was the Holy Lamb of God
On England?s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark satanic mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England?s green and pleasant land.
“God Save the Queen”
God save our gracious Queen
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen.
Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign:
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen.
32 responses so far ↓
1 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 14:30
I’m watching at this moment – 21:30 Greenwich Mean Time.
2 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 14:32
Isn’t it past your bedtime? You have church in the morning, you know.
Stay tuned. Netrebko is coming back out to sing with Joshua Bell. You can tell us if she looks as good as she sounds.
3 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 14:43
I cannot go to bed before witnessing a little English jingoism. The crowd is waving flags and they are bouncing up and down to the music. So unBritish!
4 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 14:45
Elgar is from Worcester, about 30 miles from where I am at the moment. Cheltenham, by the way, is the birthplace of Gustav Holst.
5 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 14:49
The BBC keeps turning the cameras to a buxsome blonde in a union jack tank top. Land of Hope and Glory indeed!!!
6 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 14:55
Which one is Hope and which one is Glory?
7 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:01
How fast can one play the Sailor’s Hornpipe?
8 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:02
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear!
9 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:08
Ah, one of my favourites: London Derriere. Oh, excuse me: Londonderry Air.
10 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:11
I just saw RevJATB’s evil twin in the crowd!!!
11 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:12
Oh, so they are doing the Handel!
12 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:13
Are you serious? He wasn’t wearing a Union Jack tank top, was he?
13 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:15
A tux! There are some there not dressed for a football match.
14 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:16
You know, you only get to sing “Rule, Britannia!” once a year: might as well do an encore of it!
15 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:18
Do you get the conductor’s speech as well?
16 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:20
Yes, but I don’t speak Czech!
17 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:22
3 cheers for Sir Henry!!!
18 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:23
Why is it always three cheers? Why not two cheers, or four cheers?
19 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:27
No, they did not. No, He did not. Probably. No it was not.
20 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:30
Still, it’s a great hymn! I say three cheers for Parry and for William Blake.
21 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:32
Tim ,we will have to do this again next year!
22 RevJATB // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:33
Now get some sleep.
23 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:34
It is a beautiful tune! I’ve visitied Blakes grave at Bunhill Fields a number of times. He is buried next to Daniel Defoe and across from John Bunyan and John Owen, Isaac Watts and Susannah Wesley. Out of all the graves in that cemetery, his is visited the most – a sad commentary.
24 TimmyRalph // Sep 8, 2007 at 15:35
Good night everyone! I laughed. I cried. It was much better than “Cats”.
25 cancerman // Sep 9, 2007 at 8:30
I’m glad to see you two are having fun.
26 cancerman // Sep 9, 2007 at 8:31
BTW I spent my night watching UGA lose to South Carolina and Auburn lose to South Florida.
27 TimmyRalph // Sep 9, 2007 at 10:26
C-man, you shoulda joined us. I at least got to laugh before I cried!
28 cancerman // Sep 9, 2007 at 13:40
I should have. As it was I was so angry I had to take the dog for a walk and get out of the house.
29 Sheena // Sep 10, 2007 at 6:47
I watched it on the Beeb, I am thinking of trying to get tickets for next year but I suspect it’s the kind of thing that sells out years in advance.
30 RevJATB // Sep 10, 2007 at 7:50
Sheena, my understanding is that tickets for actual seats are sold in advance, but the “Prommers” (the ones who stand during the whole thing, and who also appear to be having the most fun) must queue up for tickets on the day of the concert.
Of course they have the Proms in the Park events in several different places. The one in Hyde Park was the first one, and it was originally just to accommodate the people who could not fit in the Royal Albert Hall. They now have Proms in the Park events all over the UK. Each one has a live orchestra and soloists for the first part of the concert (usually local talent), then they do a live video uplink for the second part. It sounds like a lot of fun. If we win the sweepstakes this year (and the envelope I got in the mail said I could already be a winner!), we’ll come over and join you in Hyde Park. Deal?
31 Sheena // Sep 12, 2007 at 6:47
Oh hey, you would all be welcome in our home anytime, we have lots of room for y’all – proms or no proms! Actually I checked already and you need to have attended at least 6 of the proms concerts to qualify for ‘last night’ tickets, that effectively rules us out.
London as you may imagine is a popular destination and we regularly have complete strangers staying with us, it’s great! We are waiting for two American PCA’ers (never met them) to come stay with us in a fortnights time until they get accomodation.
So, all you need to do is buy the plane tickets!
32 RevJATB // Sep 13, 2007 at 20:44
The only problem with that is that theSmockLady doesn’t like to fly. I guess we could all take the Queen Mary 2 from New York to Southampton. It would only cost about $23,000 for the lot of us–one way!
By contrast, if we flew coach on British Airways, Atlanta (Hartsfield) to Gatwood, the price would be about $5,500, round trip, for all eight of us. That’s only a difference of $40,500.
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