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Last Night Of The Proms
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Subject: Tech: Last Night Of The Proms From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Date: 14 Sep 25 - 05:10 PM I don't usually watch the first half but I watched the whole thing this year. I thought it was magnificent, even Bill Bailey playing Leroy Anderson's typewriter thingie. Y'all know what an ardent leftie I am, but I'll defend Rule Britannia to the hilt. Compared to the horrors being perpetrated by 100,000 fascist sympathisers in London's streets on the same day, aided and abetted by the disgusting Elon Musk, Rule Britannia is a fun-filled walk in the park which no-one takes seriously (I mean, just read the lyrics!). And I thought that Bohemian Rhapsody was superb, loving homage to Freddie. It's not a pop festival or a folk festival, but what a festival it is. Well done Beeb. In the words of my hero Carly, nobody does it better! |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Last Night Of The Proms From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Date: 14 Sep 25 - 05:11 PM I don't remember clicking on "Tech!" Fixed. ---mudelf |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Sep 25 - 06:00 PM Through the years I've heard about "The Proms" in passing, but thought it was a thing of the past? What is it - a series of concerts? Does the BBC broadcast it or own it? (And I know what you mean when you mention that "typewriter thingie!" I LOVE it - it's so clever.) |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: Tattie Bogle Date: 14 Sep 25 - 06:31 PM It’s an 8-week series of concerts every night, from mid-July to mid-September, mainly based at The Royal Albert Hall in London. The BBC have organised and broadcast concerts since the 1920s, although they started even before that. They are broadcast every night on radio, but increasingly they are televised. Read the Wikipedia entry or Google them if you want to know more. Last night’s “Last Night of the Proms” was truly exceptional in content, with Brian May of the band Queen leading off a stirring rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, and several hilarious contributions from musician/ comedian Bill Bailey, including the “typewriter thingy “, apart from some more typically “classical” items and the usual “chestnuts” in the second half. |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Date: 14 Sep 25 - 07:16 PM Yeah, the context of the last half hour or so of the Last Night is that it's the very traditional culmination of the mammoth series of concerts of the previous couple of months. The mainstay of it all is that it's very much a BBC production, to me the very pinnacle of the BBC output of every year. Most of the world's greatest orchestras, ensembles and soloists are there at various times down the years, and there are routinely and fearless diversions into jazz, show music, film music and pop. Much of the programme is delivered in the Royal Albert Hall, but a good deal is also given to all sorts of other venues in the UK. It is inclusive and exceptionally unstuffy! |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: keberoxu Date: 14 Sep 25 - 07:27 PM Is the "typewriter thingie" the piece by composer Leroy Anderson, or something different? |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: GUEST,Yes. Date: 14 Sep 25 - 08:09 PM |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Date: 14 Sep 25 - 08:19 PM Sorry - that was me! But yes anyway! |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Sep 25 - 12:06 AM Typewriter - Brandenburger Symphoniker. |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: DaveRo Date: 15 Sep 25 - 02:05 AM 2025 Proms Calendar All of it listenable to - in the UK - for the next month. An increasing amount of it is 'popular' - e.g. based on TV shows - but the core of it is still suberb. The top orchestras really go the extra kilometer. |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: Backwoodsman Date: 15 Sep 25 - 10:24 AM The whole thing topped off by the astonishing singing by Louise Alder of ‘Rule, Britannia!’. What a VOICE! The hairs are still prickling on the back of my neck! Louise Alder - ‘Rule, Britannia!’, TLNOTP 2025 |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Sep 25 - 10:50 AM That is quite a performance, and the crowd certainly knows exactly when and how to join in! Good thing there are captions, I wouldn't have known what the words were without them. |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: Mooh Date: 15 Sep 25 - 11:31 AM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBatI3HRKtI |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: MaJoC the Filk Date: 17 Sep 25 - 11:32 AM > Good thing there are captions That sort of thing happens a lot with operatic sopranos, Stilly: they're taught to sound beautiful at the expense of clarity of diction, and the physics is against them*. We've got the tape of an updated version of The Marriage of Figaro, where neither of us can understand what her Ladyship is singing in the first aria of the second part. (Research topic: does this happen with sopranos singing in Italian? if the listener understands Italian, of course.) *Agree* re Bohemian Rhapsody. The conductor was having the time of her life, too. * The higher the pitch, the fewer harmonics there are to carry the intelligibility; and more prominent higher harmonics make the voice sound harsh. |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Sep 25 - 11:57 AM Understood. I look forward to having a the spot above the stage where the lyrics are projected at performances that are either in another language or that are, as you say, lost in the physics of singing. Automated text generators lately have done a terrible job, in music and in the spoken word on videos making the rounds (Instagram, Facebook, etc.) Those automated systems have been around for a long time, I used them at the library where I worked but you can always went back to read and correct what the Google generator was mangling. Too many content creators don't go check the work. |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: MaJoC the Filk Date: 17 Sep 25 - 01:57 PM I remember hearing of "surtitles" at operas (they couldn't be subtitles, as they're above the stage), but I've never seen them, as ballet doesn't need translation in real time. |
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Subject: RE: Last Night Of The Proms From: GUEST,Oriel Wynn-Dawe Date: 24 Sep 25 - 11:28 AM Yes, surtitles run along a screen at the top of the stage. It's a bit difficult to read that and look at the action, but as long as you know the story, it's fine. Sometimes the lyrics are not as good as the music. Subtitles on a filmed performance of the Ring Cycle included something along the lines of "10 minutes of naff love poetry." |
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