Land of hope and glory: the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall has ceremonies celebrating Sir Henry Wood, who helped bring some of the panache of that event to Croydon
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Diddly-omm-pom-Proms… The world-famous annual festival of music is about to start, and as DAVID MORGAN explains, the figure most closely associated with its establishment, together with Sir Edward Elgar, helped start a cultural festival in Croydon
Lauded: the bust of Sir Henry Wood, with laurel wreath
The opening concert of this year’s Proms is almost upon us. Held in the Royal Albert Hall, the first night of the 2024 summer festival of music is July 19, when the audience will enjoy a feast of music including Handel’s Water Music and Beethoven’s Fifth.
The Proms have been presented by the BBC since 1927. The conductor most closely associated with the Proms in its early days, and ensuring its place in the musical calendar, was Sir Henry Wood.
He is a revered figure to all the “Promenaders” who support the concerts, and a wreath is solemnly placed over his bust on the Last Night of the Proms every year.
Wood was a true supporter of British classical music and he turned down offers to conduct major orchestras in America so that he could remain in this country and encourage orchestras, choirs and conductors throughout the land. Croydon was one of the towns which benefited from his advice and support.
The first Croydon Festival was organised in 1925, with one of the aims of the organisers being to put Croydon firmly in the forefront of national music events. It was felt that Croydon had two big advantages over other towns which were staging similar festivals or events. It had a large parish church, now the Minster, as well as a large public hall in which you could have great numbers of participants and a space for a big audience. Croydon also had a number of key personnel who understood the ways and means and artistic standards of putting on festival performances.
The 1925 Croydon Festival opened on Armistice night, November 11, in the Parish Church with Elgar’s For the Fallen and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
Headline news: Wood’s arrival in Croydon was reported widely
Two of the key people in Croydon capable of pulling together such a large event were centre stage that evening. The organist of the Parish Church, Mr H Leslie-Smith, conducted the choir and Mr WH Reed led the orchestra.
The following evening, at the Baths Hall (thought to be at Scarbrook Road baths), the choir sang Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Meg Blane, conducted by another Croydon musical stalwart, Mr HL Balfour.
The choir for the festival had been trained by Alan Kirby, the fourth of the local music experts, who was a personal friend of Sir Edward Elgar.
Everyone agreed that the first festival had been a terrific success. Borough officials, the mayor, the aldermen and councillors had all been supportive of the new venture. The commitment and skills of the singers and musicians were pleasing and the audiences had been large and enthusiastic.
It was decided that the festival was to be held every three years. For the next one, in 1928, the organisers set their sights even higher, hiring in one of the leading conductors of the day, Sir Henry Wood, to be the Director of the Festival.
Touched by greatness: Sir Henry brought a touch of star quality
In his role, Sir Henry first came to Croydon to rehearse the chorus of more than 100 singers in the new St Andrew’s Church Hall.
Taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves, he complimented the singers on how well they had learned the music but then challenged them to achieve even better results. The basses, he said, were too confidential. They had to sing out and tell others the story of the music they knew so well themselves.
The sopranos, he added, had to learn to sit up straighter so they could use their full lung capacity. Imagine yourself sitting with a poker at your back.
One of the secrets of conducting, Sir Henry told them, was that he matched the pace of the music to the vocal capabilities of the choir he was conducting. As the choir had been so well drilled by Alan Kirby, he thought they would be able to sing their piece as a faster tempo. The newspaper report of the day said that “the notes flew like the finish of a musical Derby!”
“Songs are worthless if you cannot hear the words.” Diction is crucial as all conductors still insist.
“And don’t change the shape of your mouth. It alters the sound.” Sir Henry’s tips were taken on board by all.
Details man: Sir Henry Wood
Sir Henry’s next visit was to the Parish Church where he spent a Saturday morning with the organist going through all the sounds that the instrument could produce, covering every detail from the quietest pianissimo to the loudest and most thunderous forte.
Sir Henry was concerned about every detail of the concert in the church. He insisted that all the singers be placed behind the rood screen, so that the beauty of the building could still be appreciated in full.
Squeezing more than 150 singers into the narrow chancel proved challenging and not what the committee had initially planned, but temporary platforms were constructed so the singers could all see the conductor clearly.
The concert in the church and the one in the Baths Hall a few days later which included a performance of Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha were very well received. Croydon was becoming noticed in the musical world. The chorus, again so well prepared by Alan Kirby and brought to their peak performance by Sir Henry, was the rock on which the festival was built. These singers, local Croydon folk, provided a hope for future years that the high standards necessary could be maintained.
The third, 1931 Festival was planned with aim of building on previous success. Sir Henry Wood was once more appointed as the Festival Director and Elgar, himself, was engaged to conduct his own composition The Dream of Gerontius.
Well-received: reviews were positive about the Croydon Festival
The same four key local musicians continued to play their part. This time, at the Festival concert at the Baths Hall, local musicians got the chance to play in the orchestra alongside members of the London Symphony Orchestra. Three local composers were able to showcase their compositions. Arthur Barclay’s Cortege Royale, Dr George Olroyd’s spiritual rhapsody Jhesu Christ, Saint Mary’s Sone and Mr WH Reed’s suite Shock-headed Peter were all reviewed in a positive fashion by The Musical Times.
The costs of putting on such a festival, though, began to have more of an impact. A headline in the local paper in December 1931 read: “Sweet notes but few £ notes, Croydon Musical Festival Deficit”.
It was reported that Croydon’s leading musical organisation, The Triennial Music Festival, had lost £330 on their latest venture (about £28,000 in today’s terms). The treasurer, Alderman Albert Camden-Field, informed a meeting of the Festival members held at the Town Hall that the deficit had been reduced, but that £250 still needed to be found. The fees for the orchestra, for conductors and soloists alone amounted to more than £733.
The treasurer further informed the meeting that the previous Festival in 1928 had only just covered its costs, leaving a balance of only £3 5s 8d (£3.28). Several councillors promised to give a generous sum to cover the deficit. When put to a vote, the councillors decided unanimously that they wished the Festival to continue.
‘Few £ notes’: the Festivals’ financial issues were a headline-writer’s delight…
Alderman Keatley Moore thanked those who had contributed to the creative success of the Festival. Letters were read out which had been sent by Sir Henry Wood and Sir Edward Elgar to say how much they appreciated the hard work of everyone concerned. Elgar thought the chorus was one of the best he had ever conducted and Sir Henry thought the choir “did jolly well”.
Alderman Moore concluded with these remarks: “Croydon used to be considered an inartistic town until we took up these Festivals six years ago. We then brought Croydon up at once to the level of the places which count in English music. Croydon after this must be regarded as a centre for music. Certainly, it has every right to consider itself a musical place.”
But after 1931, no more Festivals were held again in Croydon.
Music-making, and excellent music-making at that, did continue in the town thanks to the commitment and dedication of two of the festival figures.
At the Parish Church, Leslie-Smith was the organist and choirmaster who created first-class choir and tradition for organ-playing, as the church played a leading role in BBC radio broadcasts in Britain and around the world during the 1930s and into the war-time period of the 1940s. Alan Kirby conducted the Croydon Philharmonic Choir for many years, to fantastic acclaim. Among his many achievements, Kirby proudly led the choir when they sang at the opening concert of the Royal Festival Hall in 1951.
Whether you listen to the more traditional Proms concerts this summer or if you are tempted by the orchestral sounds of Florence and the Machine, entitled Symphony of Lungs, remember the time when Sir Henry Wood came to Croydon, rolled up his sleeves and got the people singing.
David Morgan, pictured right, is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- Capturing the bustle of Victorian Croydon’s busy High Street
- How Croydon alderman saved ‘Golden Book’ from the Vikings
- From a GP’s on the High Street to hosting dinner for the King
- Norwood to Hollywood: Oscar-winner who dressed the stars
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
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Very interesting. My wife and I had the honour of putting the wreath on SIr Henry’s bust at the Last Night of the Proms as we have long been Prommers! I have a photo if you are interested?
Of course!