Here’s all you need to know about Prom 37 at the BBC Proms today, Saturday 17 August, at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Want to know more about this year’s brilliant BBC Proms? We’ve got all the info you need – dates, times, prices, performers, repertoire – in our handy 2024 BBC Proms guide.
What’s on at the Proms today?
Tonight you will hear Benjamin Britten‘s haunting War Requiem, written for the 1962 consecration of the new cathedral in the British city of Coventry. The previous cathedral had been bombed by the Germans during the Second World War, but its replacement had been commissioned and built swiftly.
When it came to a piece to commemorate the new cathedral, Britten was approached – and was keen. He had been germinating, for some time, a big choral work with pacifist themes. His eventual work mingles the Latin of a Requiem Mass with poems from the trenches of World War I by the great war poet Wilfred Owen.
The soloists at the work’s premiere included the tenor (and Britten’s partner) Peter Pears, and the German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. They were to have been joined by the Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, in a symbol of reconciliation between the these three major players in 20th-century European conflict. The Soviet Minister of Culture would not make Vishnevskaya available, however, so Northern Irish soprano Heather Harper made a superb replacement.
The work’s composition, rehearsal and first performance were all somewhat fraught. At the latter, the clergy wouldn’t open the doors of the cathedral so the performance started late. However, Britten’s War Requiem was very well received. To criticise the War Requiem, Stravinsky noted, was ‘as if one had failed to stand up for God Save the Queen… Behold the critics as they vie in abasement.’
- Britten’s War Requiem: full lyrics and text
- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau on performing at the premiere of Britten’s War Requiem
Who is performing at the Proms tonight?
Performing Britten’s War Requiem tonight are soloists Natalya Romaniw (soprano), Allan Clayton (tenor), and Will Liverman (baritone). They are joined by the Tiffin Boys’ Choir, BBC Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sir Antonio Pappano.
Is tonight’s Prom on TV?
Yes. Prom 37, featuring Britten’s War Requiem, will be broadcast live on BBC Four.
How much are tickets to tonight’s Prom?
Tickets are priced between £15 and £64. Or, you can join the BBC Proms’s legendary Prommers and queue on the day for the chance of an £8 ticket!