This programme is a replica of that given on Monday, October 29, 1883, at the Covent Garden
Promenade Concert
Vocalists
Miss MEGAN Thomas and Miss GLADYS PALMER
Mr. STUART ROBERTSON and Mr. LEONARD GOWINGS
Grand Orchestra
(Leader, Mr. S. KNEALE KELLEY)
Conductor, Mr. JOHN ANSELL
FOR a good many years before the Queen's Hall Proms began in 1895, under the auspices of Mr. Robert Newman and Mr. (as he then was) Henry J. Wood , nothing of the kind had been happening in London. But the idea was by no means a new one ; ever since the early days of Vauxhall and Ranelagh Gardens,similar projects had often been tried with varying success. After, the days of the Gardens, theatres were generally used, with the pit and stalls boarded over to form the actual ' promenade,' and the last series, before those in the Queen's Hall were set on foot, was in Covent Garden Theatre. Then, as now, the autumn was the Promenade scason-a time when not much else is being done in London on behalf of the devotee of orchestral music.
Among the many conductors who had charge of the concerts, one after another, were two at least whose names are still known to the present day-Arditi, composer of the evergreen ' II Bacio,' and the beloved Arthur Sullivan. A comparison of the programme with those in vogue today is interesting as showing how little public taste changes in such matters from one generation to another. There are only two comparatively slight numbers in the programme, which are not regularly heard in today's concerts and broadcasts—Hatton's song, ' Good-bye, Sweetheart' and the duet, ' All's Well,' by Braham. But neither of these composers has fallen wholly into neglect.