[The following is a version of a post originally on my Idle Historian blog]
On May 30th the Idle Historian attended such a performance in Vancouver, Canada -- a performance of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and its incomparable maestro Bramwell Tovey (an expat Englishman).
The Last Night of the Proms,
for the uninitiated, is the lighthearted and patriotic final night of
the Promenade Concerts, which have run during the summer at the Royal
Albert Hall since 1895. The best-known elements of the second half have been in place since the 1950s and include: Rule,
Britannia; the Fantasia of British Sea Songs; Elgar's Pomp and
Circumstance No. 1 (Land of Hope and Glory); and Jerusalem -- the 1916
Hubert Parry composition of William Blake's poem (which serves as the unofficial
anthem of England). It is intensely patriotic with simulcasts in
huge open spaces such as Hyde Park -- attended by thousands of fans. It
is also peculiarly English, with the patriotism taken a bit
tongue-in-cheek so as not to mimic the seriousness of the "humourless and earnest" foreign types. There are silly hats, costumes,
balloons, kazoos, and a pantomime of bobbing up and down during the
Fantasia of British Sea Songs.
[Royal Albert Hall, Kensington]
The
Vancouver concert,
which I have attended previously, has a particular poignancy. It is, in a sense, “more English than
England.” The average age of attendees seems to hover somewhere around 80, with
a good proportion of attendees remembering the War – some, I am sure,
even
having actually been childhood evacuees to Canada. Its Englishness is very much
“under amber” – the Englishness of longing and nostalgia.
Though many of these individuals immigrated to Canada in
the bleak postwar days and have never really demonstrated an interest in
returning to
Blighty, the sense of an idealized Englishness is palpable. It mimics
the Englishness of John Major's famous description: "a country of long
shadows on county cricket grounds, warm beer, green
suburbs, dog lovers, and old maids cycling to holy communion through the
morning mist."
[Quintessential Englishness - cricket ground, North Devon coast]
I identify, as you have probably figured out, with these sentiments
though I am not of their generation, nor am I English. My feeling for
England is somewhat second-hand though no less "real," and perhaps no
less idealized. But, of all the faults that one could
possess, I do believe that anglophilia/nostalgic Englishness is among
the more benign. Such feelings usually come part and parcel with
elevated ideals: a sense of fair play, consensus-building, a respect for
rights and freedoms, tradition, individualism, and the like. The fact
that they are often unrealized ideals makes them no less admirable.
There is something perpetually optimistic about singing the line to
"build Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land." It evokes a
longed-for utopia that appeals to the universal human sense of good. For
the Idle Historian it is bound up with the splendour of the occasion,
the music, and the absolute good fun that is The Last Night of the Proms.
@idlehistorian
The Last Night of the Proms, Land of Hope and Glory:
@idlehistorian
The Last Night of the Proms, Land of Hope and Glory:
Your point about the perpetual optimism of such ideals makes me think that our gentle anglophilia is not a fault at all. It's a shame that fair play alone, which pertains to the other values you list, isn't realized more often.
ReplyDeletelove this, last night of the proms reminds me forever of my halcyon cambridge days( back in the 80's!)! since when I went to the continent and miss that quintessential english touch!
ReplyDelete