BBC plays “Rule, Britannia“ without words
August 25, 2020 at 1:10 pm 2 comments
The Proms are only an online festival this year and therefore also the famous “Last Night of the Proms“ will not be staged with an audience to sing along in the Royal Albert Hall. But singing will be avoided completely when it comes to “Rule, Britannia“ and “Land of Hope and Glory“ this year.
In a much discussed decision the BBC has defied the Government by announcing that Rule, Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory would not be sung at this year’s Last Night of the Proms.
Rule Britannia, sung by Jonas Kaufmann (2015)
Video recorded in Hyde Park – Proms in the Park
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden had warned the Corporation not to “erase history” by dropping the songs amid a row over colonialism. But the BBC instead effectively censored them by choosing to play orchestral versions, with no soloist singing the lyrics. With no audience because of coronavirus restrictions, there will be no one to sing along either.
One government source described the decision as “incredible” and Tory MPs accused the broadcaster of failing to understand the context of the songs. Charles Moore argues that Rule Britannia is about freedom, not slavery. And Chief Classical Music Critic Ivan Hewett reveals the surprising stories behind the Last Night bombast.
Well, I’m lost for words…
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EXTRA TIME 
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RapidHammer | August 30, 2020 at 6:52 am
I ended my post with the phrase “I’m lost for words” because I had not expected that the very British tradition of singing along at the Proms could come under attack in a year in which Covid-19 and lockdown made it even more important to generate a feeling of being happy and proud and standing together! To rob people of singing their traditional songs will backfire and bring the BBC in serious trouble. A comment in the Telegraph describes the feeling when singing along “Land of Hope and Glory”, and that’s exactly what I felt back in 2015 when I was at Proms in the Park in London: “When I attended Proms in the Park a couple of years ago, the orchestra struck up Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 in D Major and every hair on the back of every arm in that crowd immediately stood to attention. It was a wonderful moment of nostalgia and unity. How rare it is to be allowed to feel happy about being us.”
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Lyrics of Rule Britannia to be sung at Proms | EXTRA TIME | September 3, 2020 at 8:11 pm
[…] Tim Davie ordered the about-turn amid fierce criticism of the corporation over claims that the lyrics to Rule, Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory had been ditched over their associations with […]