It is finally official! Our great composer Rued Langgaard (1893-1952) will be performed at the prestigious BBC Proms 2012.
BBC Proms is an annual eight-week summer season of classical performances in London, UK. The season runs from July 13 to September 8, 2012 and is held in different venues in London, predominately in Royal Albert Hall, but also Cadogan Hall and events all across the UK with Proms in the Park. Henry Wood founded The Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC in 1895, which makes this year the 118th. The original aim was to present the widest possible range of music, performed to the highest standards, to large audiences.
Prom 19 will be featuring Mason, Shostakovich, Langgaard and Tchaikovsky conducted by Thomas Dausgaard on July 28 at 7.30pm, Royal Albert Hall. The piece by Rued Langgaard is his Symphony no. 11 “Ixion” composed in 1944-45.
The symphony was inspired by the myth about the Greek mythological figure Ixion, who violated the laws of the gods and as punishment was tied to a flaming wheel, which rotates in Tartarus for all eternity.
Symphony no. 11 marks a turning point in Langgaard’s artistic development as he moved into an area where art and concept, absurdity and provocation hardly could be distinguished. The work is a clear comment on the composer’s own isolated and absurd existence, which is also emphasized by the fact that he changed the title of the score at least 15 times in the next six years after composing it – using titles such as “Eternal War” and “The Devil in Person”. The symphony should also be seen in the light of the World War II, which was culminating when the composition was written in the winter of 1944-45.
Last Night of the Proms takes place September 8 in Royal Albert Hall and is broadcasted on BBC1 (first half) and BBC2 (second half). It is famous for its fancy dress and culmination in Thomas Arne’s Rule, Britannia!