Unlike the Last Night of the Proms which, since the 1940s at least, has followed a much-loved set routine, the First Night has been a more shape-shifting beast. The very first First Night, on 10 August 1895, was something of a multi-national pot-pourri, as Henry Wood conducted a range of soloists and the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra in short works by (deep breath…) Wagner, Leoncavallo, Chabrier, Chopin, Eckert, Godard, Kenningham, Kistler, Saint-Saëns, Thomas, Gounod, Liszt, Bizet, Rossini, Schubert, Haydn, Godfrey, Mattei, Eilenberg, Mascheroni, Gungl and Schloesser!
A century ago, on 13 August 1921, Henry Wood was still at the helm and conducting works of a short-but-sweet variety, though fewer in number. Interestingly, less than three years after the end of World War I, the first half was an all-German affair,…
