First World War

To mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, the Proms reflects on the music, musicians and musical legacy of the Great War.

Published: 24 April 2014

To mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, the Proms reflects on the music, musicians and musical legacy of the Great War.

The festival will feature works by composers who lost their lives in the trenches (George Butterworth, Rudi Stephan and Frederick Kelly) and by others who were inspired years after the conflict (including Benjamin Britten and Sally Beamish).

On 4 August, to mark the anniversary of Britain's entry into the First World War, the world premiere of BBC commission, Requiem Fragments (2013), by the late John Tavener is performed in a Late Night Prom and Dame Shirley Williams whose mother, Vera Brittain, was the author of 'Testament of Youth', and former British commander Colonel Tim Collins introduce an anthology of poetry and prose from 1914 in a special Proms Plus Literary event at the Royal College of Music.

Roxanna Panufnik Three Paths to Peace (European premiere)

  • World Orchestra for Peace/Valery Gergiev (20 July)

Gabriel Prokofiev Violin Concerto (BBC commission: world premiere)

  • Daniel Hope violin
  • Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra/Sascha Goetzel (29 July)

Gurney War Elegy

  • BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins (1 August)

Sally Beamish Violin Concerto (London premiere)

  • Anthony Marwood violin
  • BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins (1 August)

War Horse Prom

  • Music from the National Theatre’s War Horse, plus war-themed songs performed by the Proms
  • Military Wives Choir directed by Gareth Malone
  • BBC Concert Orchestra/David Charles Abell (3 August)

Tavener Requiem Fragments (BBC commission: world premiere)

  • Heath Quartet and Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips (4 August)

Casella Elegia eroico 

  • BBC Philharmonic/Gianandrea Noseda (8 August)

Bridge Oration

  • Leonard Elschenbroich celloB
  • BBC Philharmonic/John Storgårds (14 August)

G. Butterworth (orch. P. Brookes) Six Songs from ‘A Shropshire Lad’

  • Allan Clayton tenor
  • Roderick Williams baritone
  • BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Manze (17 August)

Kelly Elegy for strings, in memoriam Rupert Brooke

  • BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Manze (17 August)

Stephan Music For Orchestra (1912)

  • BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Manze (17 August)

Vaughan Williams Pastoral Symphony (No. 3)

  • BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Manze (17 August)

Britten War Requiem

  • Susan Gritton soprano
  • Toby Spence tenor
  • Hanno Müller-Brachmann baritone
  • BBC Proms Youth Choir and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons (21 August)

Holst The Planets

  • London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Jurowski (28 August)