Royal Albert Hall 🎶🎹🏛

Some echoing beginnings

London has a wonderful concentration of venues with excellent acoustics for classical music concerts of all kinds. My favourites are the smaller and more intimate ones, like Wigmore Hall, perfect for chamber music, but London can offer also very large venues which provide a different experience of classical music altogether. Originally designed with a capacity of 8,000 people, the Royal Albert Hall was one of the biggest concert halls of its time and not necessarily one with the best acoustics. In the final stages of its construction it was realised that the domed roof was not suitable for live music performance and it had to be internally modified with some canvas awning to avoid unpleasant echo. To this day the ceiling of the hall is fitted with some “mushrooms” to reduce reverberation and improve acoustics. The original audience capacity has also been reduced to some 5,000+ seated people, which makes quite an impressive number of listeners for a classical music venue.

The dedication to Prince Albert

The original monogram on the interiors of the Hall

Given the good success of the Great Exhibition of 1851, held in Hyde Park, Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, proposed to install a permanent structure in the nearby area that could serve public purposes and entertainment. The idea was born to construct a concert hall but Prince Albert died before he could see his idea realised. Hence the dedication of the Hall to the Prince and the construction of a Memorial just opposite the concert hall on the edge of Hyde Park. The Hall was inaugurated by Queen Victoria in 1871, some ten years after the death of her dear husband.

The BBC Proms

A Prom with choral performance during the 2021 summer season

One of the regular series of events held at the Hall is the BBC Proms, a classical music festival that lasts for the summer months and features traditional and contemporary music plays by world-class interpreters. The Proms have been held at the Royal Albert Hall continuously since the summer of 1941. The concerts are very popular with the public and the final night in the series is famous for celebratory sing-along with the audience of well-known tunes.