Chapter 4
Arts and culture
British music, theatre, art, architecture, design and literature — the key people, their works, and the awards that recognise achievement.
By the end you should know
- Match famous composers, artists, architects and writers to their work
- Know the major arts events, such as the Proms and the Edinburgh Festival
- Know what the main arts awards are for (Mercury, Turner, Booker, Olivier, BAFTA)
- Name important figures in British literature and poetry
Music
Music in the UK ranges from classical to modern pop, with many venues and events across the country. Classical music has been popular for centuries.
What are the Proms?
An eight-week summer season of orchestral classical music held in venues including the Royal Albert Hall in London. The BBC has organised it since 1927. The best-known concert is the Last Night of the Proms.
Which composers wrote which famous works?
Handel — Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks, Messiah · Holst — The Planets · Elgar — Pomp and Circumstance Marches ('Land of Hope and Glory') · Britten — Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra · Walton — Façade, Belshazzar's Feast
Purcell was organist at Westminster Abbey. Handel was German-born and became a British citizen in 1727. Elgar was born in Worcester. Vaughan Williams was influenced by English folk music. Britten founded the Aldeburgh festival in Suffolk.
- Henry Purcell (1659–95): organist at Westminster Abbey; developed a distinctly British style
- George Frederick Handel: German-born, became a British citizen in 1727; wrote the Water Music for George I and Music for the Royal Fireworks for George II, and the oratorio Messiah
- Gustav Holst (1874–1934): The Planets; he adapted 'Jupiter' as the tune for the hymn I Vow to Thee My Country
- Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934): born in Worcester; his Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 ('Land of Hope and Glory') is usually played at the Last Night of the Proms
- Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958): music for orchestras and choirs, strongly influenced by English folk music
- Sir William Walton (1902–83): film scores, opera and coronation marches; best known for Façade and Belshazzar's Feast
- Benjamin Britten (1913–76): operas Peter Grimes and Billy Budd; A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra; founded the Aldeburgh festival in Suffolk
Folk, jazz, pop and rock have flourished since the 20th century. Since the 1960s, bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones have influenced music worldwide, and British pop kept innovating — punk in the late 1970s, boy and girl bands in the 1990s.
Which music festivals and venues does the handbook mention?
Summer festivals: Glastonbury, the Isle of Wight Festival and the V Festival. The National Eisteddfod of Wales is an annual cultural festival held largely in Welsh. Big venues: Wembley Stadium, The O2 (Greenwich) and the SECC (Glasgow).
What are the Mercury Music Prize and the Brit Awards for?
Key factThe Mercury Music Prize is awarded each September for the best album from the UK and Ireland. The Brit Awards are an annual event with categories such as best British group and best British solo artist.
Theatre
Most towns and cities have a theatre showing professional and amateur productions. London's West End, nicknamed 'Theatreland', is particularly famous.
What is The Mousetrap?
A murder-mystery play by Dame Agatha Christie that has run in London's West End since 1952 — the longest initial run of any show in history.
Who are the best-known names in British musical theatre?
Gilbert and Sullivan (19th-century comic operas: HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado) and Andrew Lloyd Webber (Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita with Tim Rice; Cats; The Phantom of the Opera).
What is a pantomime?
A light-hearted family play with music and comedy, based on a fairy story and staged at Christmas time. Traditional characters include the Dame (a woman played by a man) and a pantomime horse or cow played by two actors.
What is the Edinburgh Festival?
A series of arts and cultural festivals held in Edinburgh every summer. The biggest is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, mainly theatre and comedy, often experimental.
What are the Laurence Olivier Awards?
Key factAnnual theatre awards held in London, with categories such as best director, best actor and best actress. They are named after the actor Sir Laurence Olivier, best known for his Shakespeare roles.
Art
In the Middle Ages most art was religious — church wall paintings and illustrated religious books — and much of it was lost after the Reformation. Many painters working in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries came from abroad, such as Hans Holbein and Sir Anthony Van Dyck. From the 18th century British artists, especially portrait and landscape painters, became well known. Major galleries include the National Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern in London, the National Museum in Cardiff and the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Who was Thomas Gainsborough?
Key factA portrait painter (1727–88) who often painted people in country or garden scenery.
Who was David Allan?
Key factA Scottish painter (1744–96), best known for portraits. One of his most famous works is The Origin of Painting.
Who was Joseph Turner?
Key factAn influential landscape painter (1775–1851) working in a modern style, credited with raising the profile of landscape painting. The Turner Prize is named after him.
Who was John Constable?
Key factA landscape painter (1776–1837), most famous for his pictures of Dedham Vale on the Suffolk–Essex border in eastern England.
Who was Sir John Lavery?
Key factA very successful Northern Irish portrait painter (1856–1941) whose work included painting the Royal Family.
Who was Henry Moore?
Key factAn English sculptor and artist (1898–1986), best known for his large bronze abstract sculptures.
Who was John Petts?
Key factA Welsh artist (1914–91), best known for his engravings and stained glass.
Who was Lucian Freud?
Key factA German-born British artist (1922–2011), best known for his portraits.
Who is David Hockney?
Key factAn artist (born 1937) who was an important contributor to the 'pop art' movement of the 1960s and is still influential.
The Pre-Raphaelites were an important group in the second half of the 19th century. They painted detailed, brightly coloured pictures on religious or literary themes; members included Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Sir John Millais.
Exam tip: learn the nationality clues. David Allan was Scottish, Sir John Lavery Northern Irish, John Petts Welsh and Lucian Freud German-born. Henry Moore is the sculptor; Hockney is linked with 1960s pop art; Constable with Dedham Vale; Turner with modern-style landscapes.
What is the Turner Prize?
Key factA prize for contemporary art, set up in 1984 and named after Joseph Turner. According to the handbook, four works are shortlisted each year and shown at Tate Britain before the winner is announced.
Past winners include Damien Hirst and Richard Wright. It is one of Europe's most prestigious visual art awards. In recent years the shortlist exhibition has often been held at galleries outside London rather than at Tate Britain.
Architecture
Great medieval cathedrals still stand in Durham, Lincoln, Canterbury and Salisbury, and the White Tower at the Tower of London is a Norman keep built for William the Conqueror. Later, wealthy landowners built grand country houses such as Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. In the 18th century simpler designs became fashionable; Robert Adam's ideas influenced cities such as Bath, where the Royal Crescent was built. In the 19th century the medieval 'gothic' style returned, used for the Houses of Parliament, St Pancras Station and the town halls of Manchester and Sheffield.
Which architects are linked with which buildings?
Inigo Jones — Queen's House (Greenwich) and Banqueting House (Whitehall) · Sir Christopher Wren — the new St Paul's Cathedral · Robert Adam — Dumfries House · Sir Edwin Lutyens — New Delhi and the Cenotaph
Modern architects working worldwide include Sir Norman Foster, Lord (Richard) Rogers and Dame Zaha Hadid.
What was Lancelot 'Capability' Brown known for?
In the 18th century he designed the grounds of country houses so that the landscape looked natural, with grass, trees and lakes. He often said a place had 'capabilities'.
Later, Gertrude Jekyll designed colourful gardens, often for houses by Edwin Lutyens. The Chelsea Flower Show is held every year.
Fashion and design
Which British designers does the handbook name?
Thomas Chippendale — 18th-century furniture · Clarice Cliff — Art Deco ceramics · Sir Terence Conran — 20th-century interior design · fashion: Mary Quant, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood
Literature
Britain has a long and distinguished literary tradition. Agatha Christie's detective stories are read worldwide, and Ian Fleming created James Bond. In 2003, JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings was voted the country's best-loved novel.
Which British writers named in the handbook won the Nobel Prize in Literature?
The novelist Sir William Golding, the poet Seamus Heaney and the playwright Harold Pinter.
What is the Man Booker Prize for Fiction?
Key factAn annual prize, awarded since 1968, for the best fiction novel by an author from the Commonwealth, Ireland or Zimbabwe (as the handbook describes it).
Past winners include Ian McEwan, Hilary Mantel and Julian Barnes.
Notable authors
Who was Jane Austen?
Key factAn English novelist (1775–1817) whose books, such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, are about marriage and family relationships.
Who was Charles Dickens?
Key factA novelist (1812–70) who wrote Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. Characters such as Scrooge (a mean person) and Mr Micawber (always hopeful) are still referred to in everyday talk.
Which books did Robert Louis Stevenson write?
Key factTreasure Island, Kidnapped and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1850–94).
Who was Thomas Hardy?
Key factAn author and poet (1840–1928) whose best-known novels focus on rural society, including Far from the Madding Crowd and Jude the Obscure.
Who was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?
Key factA Scottish doctor and writer (1859–1930), best known for his stories about Sherlock Holmes, one of the first fictional detectives.
Who was Evelyn Waugh?
Key factA writer of satirical novels (1903–66), including Decline and Fall and Scoop. He is perhaps best known for Brideshead Revisited.
Who was Sir Kingsley Amis?
Key factAn English novelist and poet (1922–95) who wrote more than 20 novels; the best known is Lucky Jim.
Who was Graham Greene?
Key factA novelist (1904–91) whose books were often influenced by his religious beliefs, including The Heart of the Matter, The Honorary Consul, Brighton Rock and Our Man in Havana.
Who is J K Rowling?
Key factThe author (born 1965) of the hugely successful Harry Potter children's books. She now also writes fiction for adults.
British poets
British poetry is among the richest in the world. Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon poem about a hero fighting monsters, is still translated into modern English. From the Middle Ages come Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, about a knight at King Arthur's court. Shakespeare wrote many sonnets, and as Protestant ideas spread, John Milton wrote the religious poem Paradise Lost.
Which poets and poems does the handbook mention?
Beowulf (Anglo-Saxon) · Chaucer — The Canterbury Tales · John Milton — Paradise Lost · William Wordsworth — nature poems such as 'The Daffodils' · Sir Walter Scott — Scotland and the Borders · Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon — the First World War
Shakespeare wrote many sonnets (14-line poems). Other 19th-century poets: Blake, Keats, Byron, Shelley, Tennyson, Robert and Elizabeth Browning. Many poets are buried or commemorated in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.
Later popular poets include Sir Walter de la Mare, John Masefield, Sir John Betjeman and Ted Hughes. Famous lines quoted in the handbook include Wordsworth's 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' (The Daffodils), Blake's 'Tyger! Tyger! burning bright' (The Tyger), Byron's 'She walks in beauty' and Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth.
Awards at a glance: Mercury Prize — best album (UK and Ireland); Brit Awards — pop music; Turner Prize — contemporary art; Man Booker Prize — fiction; Laurence Olivier Awards — theatre; BAFTAs — film and television (see Leisure).