On 10 August 1895, the first of the Queen's Hall Promenade Concerts took place. It opened with Wagner's overture to "Rienzi", but the rest of the programme comprised, in the words of an historian of the Proms, David Cox, "for the most part ... blatant trivialities". Newman and Wood gradually tilted the balance from light music to mainstream classical works; within days of the opening concert, Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and further excerpts from Wagner operas were performed. Among the other symphonies presented during the first season were Schubert's "Great C Major", Mendelssohn's "Italian" and Schumann's Fourth. The concertos included Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and Schumann's Piano Concerto. During the season there were 23 novelties, including the London premieres of pieces by Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Massenet and Rimsky-Korsakov. Newman and Wood soon felt able to devote every Monday night of the season principally to Wagner and every Friday night to Beethoven, a pattern that endured for decades.