“ The name Conservatoire is generally used not only of the French institutions to which it properly applies, but also of the Italian Conservatorio and the German Conservatorium, and even sometimes of English schools of music. In the United States, however, the anglicized form “Conservatory” is used, a form far more satisfactory from the point of view of linguistic purity, but difficult to establish in England owing to its common application to a particular kind of green-house (see Horticulture) . ”

“ In more recent years that place of honour belongs decidedly to the Conservatorium at Leipzig, founded by Mendelssohn in 1843, which, for composition and instrumental music, became the chief resort of those who wished to rise to eminence in the art. ”

“ Two of them, however, ceased to exist in the course of the 18th century, and on the French occupation of the city the other two were united by Murat in a new institution under the title Real Collegio di Musica, which admitted pupils of both sexes, the earlier conservatorios having been exclusively for boys. In Venice, on the other hand, there were from an early date four conservatorios conducted on a similar plan to those in Naples, but exclusively for girls. ”