Conservatoire

“ None of the great actors of our time have come from the Conservatoire; neither Talma, nor Mars, Firmin, Potier, Vernet, Bouffé, Rachel, Frédérick-Lemaître, Bocage, Dorval, Mélingue, Arnal, Numa, Bressant, Déjazet, Rose Chéri, Duprez, Masset, nor any prominent person whatsoever. What is to be said about a mill which goes round and says tic-tac but does not grind?
Ah! well, the same vice exists in the École of Rome as in the Conservatoire. If there is a changeable art it is that of painting. Each artist sees a colour which is not that of his neighbour ”

“ The Conservatoire itself suffers from want of room. In the Faubourg Poissonnière, No. 15, are the offices of the administration, the entrance to the small theatre, where not only the examinations, but the classes for choral singing and dramatic declamation, lessons on the organ, and lectures on the history of music are held. Two smaller theatres serve for solfeggio and opera classes. In the large theatre, which contains an organ of 32 feet, the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire has held its concerts since its creation ”

“ CHAPTER VIII When application had been made to Auber, then director of the Conservatoire—who, on the Duc de Morny’s recommendation, had agreed to inscribe Sarah on his lists—it was found that only nine weeks remained before the examinations!
Even to-day, a conservative estimate of the time required for preparation for the Conservatoire is eighteen months. Many children start studying for it when they are ten or eleven. Rarely has any pupil succeeded in entering without at least nine months’ preliminary study. ”

“ The Conservatoire national de musique is now the great nursery of French musicians, but many a church has still its Maîtrise, where the choristers—boys and men—are trained by a maître de chapelle in everything necessary to insure a good execution of plain-song and sacred music. ”

“ In my position, as member of the faculty of the Conservatoire, a great many students pass before me. If I personally accept any pupils, they naturally must be talented and advanced, as I cannot give my time to the children. ”

“ Out of the sixty or seventy girls who attend my harmony lessons there are, at the utmost, five who will really turn out musicians. All the rest come to the Conservatoire simply for occupation, or from motives which have nothing to do with music. It cannot be said that these young ladies are less intelligent, or industrious, than the men. ”

“ In Paris, when sufficiently advanced, the students can make a short step from the Conservatoire to the Grand Opera; so it is hoped that English students will use the legitimate means now offered and afforded for the first time in this country of perfecting their general training, whether as singers, instrumentalists, or composers, according to their just claims. ”

“ Nothing that an entire people has admired can be without value, and everything that has a value ought to find its place in that vast casket entitled French intelligence. It is on account of this false system that there is a Conservatoire and an École at Rome. We have already, in connection with the mise-en-scène of Soulié's Juliette, said a few words about this Conservatoire, which has the unique object of teaching young men to scan Molière and to recite Racine's Corneille. ”

“ The organisation of the Conservatoire was modified by Bonaparte in March 1800, after which the staff stood as follows:—A Director—Sarrette; five Inspectors of Tuition—Gossec, Méhul, Lesueur, Cherubini, and Monsigny; thirty first-class Professors—Louis Adam, Berton, Blasius, Catel, Devienne, Dugazon, Duvernoy, Garat, Gaviniés, Hugot, Kreutzer, Persuis, Plantade, Rode, Rodolphe, Sallentin, etc.; forty second-class Professors—Adrien, Baillot, Boieldieu, Domnich, Eler, Jadin, etc. The Conservatoire was again re-organised Oct. ”

“ This school used to occupy part of the old abbey of the Cambre, situated in a hollow near the bois and the avenue Louise, but owing to its insanitary position it has been removed to a new building near the Cinquantenaire. There is a university, to which admission is easy and where the fees are moderate, and the Conservatoire provides as good musical teaching as can be found in Europe. Music can be enjoyed every day in the year either out of doors or under cover. ”

“ The names of those seeking admission to the Conservatoire must be sent in to the committee of management at the beginning of October, and an examination before the Committee of Tuition must be successfully passed. The youngest pupils only are admitted into the preparatory solfeggio and piano classes; in the higher classes, for vocal music and declamation, the age is limited to 22. The pupils have to pass two examinations in each academic year, and take part in one or more public practices ”

“ Pupils graduating from the Conservatoire with a prize have ipso facto the right to débuter at the Théâtre Français, which retains them or lets them go, according to its discretion. Most of the first subjects of the Français have done their two years’ work at the Conservatoire, and M. Sarcey holds that an actor who has not had that fundamental training which is only to be acquired there never obtains a complete mastery of his resources. ”

“ At the Conservatoire, which he once left in a huff and re-entered as a member of Reicha's 'classe de contrepoint,' he met with little encouragement from the dons, to whom his sentiments and beliefs, his ways and works were more or less antipathetic ”

“ It was very painful to me on that occasion to see the envious looks of those who already saw in me my master's successor at the Conservatoire. And as a matter of fact, this is exactly what happened, for a little afterwards I was summoned to the Ministry of Public Instruction. At the time the Minister was my confrère at the Institute, Rambaud the eminent historian, and at the head of the Beaux-Arts as director was Henri Roujon, since a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and the permanent secretary. ”

“ She has reached an age in which either her admissions or her inquiries might prove compromising. My object would therefore be to part with her in such a manner as might exclude our meeting again, and my plan was to enter her as a pupil at the Conservatoire, either at Bologna or Milan, having first selected some one who would assume the office of her guardian, as it were, replacing me in my authority over her. If her talents and acquirements were such as to suit the stage, I trusted to the effect of time and the influence of companionship to reconcile her to the project. ”

“ At Paris the École Supérieure des Mines and the École des Ponts et Chaussées are controlled by the minister of public works, the École des Beaux-Arts, the École des Arts Décoratifs and the Conservatoire National de Musique et de Déclamation by the under-secretary for fine arts, and other schools mentioned elsewhere are attached to several of the ministries. In the provinces there are national schools of fine art and of music and other establishments and free subventioned schools. ”

“ A Day At The Paris Conservatoire.
It was ten o'clock in the morning when we drove up to the door of the world-famous institution, but, early as it was, an animated throng already filled the wide marble-paved entrance-hall—former pupils in elegant attire; girl aspirants for future honors, accompanied by the inevitable mamma with the invariable little hand-bag; young men and old ”

“ Our conductors ask nothing better than to be turned in this direction. It is true that except at the Conservatoire where the establishment includes a choir, they will have to add to their budget the expenses of a choral body. ”

“ Germany’s noblest musical periods preceded the opening of her conservatoires, and her greatest geniuses have all been educated outside the schools. Hitherto all our teachers have been foreigners brought up in the conservatoires abroad. ”

“ It may be asked why in this discussion of music education the music schools, the conservatories, have been left to the very end. There has been no thought of disparaging or underestimating what our conservatories have contributed to musical development. What they have accomplished, in the main, is precisely what one would expect. ”

“ The National Conservatory, because of certain philanthropic features, is deserving of special mention as a type of institution which is not wholly commercial in its ends, and which has prepared the way for a type that is purely artistic in its purposes. It offers musical instruction to every applicant without regard to race, sex, or creed, the sole condition being that he shall give proof of a natural talent for music ”

“ The curriculum of the conservatory has been generally described by Frederick W. Colburn in 'The Musical [Pg 250] Observer' for July, 1913. Mr. Colburn, after mentioning special features, such as the conservatory orchestra of seventy-five members, affording the training and routine indispensable to professional performers whose ranks it is annually supplying, says: 'While the new is studied, the fundamentals are not lost sight of. All the courses have been planned to avoid turning out narrow and one-sided specialists. ”

“ We are told that the Government is encouraging the musical tastes of the people by giving free instruction to pupils in the National Conservatory of Music, and supporting them during their studies by small allowances of money. We have heard of pupils that came on foot for hundreds of miles to be musically educated in the capital. In order to secure admission to the Conservatory, they must pass an examination similar to that of musical schools in other parts of the world. ”

“ A modern and thorough curriculum includes all branches of instrumental and vocal music, theory and composition, dramatic art, expression, physical culture, and modern languages. Special features are: a complete and well-established Normal School, a student's orchestra, a musical bureau and a carefully arranged series of faculty and pupils' recitals.
In 1885 two conservatories, the American Institute of Applied Music and the National Conservatory of Music, were established in New York. ”

“ Among the foremost of the great educational institutions of the day, the New England Conservatory of Music takes rank, and its remarkable development and wonderful growth tends to prove that the youth of the land desire the highest advantages that can be offered them. ”

“ The Professors, of whom four teach singing, one the violin, one the violincello, one counterbass, and some others the wind instruments, are appointed by and receive their salaries from the government, which pays also for the board and lodging of twelve pupils, six boys and six girls. All the other pupils some of whom live at the Conservatory, and some attend only at the hours of tuition, are required to pay for every thing. ”

“ In this way the public schools have become foreshadowings of the conservatories and the university schools of music. In time the weak spot in our higher musical curricula, the course in 'musical appreciation' which so many idlers follow as a 'royal road' to a musical education (although it is found in none of the Royal Conservatories of Europe) , will have no excuse for being retained, for our high school pupils will already possess it in sufficient measure to pursue with zest the hard technical courses the mastery of which is necessary to the making of a real musician. ”

“ Time goes like a flash.—Now, look here, as one who knows the ways of the place, would you let me give you a piece of advice? Yes?—It’s this. You intend to enter the Conservatorium, you say. Well, be sure you get under a good man—that’s half the battle. Try and play privately to either Schwarz or Bendel. If you go in for the public examination with all the rest, the people in the BUREAU will put you to anyone they like, and that is disastrous. ”

“ The seven chairs filled by men could boast degrees and titles, but there were none for women those days. There were no associate professors, no instructors in departments ranking teachers, simply Faculty and teachers for many years. Nowadays, the catalogue bristles with degrees, and not to have A.B. or something after one's name is the rare exception.
The teachers numbered twenty that first year; the second, the number had increased to thirty-four and of these nine taught music, the largest department in the college and—as we that were in it thought—the most important. ”

“ Three hundred pupils of both sexes, taken in equal number from each department, are instructed gratuitously in the Conservatory. The principal points towards which their studies are directed, are, to keep up music in society, to form artists for the execution of public fêtes, for the armies, and for the theatres. ”

“ The Conservatorio professes to give a complete musical and a fair literary education. The musical instruction is directed by 29 Professors, and by about 30 Teachers selected from the best pupils of both sexes. For the literary branch there are 7 Professors. There are two other Professors, one for deportment, pantomine, and ballet, the other for drill.
Each pupil previous to admission must pass through a preliminary examination to see if he has any capacity for the branch of musical instruction he intends to pursue. ”

“ At the present time nearly every city of importance in the United States contains one or more conservatories, managed on a strictly business basis, and furnishing to the people of their communities thorough instruction at reasonable cost.
[Pg 560] In the Colleges.—The important American institutions for higher education, both for men and for women, have recognized the claim of music to a place in the curriculum, and have provision for instructions in the theory, history and esthetics of music, many also having facilities for instructions in the practical side of music. ”