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THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC

The Royal College of Music has occupied so much of the time and labour of the Prince of Wales, and promises to be an institution of so great national importance, that it seems well to present in order the various movements that led up to the foundation of the College, and to group together the successive speeches of the Prince on this subject.

NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL FOR MUSIC

June 15th, 1875

The need for extending musical education, and for improving musical taste in England, has long been felt. That there is no lack of musical genius or skill in our country is sufficiently attested by the great array of eminent composers and distinguished performers, whether in vocal or instrumental music, both in former and in recent times. Nor has the love of the art, and delight in its exercise, ever been wanting. There was a time when what we now call "old English" rounds and catches, glees and madrigals, and all kinds of choral compositions, were popular, in the widest sense of the word. The love of orchestral harmony has also been great in England, where Handel found his home, and the best field for his wonderful powers. In those days Ireland was truly one with England, in appreciation of high classical music. It was in Dublin that the Messiah was first heard, and best appreciated. Even in the depressed period of music, in the early decades of this century, there were always competitions of well-trained choirs and bands, which showed the love and practice of musical art to be still widely diffused and ardently cultivated.

Notwithstanding all this, it had come to be necessary to take some measures for advancing musical art throughout the country, where great towns and busy centres of industry had multiplied, without the civilising influence of music being to a corresponding degree diffused. No one felt this more strongly than the Prince Consort, but the opportunity of carrying out his ideas did not arise in his lifetime. The Royal Academy of Music, founded in 1822, and incorporated in 1830, did good service in its limited way, for training its pupils and awarding a few scholarships; but some institution was needed, with larger expansiveness, and capable of diffusing the love and the practice of music more widely among the people.

It was in furtherance of this national purpose that the Prince of Wales, who put himself at the head of the movement, held a conference at Marlborough House, on the 15th of June, 1875.

The immediate object was to promote the establishment of free scholarships, to be held in the National Training Schools for Music, then being erected, close to the Royal Albert Hall, at Kensington Gore. The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Christian and the Duke of Teck were present; and representatives of many public bodies in Church and State, including the Archbishops and several Bishops, the Lord Mayor of London and the Mayors of many provincial towns, the Masters or Prime Wardens of the City Companies, the head masters of public schools, the Chairman and members of the London School Board, the Parliamentary representatives of the Metropolitan boroughs, and a very numerous company, of the most distinguished name and position.

The Prince of Wales, in opening the proceedings, expressed his gratification at the large attendance, which augured well for the object they all had in view. He then called on the Duke of Edinburgh to move the first resolution, in introducing which he gave a lucid and interesting statement of the history of the movement.

In 1854, the Royal Academy of Music made an application to the Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851 to grant a site upon their estate for a building in which they could carry on their labours. The negotiations were not successful, and matters remained in abeyance until 1865, when the Society of Arts appointed a Committee to consider and report on the whole subject of musical education in this country. Of this committee the Prince of Wales consented to act as chairman. Inquiries were made as to the methods employed in the management of musical academies in Paris, Berlin, Munich, Milan, and other Continental schools. Reports were drawn up, one of the main points in which dealt with the necessity for instituting scholarships to be competed for openly, so as to draw out the best musical talent throughout the country. Assistance should be given in cases where the scholars were unable to provide education for themselves.

In 1872 negotiations were reopened with the Royal Academy, with the idea of removing the head-quarters of the Academy from Tenderden Street to South Kensington. It became more evident that the purposes contemplated by the Committee of the Society of Arts could be better accomplished by the establishment of a new and independent institution as a National Training School for Music. The foundation-stone of the new institution had been laid in 1873, at which time a member of the Council, Mr. Freake, had liberally offered to undertake the whole cost of the building. At first Mr. Freake intended to give the use only of the building for some years, but he now requested the acceptance of it as a free gift. It was further stated by the Duke of Edinburgh that there was ample accommodation for above 300 students. It only remained to obtain the foundation of Scholarships in sufficient numbers for the appointment of a permanent Staff of Professors, and other arrangements for efficiently carrying on the new training school.

The Duke of Edinburgh then moved a resolution for the appointment of a Committee for taking steps to found Free Scholarships for the City of London and the Metropolitan districts. This resolution was seconded by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and supported by the Lord Mayor and the Archbishop of York.

The Prince of Wales, in responding to a vote of thanks for having convened and presiding over the meeting, said, "he thought the initiative in this matter was really due to his brother, the Duke of Edinburgh, who had taken great interest in music since his childhood. The same was the case with their father, the late Prince Consort, whose name would always be remembered with gratitude for the powerful influence he had exercised on the intellectual advancement of the country, and to whose efforts might be traced in great measure the important place which music now held in the estimation of all classes.

"On the whole, they had reason to congratulate themselves on the success of the meeting, and he was glad to have the opportunity of returning his thanks to the Lord Mayor and to all the gentlemen representing the great City Companies for their co-operation on this occasion, feeling that that meeting would be the commencement of a movement which he trusted would be a success. In conclusion, he wished to move a resolution conveying a vote of thanks to Mr. Freake for the handsome and liberal manner in which he had so kindly behaved in giving the building for the National Training School of Music. It was already a great exercise of liberality to offer the use of it rent free for five years, and certainly he was sure none present could have expected that he would have made them a present of it. He was therefore anxious that they should on that occasion record a unanimous vote of thanks to him for his great liberality, and for the interest he had taken in the welfare of that which they had so much at heart."

The Duke of Edinburgh seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously.

FOUNDING THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC

February 28th, 1882

As far back as June, 1875, the Prince of Wales, we have seen, had taken steps to secure improvement of musical education throughout the kingdom. With this purpose he had invited many influential persons to a Conference at Marlborough House, which was held on the 15th of June of that year, and which resulted in the establishment of the National Training School of Music, with Sir Arthur Sullivan as its Principal. Ten years earlier, in 1865, the Prince had induced the Society of Arts to appoint a Committee to consider and report on the whole subject of musical education in this country, and of this Committee he gladly consented to act as President.

In 1878 the Prince summoned a number of gentlemen to a meeting at Marlborough House, where the proposal to found a National College of Music, uniting the Academy and the Training School, was first mooted. A committee was appointed, and the assent both of the Academy and the School had been obtained, when the Academy withdrew, and declined to accept the proposals of union. It was not till after the lapse of several years that the way was clear for the establishment of a new and truly national institution.

On the 28th of February, 1882, the Prince of Wales presided at a meeting held in the Banqueting Hall, St. James's Palace, for the purpose of soliciting public support for founding a "Royal College of Music." This meeting is destined to be a memorable event, not only in musical annals, but in the history of the nation. What was the character and influence of that meeting was stated in eloquent terms by Sir George Grove, in his speech at the inauguration of the Royal College in the following year. This statement will be given in full on a subsequent page, the following words being sufficient to quote here: "A meeting so truly national in its aspect gave, if I may use a not inappropriate figure, the key-note of the movement; and the key-note thus struck at St. James's Palace resounded through the country, and met with a ready and harmonious response."

Larger meetings the Prince has frequently addressed, but never one more broadly representative of all the most distinguished and influential classes in the kingdom. The Ambassadors and Ministers of most of the Continental Powers were also among the audience.

The Prince of Wales, who on rising was most cordially greeted, opened the proceedings by reading letters from the Duke of Connaught and Prince Christian, expressing regret that circumstances prevented them from being present, and their hearty sympathy with the objects of the meeting. Prince Christian in his letter briefly recounted the history of the fruitless attempt which had been made to induce Professor Macfarren and the directors of the Royal Academy of Music to consent to a union of their institution with the National Training School of Music, with a view to form a Royal College of Music on a more extended basis. The Prince of Wales then said: —

"My Lords and Gentlemen, – I have called you together to-day, the representatives of the counties and towns in England, the dignitaries of the Church and other religious and educational bodies, distinguished colonists now resident in England, and the representatives of foreign Powers, to aid me in the promotion of a national object by obtaining contributions for the establishment of a Royal College of Music. Were the object less than of national importance, I should not have troubled you – the heads of social life – to meet me here to-day, and I should not myself have undertaken the responsibility of acting as the leader and organiser of the movement. I have invited to meet you the leading musicians and publishers of music, the most eminent musical instrument makers, the most influential amateurs and patrons of music, and I trust that by the co-operation and union of some of the most powerful elements of society, we may succeed in establishing a Royal College of Music on a more extended basis than any existing institution in the United Kingdom; worthy alike of this meeting and of this country, for whose benefit you are asked to give your time, your money, and your influence.

"I do not propose to trouble you with any proofs of the advantages that would be derived from the establishment of a National College of Music. That subject has been fully discussed by the Duke of Albany at Manchester, and his address is before the world. He showed that relatively to foreign countries England occupied three centuries ago a higher place in the musical world than she does at the present time, and he proved that the almost universal establishment of central and national musical institutions abroad, and the want of such an institution in England, had been one cause why musical progress has not in this country kept pace with the increase of wealth and population and the corresponding development of science and art.

"Again, the necessity of public aid formed the groundwork of the appeal made at Manchester by the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Christian. Music, as they showed, is far more expensive to teach than other arts, and the natural capacity for instruction in music is more rare than in almost any other art. You are compelled, then, if you would have good musicians, to provide means by which those to whom nature has been bountiful in giving good ears and good voices, but niggardly in giving worldly wealth, may be sought out in their obscurity and brought up to distinction by a proper course of instruction.

"What I have said naturally leads me to deal with free education in music, coupled in certain cases with free maintenance of the pupil as the first branch of the subject on which I desire to engage your sympathies and ask your aid. This system of gratuitous education is one of the principal features which will distinguish the new college from the Royal Academy and other excellent existing schools of music. I do not mean to say that we intend to exclude paying pupils. To adopt such a course would be to deprive musical ability in the upper classes of any means of access to the college, and would stamp it with a narrow and contracted character, which is above all to be avoided in a national institution intended to include in its corporate character all classes throughout the United Kingdom. What I seek to create is an institution bearing the same relation to the art of music as that which our great public schools – Eton and Winchester, for example – bear to general education. On the one side you have scholars who are on the foundation and educated by means of endowments; on the other side, pupils who derive no direct benefit from the foundation. Both classes of pupils follow the same course of study; their teachers are the same, their rewards are the same. They differ only in the fact that the collegers derive aid from the college, while those who are not on the foundation pay for the whole of their education. I lay great stress on this combination of the two systems of education – that by endowment and that by payment. Financially, it enables us to have salaried teachers of the greatest eminence, who will give so much of their time as they devote to teaching exclusively to the instruction of pupils at the college. But, more than all, a union of different classes in a common and elevating pursuit is the best mode of binding in one tie of common enthusiasm the different grades of society, varying alike in wealth and social influence. Each has much to learn from the other, and this learning is best acquired in an institution where all meet on common ground, and on a footing of artistic equality. A further object, and one most material, is sought to be attained by including in our college persons who do not intend to make music their profession. To advance music as an art in its highest aspects, resort must be had to those who possess the best opportunities for general mental culture. The most highly educated classes are those who have the greatest power of disseminating the influence of art throughout the country. They are the sources from which the civilising stream proceeds downwards, and penetrates through every channel of our complex social life.

"I will now proceed to explain the details of the scheme for which I ask your support, beginning with the foundation, as being that branch of the college for which public money will be required. The least number of scholars which would be worthy to constitute a foundation for the college would be 100. Of these, 50 should have their education free and 50 should be maintained as well as educated. These scholars will be selected by open competition throughout the United Kingdom. A system of examination will be organised by which every town – nay, every village – in the kingdom may be afforded a chance of participating in the public benefaction. Only let eminent ability be found in the village choir, the pupil will be brought to London and may, if he do but possess the requisite ability, become a Beethoven or a Mendelssohn, and any school of music may put forward its best pupil as a candidate for collegiate honours. The expense of maintenance and education of pupils I estimate at about £80 a year; that of education alone at about £40 a year. I should hope also that your liberality will grant me means to found at least two fellowships, in order that rising musicians, who have acquired distinction at the college, may not be tempted on commencing their professional career to sacrifice the higher aspirations of their art to the necessity of providing immediate means of subsistence.

"Having settled the number of our foundationers, where are we to place them? In London, I need not say, land is sold by the yard, and not by the acre, and a square yard in a good locality is often equal in value to a square acre in a remote district. Yet, for the health of a young community, we must have open space and pure air, and space is particularly necessary in a music school, for, as the Duke of Edinburgh showed in his address at Manchester, pupils in an ordinary school may be grouped and classified, but musical pupils require space for the performance either of vocal or instrumental music, and the individual attention of their masters to an extent quite unknown in the education of pupils in other branches of knowledge. Again, the locality in which a school is placed must be easy of access in order to accommodate the staff of teachers, for, though I hope to have a resident staff to a greater extent than has yet been tried in any other musical school, yet undoubtedly extraneous teaching must form a considerable portion of our instruction. Now, on the point of site, I am happy to say I can give the meeting the most satisfactory assurances without making any calls on their liberality. It is due to the foresight of my father, the Prince Consort, that at a time when South Kensington was comparatively remote from London, the large estate held by the Exhibition Commissioners was purchased with a view to furnish sites for future public buildings. In the few years that have elapsed since that purchase a suburb has been converted into a city. The estate lies between two stations of the Metropolitan District Railway, and is skirted on the north by one of the most frequented roads in the Metropolis. Here already we have a nucleus for the college in the building constructed by the great liberality of Mr. Freake, and I am enabled to state, as Chairman of the Commission of 1851, that in proportion as the public contributions enable us to construct our buildings, in the same proportion will the Commissioners be prepared to grant a sufficiency of site on which to erect them. The Commissioners have also a considerable portion of the Albert Hall under their control, and, by connecting that hall with the new college by a tunnel or a bridge, practising rooms, sitting-rooms, dining-rooms, and two small theatres will be immediately at the disposal of the college. The Commissioners will also be prepared to assist the college with an annual grant of money. To maintain the college with 100 pupils on the foundation apart from the expense of buildings an income of not less than from £10,000 to £12,000 a year will be required. The plan will admit of any degree of development in proportion as the munificence of the public or the Government supplies the requisite funds. A charter for incorporating the college has already been prepared and laid before the Privy Council. I have myself undertaken to be President. The governing body consist of a council, intrusted with the function of making by-laws for the regulation of the college, and of an executive committee charged with the details of the administration. The names of the gentlemen who form the council and the executive committee will be published, and will, I am satisfied, command the confidence alike of the public and of the musical world.

"I have now laid my plan before you. I commend it to your favourable consideration. A few words I would fain add to prevent any misunderstanding of my intentions. I have not brought you here to ask your aid for the support only of a school calculated to advance music by giving the best instruction continued over a course of years. This might be done by strengthening existing schools. I have not brought you here for the sole purpose of asking for assistance whereby to educate young and deserving musicians. Such an institution is but a branch of what I desire to found. My object is above and beyond all this. I wish to establish an institution having a wider basis and a more extended influence than any existing school or college of music in this country. It will teach music of the highest class; it will have a foundation for the education, and in some cases for the free maintenance, of scholars who have obtained by merit the right to such privileges. But it will do more than this. It will be to England what the Berlin Conservatoire is to Germany, what the Paris Conservatoire is to France, or the Vienna Conservatoire to Austria – the recognised centre and head of the musical world. Why is it that Germany, France, Italy have national styles of music? Why is it that England has no music recognised as national? It has able composers, but nothing indicative of the national life or national feeling. The reason is not far to seek. There is no centre of music to which English musicians may resort with confidence and thence derive instruction, counsel, and inspiration. I hope by the breadth of my plan to interest all present in its success. You who are musicians must desire to improve your art, and such will be the object of the Royal College. You who are only lovers of music must wish well to a plan which provides for all classes of Her Majesty's subjects a pleasure which you yourselves enjoy so keenly. To those who are deaf to music, as practical men I would say thus much – to raise the people, you must purify their emotions and cultivate their imaginations. To satisfy the natural craving for excitement, you must substitute an innocent and healthy mode of acting on the passions for the fierce thirst for drink and eager pursuit of other unworthy objects. Music acts directly on the emotions, and it cannot be abused, for no excess in music is injurious.

"In laying this great national question before you, I have followed the example of my father, by offering to place myself at the head of a great social movement. I have asked you for assistance, I await your answer with confidence. I am sure that it will be worthy of the nation of which you are representatives. To you, my Lords-Lieutenant, I would address myself with an intimation that I trust you will assemble meetings throughout your counties, for it is desirable that contributions should be received from all parts of the country as showing the interest taken by the people in music. My Lord Mayor of London and other Mayors who are here, – I am sure I may hope that you will assist me by presiding at assemblies of your fellow-townsmen, and will urge them to contribute to so national an institution. I may, I doubt not, look with confidence to the representatives of the Church and of other religious and educational denominations who have been good enough to attend here, to remind their choirs and their flocks that any contributions will be a grateful testimony that the population of England are interested in improving an art which, more than others, excites devotional feelings, and inspires with enthusiasm public and private worship. From those who are directly interested in music, either professionally or as amateurs, I trust I have a right to expect the greatest measure of assistance which they can afford; for on their behalf, and with a view to extend the influence of the science to which they are devoted, we are met here to-day for the purpose of establishing a national central musical institution. I know the loyalty of our Colonial brethren; they will not be behindhand in aiding the mother country. From foreign countries I have ever received so many tokens of regard and sympathy, that I may look with confidence to them to give their support to an institution the doors of which will be thrown open to all nations. One practical observation in conclusion. I trust that those present here to-day will each and every one of them from time to time communicate to me the steps they are taking to procure contributions, and will forward to the honorary secretaries the amount of contributions they may receive. For my part, I will take care, as soon as I am enabled to form some judgment of the extent to which the nation will support this demand, to communicate to the contributories and to the public the details of the foundation and establishment of the College, of which I have only set forth in my address the general outline."

The first resolution was proposed to the meeting by the Duke of Edinburgh, and seconded by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The speech of the Duke of Edinburgh was so clear and practical, supplementing and confirming that of the Prince of Wales, who has always generously attributed to his brother the initiation in this great national movement, which, however, could not have been carried out without the personal aid and influence of the Prince. He thus concluded: —

"I wish to express my own personal hope that the Royal College will not be a mere teaching institution, but will become a centre for groups of affiliated colleges, the members of which will, with the Council of the Royal College, form a musical senate, to which all questions of importance relating to music and musicians may be referred for determination. This may perhaps be deemed somewhat Utopian, but I do not despair of a time when the musical colleges throughout the country will ally themselves with the Royal College, and form a body united by a common tie and a general system. I will go one step further, though I do not conceal from myself that I am treading on somewhat delicate ground, and possibly trenching on the honoured privileges of the Universities; yet I will express my personal hope that, as London is the chief City of the United Kingdom, so the Royal College should be the chief musical college, invested with the power of conferring musical degrees, and the source from which all musical honours should legitimately flow.

"In proposing the first resolution, it only remains, my lords and gentlemen, for me to express my hope that the Prince of Wales will be supported on the present occasion earnestly and faithfully. A large sum of money is required for our enterprise. England is rich, and ready at all times to forward a worthy national undertaking. Why should I say England only, when we are assured of the generous support of our Colonial brethren, and when we trust that our American cousins will not be behind in furthering the foundation of an establishment which may act as a home to their musical students on this side of the Atlantic? The representatives of many foreign countries are here also. We look to them in many cases as examples in our new enterprise, and I feel sure that their kind advice and co-operation will not be wanting when we have occasion to seek them. I will now read the resolution intrusted to me: —

"'That this meeting approves of the proposal to establish a Royal College of Music as a national institution, and undertakes that meetings shall be called throughout the country, and the utmost exertions used, individually and collectively, to forward the movement by obtaining the necessary funds for founding and endowing a College of Music for the British Empire.'"

The speeches of the Archbishop of Canterbury, of the Earl of Rosebery, the Lord Mayor, and of Mr. Gladstone all touched upon points illustrating the importance of the movement, and the national benefits to be expected from it.

It is a wonder that no reference in this matter has been made to the great German reformer and patriot, Martin Luther, who was a strenuous advocate of State education, including music. He placed music as next to religion in the training of the young. He would have every schoolmaster a lover of music, and capable of teaching it. This training of teachers is one of the most important functions of the College, and should be steadily kept in mind.

When the thanks of the meeting had been moved, by Sir Stafford Northcote, to the Royal Chairman, and carried with acclamation, —

The Prince of Wales mentioned, in his reply, that "he had received a touching letter from some one who had anonymously sent £50 for the Royal College of Music – one whose earliest recollection was the singing of the National Anthem on the Coronation of the Queen, when as a poor lad he joined in the procession of Sunday-school children."

Many munificent donations and subscriptions were announced, but none more touching and interesting than this.