National Training School for Music

The National Training School for Music, sometimes given as the National Training School of Music, was a music conservatory located in Kensington, London, England.[1] Established in 1873 and opened in 1876, the school's first principal was Arthur Sullivan. He was succeeded by John Stainer in 1881. In 1882 the school was absorbed into the newly created Royal College of Music which began instructing students in 1883.[2] .

History

Founded in 1873, the idea for the National Training School of Music (NTSM) was initially proposed by the Prince Consort who envisioned a school that would provide free musical training to winners of scholarships across the United Kingdom. After a three-year period of acquiring facilities, faculty, resources, the school opened in 1876, with Arthur Sullivan as its principal. Conservatoires to train young students for a musical career had been set up in major European cities, but in London the long-established Royal Academy of Music had not supplied suitable training for professional musicians: in 1870 it was estimated that fewer than ten percent of instrumentalists in London orchestras had studied at the academy.[3] The NTSM's aim, summarised in its founding charter, was:

To establish for the United Kingdom such a School of Music as already exists in many of the principal Continental countries, – a School which shall take rank with the Conservatories of Milan, Paris, Vienna, Leipsic, Brussels, and Berlin, – a School which shall do for the musical youth of Great Britain what those Schools are doing for the talented youth of Italy, Austria, France, Germany, and Belgium.[3]

The school was housed in a new building in Kensington Gore, opposite the west side of the Royal Albert Hall. The building was not large, having only 18 practice rooms and no concert hall. In a 2005 study of the NTSM and its replacement by the RCM, David Wright observes that the building is "more suggestive of a young ladies' finishing school than a place for the serious training of professional musicians".[3]

Under Sullivan, a reluctant and ineffectual principal, the NTSM failed to provide a satisfactory alternative to the Royal Academy and, by 1880, a committee of examiners comprising Charles Hallé, Sir Julius Benedict, Sir Michael Costa, Henry Leslie and Otto Goldschmidt reported that the school lacked "executive cohesion".[3] The following year Sullivan resigned and was replaced by John Stainer. In his 2005 study of the NTSM, Wright comments:

Like the RAM at that time, the NTSM simply failed to relate its teaching to professional need and so did not discriminate between the education required to turn out professional instrumentalists/singers and amateur/ social musicians; nor between elementary and advanced teachers. And because its purpose was unclear, so was its provision.[3]

Even before the 1880 report, it had become clear that the NTSM would not fulfil the role of national music conservatoire. As early as 13 July 1878, a meeting was held at Marlborough House, London, under the presidency of the Prince of Wales, "for the purpose of taking into consideration the advancement of the art of music and establishing a college of music on a permanent and more extended basis than that of any existing institution".[4] The original plan was to merge the Royal Academy of Music and the NTSM into a single, enhanced organisation. The NTSM agreed, but after prolonged negotiations, the Royal Academy refused to enter into the proposed scheme.[4]

In 1881, with George Grove as a leading instigator and with the support of the Prince of Wales, a draft charter was drawn up for a successor body to the NTSM. The Royal College of Music occupied the premises previously home to the NTSM and opened there on 7 May 1883. Grove was appointed its first director.[5] There were 50 scholars elected by competition and 42 fee-paying students.[6]

Alumni

Faculty

References
  1. "National Training School of Music". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. 2002. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.19615.
  2. Joyce Kennedy , Michael Kennedy , and Tim Rutherford-Johnson (ed.). "National Training School of Music". The Oxford Dictionary of Music (6 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199578108.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  3. Wright, David "The South Kensington Music Schools and the Development of the British Conservatoire in the Late Nineteenth Century", Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Vol. 130, No. 2 (2005), pp. 236–282 (subscription required)
  4. "The Proposed College for Music", The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 23, No. 467 (January 1882), pp. 17–18 (subscription required)
  5. "Royal College of Music", The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 24, No. 484 (June 1883), pp. 309–310 (subscription required)
  6. Rainbow, Bernarr and Anthony Kemp. "London – Educational establishments", Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, accessed 4 January 2012 (subscription required)
  7. "Sir Walter Alcock: Great Church Organist", The Times, 12 September 1947, p. 4
  8. Evans, Robert; Humphreys, Maggie (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. London: Mensell. p. 67. ISBN 0720123305. Studied from 1876 at the National Training School of Music where his teachers were Franklin Taylor, Ebenezer Prout, Arthur Sullivan and John Stainer.
  9. "Eugene D'Albert: A Biographical Sketch", The Musical Times, vol. 45, issue 741, 1 November 1904, pp. 697–700. Retrieved 28 August 2023
  10. Patton, Faye. "Ewart (née Donaldson), Florence Maud", Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2001 (subscription required)
  11. "Her Majesty's Theatre". The Morning Post. June 4, 1877. p. 6.
  12. Guy Warrack, revised by Christopher Kent (2001). "Bridge, Sir (John) Frederick". Bridge, Sir (John) Frederick. Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.03978.
  13. E.D. Mackerness (2001). "Carrodus, John (Tiplady)". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.05020.
  14. "Eaton Faning". The Musical Times. 42 (702): 513–26. August 1901. doi:10.2307/3366186. JSTOR 3366186. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  15. W. B. Henshaw (2003). "Stephen Kemp". Biographical Dictionary of the Organ. Bardon Music. (subscription required)
  16. Bernarr Rainbow (2001). "Monk, William Henry". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.18963.
  17. Rosemary Williamson (2001). "Prout, Ebenezer". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.22446.
  18. George Grove, revised by Jean Mary Allan (2001). "Taylor, Franklin". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.27588.
  19. "The Art Divine". The Ogden Standard. February 26, 1885. p. 3. Retrieved July 25, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
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