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,—