In 1871 a conservatory of music was established in Jacksonville, Ill., the seat of Illinois College. Its founder was Professor W. D. Sanders, a leading Western educator, and its first director was I. B. Poznanski, a violinist and composer who later became instructor at the Royal Conservatory, London. In 1903 the conservatory was merged with the college. The Cleveland Conservatory of Music was also founded in 1871. It adopted the European conservatory method of instruction.
In 1873 Northwestern University at Evanston, Ill., became a co-educational institution and at once established a 'Conservatory of Music' that began, and for many years thereafter remained, on a low plane of instruction. The university authorities, in the manner of old-time monarchs, 'farmed out' to the director of the conservatory the privilege of running the business for a percentage of the receipts, and gave him a free hand and full responsibility. Naturally the conservatory was conducted in a way to produce the greatest immediate returns.
In 1891 Prof. P. C. Lutkin was put in charge of the conservatory. He insisted that the title be dropped and that the school be made a department of the university, directly under control of the university authorities; and that its director should receive a full professorship with a fixed salary, in order that educational ideals should not be compromised by financial considerations. These changes were authorized, and Professor Lutkin radically revised and extended the curriculum to make it conform to academic standards. By 1895 a four-years course was developed, to correspond with that of the Liberal Arts department. The 'Department of Music' then assumed the title of 'School of Music' and became a coördinate division of the university, like the School of Law, the School of Mines, etc., with its own dean and faculty. Its pupils, of course, retained all the opportunities for general culture afforded by the college of Liberal Arts.
In an address delivered before the Music Teachers' National Association at Oberlin in 1906, Professor Lutkin said: 'The exact point where general education should give way to the study of music is a much discussed one, and we will not stop to consider it here, except to say that we have placed it at the point of entrance-requirements in the College of Liberal Arts. The fact that the students are able to pursue advanced work in history of music, harmony, counterpoint, analysis, etc., is of itself a clear index as to their mental capacity, and places them, without doubt, upon a plane of mentality quite up to that required of college students.' The music department of the Northwestern University now ranks with the best conservatories in the country.
Concerts have always formed the leading element in developing American appreciation of music. The enthusiasm created by the festivals conducted in Cincinnati by Theodore Thomas in the early seventies led directly to the establishment in 1878 of the Cincinnati College of Music by Miss Dora Nelson. The institution was planned along the lines of European conservatories, with a close relation to superior public performances in the city, the patrons of which were patrons of the college. With a fine faculty the institution has retained to the present the high reputation it won at the outset. Theodore Thomas was the first musical director of the school, and among his successors is Frank Van der Stucken.
Of the important Chicago schools of music the earliest was the Chicago Conservatory, established in 1884. Quite a typical institution is the American Conservatory of Chicago. It was founded in 1886 by its present head, President John J. Hattstaedt, with the assistance of several of Chicago's music-loving citizens. Its quarters were in Weber Hall Building, corner of Wabash Avenue and Jackson Street, which were retained for ten years, when the conservatory was removed to the adjoining building—Kimball Hall, where it still remains.
From a small institution it has grown to be one of America's largest schools of music, registering about 2,000 students annually. The faculty numbers seventy-five, and contains many teachers of national reputation. 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. Miss Kate S. Chittenden was the founder of the Institute, Mrs. Jeannette M. Thurber of the Conservatory. Both are flourishing to-day under control of the founders and with excellent faculties and ample musical facilities.
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; this instruction it imparts without cost to those unable to pay.