The title of National Conservatory is formally justified by the fact that it was chartered in 1891 by a special act of Congress, the official home being designated as Washington. A far better claim to the title could be based on the facts that names of even more than national fame appear on the roll of its faculty from the beginning, when such musicians as Rafael Joseffy, Camilla Urso, and Victor Herbert were connected with the institution, down through Dvořák's brilliant régime to the present day.
The Conservatory at its outset secured experts in special lines of music as instructors. For three years (1892-95) Dr. Antonin Dvořák was its director. Under his management liberal prizes were awarded for original compositions, and the works, a symphony by Henry Schoenefeld, a piano concerto by Joshua Phillen, a suite for string orchestra by Frederick Bullard, and a cantata by Horatio W. Parker, were performed in public concert. Under the direction of the distinguished composer the National Conservatory orchestra became notable not only for artistic excellence, but, what pertains more to the present subject, for the superior training it afforded poor young men of talent, and the places this enabled them to obtain in leading American orchestras. This work, of course, did not cease with Dr. Dvořák's retirement.
An institution incorporating in a systematic and substantial way the public and philanthropic spirit which has called into existence so many of our conservatories and schools of music is the Institute of Musical Art of the City of New York. This is the model institution of its kind in America; and, as there is promise that its example will be followed in other cities of the Union, leading to the establishment of musical education on a high and uniform plane, it deserves special notice.
Recognizing that schools of music, inaugurated with fine ideals and a sound program to attain these, have almost without exception been forced by the need of funds to lower their standard and modify their curricula to suit the popular demand for easy and flashy courses, Dr. Frank Damrosch determined to found an institution wherein commercial considerations would not enter. In James Loeb, a New York banker, he found a patron of art in thorough sympathy with the project. By a fund of a half million dollars, given in memory of his mother, Betty Loeb, Mr. Loeb put the splendid idea into concrete form, and in 1905 established and endowed the Institute of Musical Art with Dr. Damrosch as its director.
The purpose of the Institute is to provide thorough and comprehensive courses in music, each of which is planned to include every study necessary for mastering a particular branch of music, and all of which taken together cover the whole art. The Institute is enabled to execute this plan inflexibly because it is independent of tuition fees, since the revenue from these is supplemented by the interest of the funds. Accordingly the fees have been fixed at moderate and uniform rates, while no expense is spared in securing the best talent available as a teaching and training force.
The roll of the faculty contains seventy-seven names. The faculty council which directs the policy of the Institute consists of the director and five other experts. Since operatic and concert managers agree that individual instruction and criticism cannot be too carefully given in the case of students intending to make the performance of music a profession, and, as this thorough system of education is equally beneficial to the amateur, it has been adopted by the Institute. Theoretical subjects are the only ones taught in class.
In addition to the direct personal teaching which the student receives, he is surrounded by artistic and educational influences calculated to broaden his general knowledge and culture and to improve his taste and discrimination. The discipline which is an essential principle of the Institute, and which is lacking in private instruction, where the pupil often demands and obtains relaxing modifications of the instructor's system to suit his inclinations, since he is paying for his education, is of the highest value in developing character. Students of an art which in its nature tends to overstimulate the emotional nature need a corrective cultivation of the powers of the intellect and the will which students of other subjects do not so much require, since, from their studies, intellectual development is acquired directly and, reason being the governor of the will, control of this great moral force is indirectly imparted.
Like the National Conservatory the Institute is open to students of both sexes, irrespective of creed or race. The only demand is that they give proof of general intelligence, musical ability and serious purpose. Every regular student is required to follow a prescribed course not only in the specific branch which he has selected, but, in order to provide a proper foundation for this, in the subject of music in general. The student begins the course at the stage for which his attainments and abilities have prepared him, as these are indicated by three tests: as to his general knowledge of music; as to his sense of musical hearing; as to his vocal or instrumental talent.
The departments of study are singing, piano, organ, stringed instruments, orchestra, public school music and theoretic course. The courses are divided into seven grades, the last four being post-graduate. The post-graduate diplomas are of two types, called teachers' and artists'. For the teachers' diploma two grades of pedagogy and advanced work in theory and technique are required; for the artists', either two or three grades in theory, technique, and ear training, according to the proficiency of the student, which is tested not only by work done in the Institute, but by a public recital before musicians not connected with the Institute. The work of the seventh grade in the artists' course is confined to the study of composition in the various forms of complete sonata, chamber music, vocal forms, overture and orchestration. A prize sufficient to provide for a year of European life and experience is given annually to that graduate in any of the artists' courses, or in composition, whom the faculty and trustees think most deserving of the award and distinction.