New England Conservatory of Music - Neume Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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The Founding and Early History of the JJeto Cnglanb Conserbatorp of ifflusiie - — i By F. ADDISON PORTER HEN we pursue our studies in an institution, well established, flourishing, with a world-wide reputation, how much we are apt to accept unthinkingly as simply a part of the existing order of things, without, perhaps, a single reflection as to the painful efforts and heroic perseverance to which were due the original establishment of such an institution and the initial impetus to- ward its ever-increasing growth and success. No school or institution of any kind consists merely of the building it occupies or of the equipment at its command at any one time or period; rather, the school itself represents day by day the sum total of human endeavor expended in its behalf and in furthering the highest principles for which it stands. Just as the present high standing of our Conservatory is due to the splendid endeavor and achievement for the past twenty years, of our present director, Mr. George W. Chadwick, and his collaborators, so was the structure of the real school as they found it a result of the efforts previously expended, not only arduous in themselves, but, in the begining, put forth against the opposition of public opinion and with no existing capital save a whole-hearted enthusiasm. This school first existed in a man ' s mind, and that man was Eben Tourjee. At the time when he conceived the idea of a conservatory, there was no oppor- tunity in this country for class instruction in music at any school where art was placed on the same footing as other studies. The circumstances and ambitions in which the New England Conservatory had its origin may best be described in the words of Dr. Tourjee himself when, in a report dated 1883, he said, For thirty years it has been the aim and effort of my life to found and equip an in- stitution which should bring within the reach of the many the priceless benefits of a first-class musical education, that these in turn might become missionaries for its universal diffusion. The struggle through which I had to pass and the difficulties which I had to overcome in obtaining even the fragmentary education in music which this country could then afford me led me to this determination; and, keeping this object before me, I have, by every means in my power, labored both in season and out of season for the accomplishment of that purpose. Under God, my success has been beyond my expectation. When I began the study of music, there were no music-schools and few teachers of eminence, and these Page eight

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NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC latter commanded such prices for their services as to put them beyond the reach of the poor. The conservatory system of Europe was without illustration in this country; and its later discovery was to me a revelation. The possibilities of which I undertook to realize to my countrymen. Dr. TourK e ' s first effort to establish the class system for musical education was made at Fall River, Mass., in 1853. In 1859 he obtained a charter for and organized a musical institute in connection with the Academy at Fast Greenwich, R. I. In 1863, Dr. Tourjee made a trip to Furope and personally studied in and investigated the methods of the European conservatories, which fired him with enthusiasm on his return to start a larger school, which he did at Providence, R.I., in 1864. However, his constant ambition was to establish a music-school in Boston, and finally his dream was realized when on Monday, February 18th, 1867, the New Fngland Conservatory opened its first classes in the Central Music Hall Building of Boston. The faculty of this new school included the foremost musicians of the day, being as follows: pianoforte, Otto Dresel, B. J. Lang, Frnst Perabo, Stephen A. Fmery, Robert Goldbeck; harmony and composition, Messrs. Goldbeck and Fmery; instrumentation, Carl Zerrahn; vocal culture, Signor Dama, Messrs. Zerrahn and Tourjee; organ, S. P. Tuckerman, George F. Whiting; violin, VV. H. Schultze; violoncello, Wulf Fries; contrabass, August Stein. In 1870 the New Fngland Conservatory was incorporated, and in that year the first class was graduated. The school remained in the Music Hall building until 1882, when, indeed, it had grown to be a flourishing institution with an enrollment of about 700 stu- dents, an extremely significant fact when we stop to think of the striking contrast offered between conditions for music-study existing in the homes then and now. Today the most modest of homes possesses its piano as a matter of course, while in those days even the more pretentious homes could boast of nothing better than a cabinet organ; today music-study is regarded as a necessary part of every child ' s education, whereas then it was still considered as an accomplish- ment to be cultivated almost exclusively by the affluent leisure-class. It is such schools as this that have wrought the change. The year 1SS2 found Dr. Tourjee still pushing on with a never-waning enthu- siasm toward the development of a school still larger and covering an even broader held of instruction, for it was his theory that perfect education requires the symmetrical development of all the faculties. In accordance with this idea, he desired to add to the courses already included in the curriculum, departments of oratory, fine arts, and physical culture, and also to establish a home for women students in the school. For this purpose the St. James Hotel in Franklin Square Page ten