Beale, Dorothea, 1831-1906; Cheltenham Ladies' College -- History; Teachers -- England -- Biography
At this date the number of regular pupils was five hundred. Only six
years before a proposal had been made to limit the numbers to three
hundred, but each year saw an increase, and a consequent addition to the
ranks of those who carried the influence of the College into the larger
world outside.
It had been felt for some time by the Principal and others to whom the
College was dear, that an association of old pupils should be formed, but
of what nature and name could not be determined without a representative
meeting. A suitable occasion for this presented itself in 1883, which
was a sort of Jubilee year for the College, Miss Beale having then been
its Principal for twenty-five years. Many old pupils expressed a wish
to mark the great occasion by a personal gift to Miss Beale; she, as
was to be expected, asked that it might be given to her ‘husband,’ the
College. It was a moment of almost unsullied prosperity, as could be
seen by the buildings which were constantly growing more stately and
suitable. In the previous year they had been much enlarged, and the
whole College life benefited by the addition of the Music and Art wing.
The old music-rooms were little better than cupboards, the new ones
contained light, air, and space, as well as the necessary pianoforte. The
first drawing-room was but an insufficient classroom, in which a cast of
any size could not be placed. The new studio was spacious and properly
lighted. Both additions at this period spoke of Miss Beale’s method in
educational development, also of the order in which her own full mental
life unfolded. First she would have the exact, the severe, the discipline
of grammar and rule, then the expansion of beauty in thought and symbol.
And the gift of the old pupils could not have been better chosen. It
took the form of an organ for what was then the largest hall, the First
Division Room. Here the daily prayers of the three divisions took place.
Sir Walter Parratt settled the specifications for the organ, which was
placed above the Lady Principal’s dais.
The choir, which up to this time had been dependent on the aid of a
harmonium, was augmented and improved, and the daily music at the school
prayers became a feature of College life in which Miss Beale took
delight. Occasionally her directions to the choir were embarrassing. She
liked music to be very _piano_, and required a great deal of expression
to bring out the full meaning of the words sung.
Mr. Ruskin was also momentarily interested by it. He was as suggestive
and dogmatic on the subject as on any other that he touched. Once he
wrote to Miss Beale, ‘All music properly so called is of the Celestial
Spheres. It aids and gives law to Joy, or it ennobles and comforts
Sorrow.’ On hearing of the organ and ‘girl-organist,’ he hoped ‘to be
able to work out some old plans with her,’ and unfolded them thus:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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