The art of music, Vol. 04 (of 14) : $b Music in America
History
The art of music, Vol. 04 (of 14) : $b Music in America
Music -- History and criticism; Musicians
Dr. Tourjée, in 1851, at the age of seventeen, formed classes at his
home, Fall River, Mass., for instruction in vocal and instrumental
music. In 1859 he founded a musical institute at East Greenwich, where
he greatly developed his method. In 1863 he visited Europe to gain
information concerning the conduct of European conservatories, and upon
the ideas thus secured he established the Providence Conservatory of
Music, and in 1867 the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
For a time he conducted both schools, then devoted himself exclusively
to the latter. From its beginning the Boston institution secured the
best masters available and gave a maximum of musical instruction at
a minimum of cost. It has sent forth over the country thousands of
accomplished pianists, organists, and vocalists, and, what is even more
pertinent to the present subject, music teachers, trained in Tourjée's
methods. After the founder died (in 1890), Carl Faelten acted as
director, until in 1897 he founded a school of his own for instruction
in the piano. No school of its kind stands higher in America.
In 1897 George W. Chadwick, the professor of harmony, composition, and
orchestration, was made director of the New England Conservatory. For
several years Mr. Chadwick had conducted the annual musical festivals
at Springfield and Worcester, Mass., and his special attention was
thereby directed toward great orchestral and choral performances
by the students, whose number was mounting into the thousands. By
the generosity of patrons of the Conservatory, especially Eben D.
Jordan, president of the trustees, a large building was erected in
1902, containing facilities for instruction superior even to those of
European conservatories, and an auditorium, Jordan Hall, whose large
size and fine acoustic properties render it one of the important
concert halls of the country, use as such being frequently made of it
by visiting artists, to the great advantage of the students as well as
the general public. The instrumental equipment of the conservatory is
large, the collection of organs, including the pipe organ in Jordan
Hall, which is one of the largest in the world, being especially
notable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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