Page 109 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2020. Konservatoriji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela ▪︎ The conservatories: professionalisation and specialisation of musical activity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 4
P. 109
ir ish conservator ies dur ing the inter-war per iod
The new Free State quickly published a new syllabus for the school year
1922–23 as “His Majesty’s Statutory Office” was replaced by a Department
of Education. It included a complete overhaul of the system, which became
significantly broader:
The music curriculum was based on conservatory training, i.e., the
education of professional musicians; a strong theoretical orienta-
tion underpinned music instruction […]; a gender bias gradually
led to the exclusion of boys from music examinations […].1
At second-level it included ear training, “cultivation of taste,” music his-
tory, development of technique, exercise in creative work, and training in
principles of composition. The practical music-making still focused on pi-
ano, violin, cello and harp. Irish and Ireland-based composers (such as
John Field, Michele Esposito and Herbert Hamilton Harty) began to ap-
pear in the syllabus.2
There are three conservatories in Ireland: two in Dublin and one in
Cork, the republic’s second-largest city. They are the Royal Irish Academy
of Music (RIAM) and the Conservatory of Music and Drama in Dublin,
and the Cork School of Music. Apart from the early days of the RIAM all
three of them have always received public funding, although this was nev-
er enough to finance all their activities. Let us have a brief look at each of
them, with a special focus on the inter-war period.
Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin
The RIAM is the oldest of the three conservatories. It was founded as “Irish
Academy of Music” in 1848 (it became “Royal” in 1872, after the Academy
made a positive impression on the Duke of Edinburgh, one of Queen Vic-
toria’s sons), fundamentally reorganised in 1855/6, and moved into 36 West-
land Row, a building in Dublin’s city centre that it still occupies today, in
1870. In 1915, the RIAM created room for expansion by buying the adjacent
houses nos. 37 and 38.
In 1870 it also started receiving an annual government grant of £150
which was increased to £250 in 1875 and to £300 in 1880 (on the condi-
tion that the Academy would raise at least £100 through private sub-
scriptions every year). The grant had to be reconfirmed annually by the
1 Marie McCarthy, Passing It On (Cork, Cork University Press, 1999), 94.
2 Stephen S. Lane, “Government Policy on Irish Music Education at Second-Level since
1921,” vol. 1 (MA [Research], Cork School of Music, 2005), 10.
107
The new Free State quickly published a new syllabus for the school year
1922–23 as “His Majesty’s Statutory Office” was replaced by a Department
of Education. It included a complete overhaul of the system, which became
significantly broader:
The music curriculum was based on conservatory training, i.e., the
education of professional musicians; a strong theoretical orienta-
tion underpinned music instruction […]; a gender bias gradually
led to the exclusion of boys from music examinations […].1
At second-level it included ear training, “cultivation of taste,” music his-
tory, development of technique, exercise in creative work, and training in
principles of composition. The practical music-making still focused on pi-
ano, violin, cello and harp. Irish and Ireland-based composers (such as
John Field, Michele Esposito and Herbert Hamilton Harty) began to ap-
pear in the syllabus.2
There are three conservatories in Ireland: two in Dublin and one in
Cork, the republic’s second-largest city. They are the Royal Irish Academy
of Music (RIAM) and the Conservatory of Music and Drama in Dublin,
and the Cork School of Music. Apart from the early days of the RIAM all
three of them have always received public funding, although this was nev-
er enough to finance all their activities. Let us have a brief look at each of
them, with a special focus on the inter-war period.
Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin
The RIAM is the oldest of the three conservatories. It was founded as “Irish
Academy of Music” in 1848 (it became “Royal” in 1872, after the Academy
made a positive impression on the Duke of Edinburgh, one of Queen Vic-
toria’s sons), fundamentally reorganised in 1855/6, and moved into 36 West-
land Row, a building in Dublin’s city centre that it still occupies today, in
1870. In 1915, the RIAM created room for expansion by buying the adjacent
houses nos. 37 and 38.
In 1870 it also started receiving an annual government grant of £150
which was increased to £250 in 1875 and to £300 in 1880 (on the condi-
tion that the Academy would raise at least £100 through private sub-
scriptions every year). The grant had to be reconfirmed annually by the
1 Marie McCarthy, Passing It On (Cork, Cork University Press, 1999), 94.
2 Stephen S. Lane, “Government Policy on Irish Music Education at Second-Level since
1921,” vol. 1 (MA [Research], Cork School of Music, 2005), 10.
107
