Page 118 - 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
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konservator iji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela

The student numbers continued to increase, from 300 in the 1930s
to about 800 in the early 1950s. In 1923 the School had 14 teachers, five of
whom taught piano, which to this day remains the most popular instru-
ment. There were two teachers of “voice production” (the term then used for
singing) and one each for traditional singing, violin, cello, string orchestra,
harp, and elocution and drama. Aloys Fleischmann senior (the city’s main
organist) taught music theory and harmony; with 7s 6d per hour he was the
highest-paid teacher. His wife, a piano teacher, came next with 6s 0d, while
junior piano teachers had to make do with just 2s 6d.30

Later in the 1920s organ, wind instruments and uilleann pipes (Irish
bagpipes) were added to the list of instruments, yet in 1929 (most likely due
to the world economic crisis) the salaries went down: Aloys Fleischmann
now only earned 6s 3d, his wife 5s 0d and the lowest-earning piano teacher
2s 1d.31 The old salary levels would only be reached again by the mid-1930s,
when the numbers of teachers also increased to about 20 while Irish dra-
ma, choral classes and a percussion band now appear among the subjects
taught.32

Unlike its counterpart in Dublin, the Cork Committee had no prob-
lem with making political statements, for example on 6 September 1920
when it moved

[t]hat this meeting now stands adjourned as a protest against the
action of the British Government in detaining in prison our worthy
Lord Mayor against the express wishes of the whole world: which
action is typical of the tyrannical attitude of this Government to
our Country.33

This was at the height of the War of Independence; the Lord Mayor in ques-
tion was Terence MacSwiney, who had been sentenced to two years in pris-
on in Britain. He was then on hunger strike which would eventually kill
him, while making him a martyr as it attracted world-wide attention.

Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin
What is now Dublin’s Conservatory of Music and Drama was founded in
1890 to cover an area of music that the RIAM did not engage with, name-

30 Cork School of Music, Library, Professor’s Day Book 1923–1927, no pagination.
31 Professor’s Day Book 1928–1932, no pagination.
32 Professor’s Day Book 1932–1936 and 1937–1941, no pagination.
33 Minute Books of Committee, Meeting on 6 September 1920, Ref. VEC/SM/A/04, 156.

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