Speeches and Addresses of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales: 1863-1888 Part 43

"The hope so long entertained by your Royal Highness, and your advisers, that the chief existing musical inst.i.tution of the country would join your movement, was unfortunately dissipated. But the absence of the Royal Academy of Music from your Royal Highness's project was counterbalanced by the active adherence of the towns and cities of the country which through their munic.i.p.al officers, with hardly an exception, rallied as if by instinct round a movement so boldly conceived and so happily inaugurated. The key-note thus struck at St.

James's Palace resounded through the country, and met with a ready and harmonious response. Meetings were speedily organised by the lords lieutenant and mayors in the provinces. In the short period of fourteen months forty-four meetings have been held--from Exeter, Plymouth, and Hastings, in the South, to Newcastle-on-Tyne in the North; from Swansea and Shrewsbury, on the one hand, to Lincoln and Norwich on the other; while the great manufacturing and commercial centres of Nottingham, Leicester, Leeds, Bradford, Liverpool, and Blackburn, have all testified their interest in your Royal Highness's new inst.i.tution. In the City of London several meetings were held at the Mansion House, and a remarkable gathering of provincial mayors, under the sympathetic presidency of Sir.

J. Whittaker Ellis, the then Lord Mayor, gave your Royal Highness an opportunity of again enforcing your views upon your audience. By these meetings, and by the personal exertions of your Royal Highness and your ill.u.s.trious brothers, a sum of money, amounting to over 110,000, has been raised, of which nearly 5000 was due to the gracious action of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales."

Sir George Grove announced "the foundation already of many scholars.h.i.+ps for tuition, fifteen of which include maintenance. Four of the scholars.h.i.+ps were founded by private liberality, and two by Australian benefactors." He then announced "the names of the professors selected by the Prince of Wales for the teaching of the College, who were such as to give a.s.surance as in the quality and range of the instruction. The piano is in the hands of Mr. Pauer, Madame Arabella G.o.ddard, Mr. Franklin Taylor, and Mr. John Francis Barnett. To forward our interests, Madame Lind-Goldschmidt has emerged from her retirement, and singing will be taught by her, Mr. Deacon, and Signor Visetti. The violin is in the charge of Mr. Henry Holmes and Mr. Gompertz; the organ of Mr. Walter Parratt. Counterpoint and composition are taught by Dr. Bridge, Mr.

Villiers Stanford, and Dr. Hubert Parry; while among the professors of other instruments are the honoured names of Harper, Lazarus, Thomas, and other ornaments of the English school. Declamation will be specially cared for, and for this the names of Mrs. Kendal and Mrs. Arthur Stirling are sufficient guarantee.

"The compet.i.tion," continued Sir George Grove, "which has taken place throughout the country for the fifty scholars.h.i.+ps is in itself an ample proof, if proof were needed, of the justness of your Royal Highness's idea. Following the method adopted in launching the inst.i.tution, your Royal Highness appealed to the mayors, corporations, and Local Boards throughout the country, and in the Metropolitan districts to the Vestries, to make known the fact of the compet.i.tion, and to organise the preliminary examinations, selecting the examiners from the must eminent local musicians. The result was as successful as might have been antic.i.p.ated. The munic.i.p.al buildings were put at the disposal of the College, and the best musicians were prompt to give their services as honorary local examiners to a task which in many cases involved great labour and severe sacrifice. Throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland 1588 candidates sent in their names as compet.i.tors. Of these 480 were sent up to the final examination, which was conducted personally in this building by the various professors in sections; and, lastly, before the entire Board of Professors and myself as Director. The result was the unanimous election of seventeen scholars for the pianoforte, thirteen for singing, eight for the violin, six for composition, two for the violoncello, one for the organ, one for the clarionet, one for the flute, and one for the harp. In addition to the fifty scholars, forty-two persons have entered their names as paying students in the College. Time will not allow me more than an allusion to various acts of private generosity by which the College has benefited. Prominent among them is the gift of the library of the late Sacred Harmonic Society, through Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen, and various other gifts of pianos, furniture, &c., by Sir Charles Freake, Messrs. Broadwood, Messrs. Erard, Messrs. Chappell, Messrs. Holland, Feetham, and others. The professors, scholars, and students are awaiting your Royal Highness's notice at the close of these proceedings, and I trust your Royal Highness will believe that we are all alike animated by a sincere and enthusiastic desire to carry out to the full those wise and gracious designs which have brought us to this first step in our career. That your Royal Highness may long live to preside over us and guide us in the right path is, Sir, our humble and earnest hope and prayer."

The Prince of Wales, in reply, said:--

"I have heard your address with pleasure, and I feel great gratification in opening to-day the Royal College of Music, in the promotion of which I have taken so deep an interest. I avail myself of this, the first public opportunity that has offered itself, of expressing the deep personal gratification I feel at the manner in which the country has replied to my appeal for aid in establis.h.i.+ng the College. There is no cla.s.s of Her Majesty's subjects capable of affording a.s.sistance to which I have addressed myself in vain. The Corporation of London and the London companies have led the way in giving pecuniary a.s.sistance; and I owe a debt of grat.i.tude to the Mayors throughout the kingdom for the valuable aid they have afforded by granting facilities for holding local examinations essential to the proper selection of scholars. I thank these great bodies for their services, and I trust that I may yet expect from them further help in completing the task so auspiciously begun. I thank the donors of scholars.h.i.+ps for their liberality. I thank the general public for the sums they have subscribed at a time when agriculture has been depressed and the prospects of trade have not been encouraging; and, above all, I thank the many kind friends who have responded so cordially and liberally to my appeal for a.s.sistance. I have noticed also with the greatest pleasure the contributions for Colonial scholars.h.i.+ps that have been given by two eminent colonists, the one on behalf of the colony of Victoria, and the other on behalf of the colony of South Australia. The object I have in view is essentially Imperial as well as national, and I trust that ere long there will be no colony of any importance which is not represented by a scholar at the Royal College.

"Much, indeed, has been done, but I am aware that much remains to be done. I am conscious that I may be thought to have taken a bold step in beginning so great an enterprise with only the resources at present at my command. But I am unwilling that any delay should take place in giving effect to the generous intentions of those who have already contributed so liberally. I am sanguine enough to think that the example set during the last year by corporate bodies, representatives of the colonies, private donors, and the general public will be followed in ensuing years. Ours is an inst.i.tution which admits of almost indefinite extension, for, wherever a scholars.h.i.+p is founded, we know now that we shall find a deserving candidate to hold it.

"Let me now pa.s.s to an account of what has been actually accomplished. Fifty scholars.h.i.+ps have been established, of which thirty-five confer a free education in music, and fifteen provide not only a free education, but also maintenance for the scholars. Of these scholars.h.i.+ps half are held by boys and half by girls. I observe with pleasure that the various districts from which the scholars are drawn indicate the widespread distribution of a taste for music, and an adequate cultivation of music throughout the United Kingdom. London, with its vast population, sends only twelve out of the fifty. The remaining thirty-eight come as follows:--twenty-eight from fourteen different counties in England, two from Scotland, six from Ireland, one from Wales, and one from Jersey. The occupations of the scholars are as various as the places from which they come.

I find that a mill-girl, the daughter of a brickmaker, and the son of a blacksmith take high places in singing, and the son of a labourer in violin playing.

"The capacity of these candidates has been tested by an examination of unusual severity. Each of these scholars who returns to his native place furnished with the highest instruction in music will form a centre from which good musical education will spread around; while those who obtain musical engagements elsewhere will stimulate and encourage by their success the cultivation of music in the places whence they have come. Surely, then, it is not too much to expect that many years will not pa.s.s away before our College has so popularised music as to place England on a par with those countries on the Continent which have acquired the distinction of being called musical people.

"I feel, then, that one great object of a College of Music has been secured--namely, the discovery of latent musical ability and the extension to those who, with great natural gifts, have been blessed with little of this world's goods, of the opportunity of obtaining instruction in music, to say the least, not inferior to any which this kingdom can afford. That these words are not the language of exaggeration will be apparent to those who read the names of the eminent staff who have placed their services at the disposal of the College. Side by side with these scholars will be educated a group of paying pupils, who think that music is an art which, if worth studying at all, is worth studying well. They are, then, prepared to enter on a systematic course of instruction, of less severity and continuance than that of the scholars, but still far removed from the musical dilettantism of those who, induced by fas.h.i.+on, not by taste, to study music, make progress enough to torment themselves and distract their friends.

"I lay great store by the meeting of the various cla.s.ses of society in pursuit of a common yet elevating study. Such a union softens asperities, inspires kindly feeling between various cla.s.ses, and proves that all mankind are akin when engaged in an art which gives the highest expression to some of the best and purest feelings of the human heart.

"The observations I have hitherto made relate only to the Royal College of Music in its character of a teaching body. It is not proposed, however, that the functions of the College should be restricted to teaching. The charter under which we are incorporated provides that the council are to cause examinations to be held of pupils of the College, and of other persons who may present themselves for examination, and after examination to confer on those who deserve such distinctions the degrees of Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Music, certificates of proficiency, and other rewards. I propose that this power should be exercised by an independent board of examiners chosen by the Royal College in conjunction with the Universities, and after consultation with the great musical authorities of the United Kingdom. I trust thus to secure an examining body whose impartiality will be above suspicion and capacity beyond all question. I hope thus, through the instrumentality of the Royal College, to raise the standard of music throughout the United Kingdom and to create a central influence which may be beneficially exercised over all music-teaching bodies who recognise the advantage of a common system of examination.

"Beyond and above all this I trust, as I stated on a previous occasion, that the College will become the recognised centre and head of the musical world in this country. It has been a reproach to England that, with her vast resources, her large benevolence, her eagerness to instruct all cla.s.ses of society in other branches of knowledge, one thing has. .h.i.therto been wanting--a national inst.i.tution for music. Yet music is in the best sense the most popular of all arts. If that government be the best which provides for the happiness of the greatest number, that art must be the best which at the least expense pleases the greatest number. I trust that to-day we have removed the reproach. England, by a national subscription, has acquired an inst.i.tution worthy to be called national, and with the establishment of such an inst.i.tution we may look forward with confidence to the creation of a national school of music.

England has the composers already; all she wants is a general centre, such as a Royal College of Music, to which they may resort for mutual aid and common inspiration.

"Such are the aims, not mean nor ign.o.ble aims, proposed for the College which we open to-day. It remains for you, gentlemen of the council, to be careful that the aims are fully realised. A young inst.i.tution requires fostering care and constant supervision. You must not relax your efforts, no pains must be spared to gain fresh support and obtain the establishment of new scholars.h.i.+ps. We want much; we are, I trust, ent.i.tled to ask for much of the public. In addition to scholars.h.i.+ps we want more extended premises, a music-hall, lodgings for our scholars, houses for masters, and all the appurtenances of a great College. I am sure I may trust to the generosity of the public to supply these wants; but you, gentlemen, must by your careful supervision make our inst.i.tution worthy of support, and no efforts of mine shall be wanting to secure the objects we have in view.

"I will say only one word in conclusion. The establishment of an inst.i.tution such as I open to-day is not the mere creation of a new musical society. The time has come when cla.s.s can no longer stand aloof from cla.s.s, and that man does his duty best who works most earnestly in bridging over the gulf between different cla.s.ses which it is the tendency of increased wealth and increased civilisation to widen. I claim for music the merit that it has a voice which speaks, in different tones, perhaps, but with equal force, to the cultivated and the ignorant, to the peer and the peasant. I claim for music a variety of expression which belongs to no other art, and therefore adapts it more than any other art to produce that union of feeling which I much desire to promote. Lastly, I claim for music the distinction which is awarded to it by Addison--that it is the only sensuous pleasure in which excess cannot be injurious. What, more, gentlemen, can I say on behalf of the art for the promotion of which we are to-day opening this inst.i.tution--an inst.i.tution which I trust will give to music a new impulse, a glorious future, and a national life? Before I quit this room a further duty devolves on me--a most gratifying one, I admit. I am called upon to announce a most gracious act by which the Queen has been pleased to mark her interest in the opening of the Royal College. Her Majesty authorises me to say that she proposes to confer the honour of knighthood on Professor Macfarren and Dr.

Sullivan. If anything could add to my satisfaction in making this statement it is this, that these honours are bestowed by the advice of the Prime Minister, who has taken so kind an interest in the promotion of the Royal College, and who could have devised no better mode of celebrating its opening than by recommending that honour should be done on this occasion to music by conferring knighthood on men so celebrated in their art as Professor Macfarren and Dr. Sullivan, and that honour should be done to our college by awarding a like distinction to its director, Dr. Grove, who, eminent in general literature, has specially devoted himself to the preparation and publication of a dictionary of music, and has earned our grat.i.tude by the skill and success with which he has worked in the difficult task of organising the Royal College. I have only to add that the Prime Minister (Mr. Gladstone) by his presence to-day proves that neither the cares of State, nor the overwhelming press of business by which he is surrounded, prevents him from giving personal countenance to a national undertaking which, if I am right in what I have said, is calculated to advance the happiness and elevate the character of the English people."

The Royal College of Music, incorporated by Royal Charter in 1883, is now one of the established inst.i.tutions of the Empire. There lies before us the Report of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Corporation, with Report of the Council and other official doc.u.ments and statements. This meeting was held at the Concert Hall of the Alexandra House, adjoining the College, on Tuesday, July 24th, 1888, Prince Christian, K.G., one of the Vice-Presidents, in the chair. There was a very large attendance of the Council, members of the Corporation, teachers and pupils of the College. The Report of the Council was of the most satisfactory nature.

The progress of the pupils has been very encouraging, and the discipline and efficiency of the College thoroughly well maintained. The number of foundation scholars at the end of April, 1888, was fifty-nine. Its number of paying students on the books at the same date, was 170, an increase of 24, during the preceding twelve months. These students were in various years of their training. The total number of pupils was 229.

The Examiners, Mr. W. G. Cusins, Sir Charles Halle, Mr. C. H. Lloyd, Mr.

A. Randegger, Mr. Carl Rosa, and Mr. Prosper Sainton, gave a most favourable report of steady progress, especially by the students of stringed instruments, piano, and organ. As an educational inst.i.tution, the Royal College has already proved itself able to exert a powerful influence on the condition of musical art in this country.

The results of examinations and compet.i.tions were then given in detail, and various incidents of the year were recorded, including visits of Dr.

Joachim and Dr. Hans Richter, who delighted the pupils by their presence and their performing. Various changes in the teaching staff were announced. The finances of the College are in good state, the available balance at the close of the year being nearly 2484, a clear increase during the past year of nearly 470. Various donations and benefactions were reported, but the great event of the meeting--which H.R.H. Prince Christian announced with a cheerful emphasis, in keeping with the warm interest he has always taken in the College--this was the generous gift of 30,000 by Mr. Samson Fox, for a building worthy of the inst.i.tution; met by Her Majesty's Commissioners of 1851 by the grant of a site on their estate at South Kensington.

We must not give more s.p.a.ce to this subject of the Royal College of Music. Those who wish further information must apply to the Secretary or Director of the College. In connection with the present volume it only remains to congratulate His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales on the successful accomplishment of a work, which is an honour to the reign of Queen Victoria, and will be of perennial benefit to the British Empire.