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Scan 74
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1927
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1(together with two scientific or linguistic subjects), and a University examination in theory of music and composition, with the presentation of an exercise for strings or for voices or for both. For the honours degree there is a further University examination in either advanced study in harmony, counterpoint, fugue, form and composition, with a critical study of one or more periods or works, or an exercise in advanced musical composition, with a dissertation embodying the results of some scheme of musical research. Holders of the B.A. degree who subsequently proceed to the B.Mus. are permitted certain modifications. Regulations for the M.Mus. degree.—(1) An exercise for chorus, solo or soli, and full orchestra, including an overture, a chorus in eight-part harmony, and specimens of canon and fugue. (2) An examination in eight-part harmony and counterpoint, double, triple, and quadruple counterpoint, six-part fugue, instrumentation and scoring of chamber and orchestral music, form in composition considered historically, and the general history of music. Regulations for the D.Mus. degree.—Original compositions, including specimens of both choral and instrumental writing, one of which must be an oratorio, opera, cantata or symphony. Candidates who fail to reach the required standard may be granted the M.Mus. degree. Fees: for the B.Mus. examinations, £6:15s.; for the M.Mus. examinations, £10; for the D.Mus. examination, £20.
3GENERAL CONDITIONS
5All candidates for the doctorate must already hold the B.Mus. degree of the same university, except at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester and Wales, where exemptions of different kinds are granted. Ad eundem degrees are, however, occasionally conferred. Some other British universities than those above mentioned have the power to grant musical degrees, but have not yet issued any regulations on the subject; the University of St. Andrews has granted honorary degrees, but no others. The Archbishop of Canterbury possesses, and occasionally exercises, the privilege of creating Doctors of Music (as well as Doctors in other faculties, and, after specified examinations, Masters of Arts). All the doctorates are conferred at the Archbishop's discretion, and no rules are laid down with regard to them; but in all cases the Archbishop takes skilled advice as to the applicant's qualifications. The D.Mus. fees are not mentioned in the regulations, but they have been estimated at £63; and the fees for the M.A. degree, which may be taken as a general guide, 'must not be expected to be less than £55.' This is a vestige of the ancient rights of the occupant of the See as Legate of the Pope—rights which have, however, been, at various times from the 13th century downwards, strongly contested by representatives of the regular universities; it is highly probable that, sooner or later, this relic of antiquity will be quietly allowed to lapse.1
7The 'Union of Graduates in Music' is a body including most (at present about two-thirds) of the holders, male and female, of the above-mentioned degrees, both ordinary and honorary. It was founded in 1893, principally by the efforts of Stainer, 'for the protection of the value and dignity of the Degrees in Music regularly conferred in Great Britain and Ireland'; the immediate cause of its existence being an attempt made by a colonial university to grant degrees in absentia through an English agency. It publishes an annual 'Roll and Kalendar' containing particulars of its members' careers and qualifications and other matter of musical interest, and holds an annual general meeting, followed by a dinner: in recent years there have also been summer conferences in different university towns, when papers are read and discussed and special musical performances given. A chief part of its official work hitherto has consisted in the detection and exposure of those who have traded, in ways not altogether irreproachable, on the strange passion for ornamental letters which consumes a large section of the British public; but it has also dealt with other matters, such as the registration of teachers.
9Apart from the musical degrees, music is included among the studies for the degree of B.A. in the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Birmingham, Wales and the National University of Ireland; and also in the Universities of Leeds and Belfast. The University of London also confers the degree of Ph.D. in music.
11(Principal authorities consulted: Abdy-Williams, Degrees in Music; official regulations of the various Universities; the Roll and Kalendar of the Union of Graduates in Music.)
13E. W.
15AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES
17Before a comprehensive or an accurate account of musical degrees in America can be made, some preliminary observations are desirable concerning the several types of musical degrees and the latitude of practice in conferring them. Any degree is the symbol of high attainment in science, art or literature, conferred by some educational institution of authoritative position. The award is made either for the fulfilment of definite requirements or as an official compliment (honoris causa), the donor often being as much honoured as the recipient. The specifically musical degrees in America are the Bachelor of Music and the Doctor of Music. The usual collegiate degrees,
191 Nine 'Lambeth' musical doctorates have been conferred within the last twenty years.
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