Books › Musical Courier 1927-06-16: Vol 94 Iss 24, 1927 › scan 11
Scan 11
Musical Courier 1927-06-16: Vol 94 Iss 24, 1927
37 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. Printed page 12. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE PHENOMENAL GROWTH OF THE NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC
2By Mary T. Herrick
4The recent decision of the trustees of the New England Conservatory of Music to raise $400,000 by public subscription for an addition to the present building brings to light an amazing record of sixty years' growth. It seems only a few years since the present Conservatory was erected, and, after all, it is only a brief span in the history of the city itself since Eben Tourjee, "the father of the conservatory system in America," first dreamed a dream of musical achievement that was to bear fruit beyond his remotest visions.
6Eben Tourjee's prophetic and courageous spirit could scarcely have bridged the gap from the small group who, in 1867, first took up their quarters in seven cramped rooms in the old Boston Music Hall to the flourishing school that moved into the "new" Conservatory in 1903. Far less could he have conceived the surprising growth from the 1,733 students who enrolled for that first year in the present building to the 3,500 who now jostle each other in the same corridors.
8Today the outposts of the Conservatory are far-flung; its scope and influence are not local, not national, but international. From every state in the Union, and from the four corners of the earth besides, young people flock to it as to a Supreme Court of Music; a hundred thousand alumni and former students pay tribute to an alma mater whose diploma has opened to many the door to fame and fortune—to all, a worth while means of livelihood.
10In Seattle, Wash., a former student conducts the symphony orchestra; in Shanghai, China, a native graduate interprets occidental music to orientals. Training municipal choruses; heading college and public school music departments; conducting or playing in orchestras, leading church choirs and choral groups, organizing brass bands; starring in grand or light opera; touring on concert circuits; teaching privately or performing publicly—the students of the New England Conservatory of Music all over the world are writing their names in the musical history of our times.
12The Conservatory's contribution to Boston not only in maintaining Jordan Hall, but also in nurturing musicians, is incalculable. A dozen members of the faculty are members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The Symphony's brilliant young Porto Rican pianist, Sanroma, received his entire training at the Conservatory and graduated as a winner of the Mason & Hamlin prize. The three Adamowskis, a celebrated trio, are on the faculty, as everyone knows. Another widely known instructor, Stuart Mason, composer, has until recently conducted the People's Symphony Orchestra, and George Sawyer Dunham of the class of '97, who has conducted numerous oratorios and concerts throughout New England, leads the People's Choral Union. Every member of the organ department staff is a past or present church organist of note in Boston.
14The list of Conservatory instructors and graduates who star Boston's—and America's—musical firmament as instrumental performers, choir and concert singers, teachers and composers is lengthy and impressive. So long as American music is played the compositions of Chadwick, Converse and Foote will be credited to America's account, together with many other works of their Conservatory confreres.
16Wallace Goodrich has played an active part in aiding the city to hold outdoor band concerts under the Park and Recreation Board. He organized and conducted, too, the old Choral Art Society. Ralph Flanders manages the Chicago Civic Opera Company's Boston season. Both were prominently identified with the old Boston Opera Company.
18Percy J. Burrell, pageant director, is a Conservatory graduate. So is the director of the Boston Music School Settlement; also the conductor of the Boston Civic Symphony Orchestra, who is assistant director of music in the Boston public schools.
20Indeed, there is scarcely a social or educational force in Boston, turn where one will, that is not interwoven in some way with the life of the Conservatory. International prestige and importance in no way detract from an unshakable position in the very heart of the community.
22So gradually, so naturally has this come about that Bostonians, to whom the Conservatory seems an essential part of the scheme of things, do not often stop to ask themselves how its amazing achievement has been made possible. For it is, after all, to the labor of human hands and brains that we owe the institution which we so greatly value.
24From the first, its presidents have been men of varied interests and wide understanding. Rufus Frost, Richard H. Dana, Charles P. Gardner—under whose regime the present building was erected; Eben D. Jordan, Samuel Carr, George W. Brown—these are all names that have not been confined within the narrow limits of a single effort or ambition. George W. Brown, who now holds the office, has been especially successful in surrounding himself with fellow workers who represent an important cross-section of Boston's financial and civic interests.
26Four men, however—Eben D. Jordan, George W. Chadwick, Ralph L. Flanders, Wallace Goodrich—are primarily responsible for the standing and leadership of the New England Conservatory of Music today. The first named, Eben D. Jordan, served as trustee from 1899 to 1908, and as president of the board from that date to his death. Jordan Hall was one of his gifts to the Conservatory, which, above the hall, with its splendid organ, above the land on which the present building stands and the adjacent lot on which will be built the proposed new wing, values the memory of his years of devoted service. The other three—George W. Chadwick, the thirty years director of the Conservatory; Ralph L. Flanders, general manager, and Wallace Goodrich, dean of the faculty—are now putting every ounce of that great strength and influence which upbuilt the Conservatory into the achievement of the long-desired new wing.
28"Why," they have been asked, "is an addition to our present building an immediate necessity?" In order merely to accommodate more students?"
30"Not primarily," they reply, "although we have actually turned away applicants because of lack of accommodation. But the chief need is to provide for the faculty and present "has necessitated a larger faculty; more class work, and in larger groups, and a more effective examination system. It presents a new problem by reason of the almost total absence of large class rooms in the present building, which was designed to meet the need then existing, of rooms chiefly for small classes and for private teaching.
32"Students of operatic caliber no longer warble alone in practice rooms. They rehearse with a full orchestra of eighty-five pieces—one of the best student orchestras in the world, by the way. Choral work is given as much stress as operatic training; and students practice group singing in the Conservatory's chorus of eighty voices. It is one thing to be a flutist and quite another to be an en-
34(Continued on page 32)
36NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC WITH THE PROPOSED ANNEX AT THE RIGHT
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