Page 94 - 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. 94
konservator iji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela
Stanford (1852–1924),13 who from the college’s beginnings in the 1880s ex-
erted a great influence on the institution. He was also professor of music
in the University of Cambridge from 1887 until his death. His composition
pupils at the College included some of Parry’s old students, Gustav Holst,
Vaughan Williams and Frank Bridge, as well as John Ireland (1879–1962).
Like that of Parry, Stanford’s output was enormous, with seven Brahmsian
symphonies, numerous concertos, and a vast collection of songs and other
vocal music and much chamber music. Parry and Stanford were like gods
in the Royal College of Music, acting as role models for aspiring composi-
tion students. It also seems to have been the case that those students who
did not follow these role models were sometimes put at a distinct disadvan-
tage in their progress through the courses that they followed in the Royal
College.
The equally capable Scottish composer Alexander Mackenzie (1847–
1935) was principal of the Royal Academy of Music from 1888 until 1924.
In a less overwhelming way his reputation stood high, in addition to that
of his music, for his constant and dedicated improvement in the standards
of the Academy’s work. His principal composition professor was a fasci-
nating character named Frederick Corder (1852–1932). In the 1870s, Cord-
er had studied composition with George Macfarren at the Academy (at the
time under the principal William Sterndale Bennett) and in 1889 became
the Professor of Harmony and Composition at the Academy, a post he held
until his retirement in 1924.
In 1918, Corder wrote:
After nearly three-and-a-half years of war it seems reasonable to
take stock of the musical situation and see how we stand as regards
national art.14
The year 1918 formed a major turning point for the two conservatories, both
up to then controlled by prominent composers, but there was a crisis, too.
The First World War had ended with serious losses. Stanford’s pupil Er-
nest Farrar (1885–1918), who had taught the superb song writer Gerald Fin-
zi (1901–1956), died on the Somme, as did the very talented and promising
13 Paul Rodmell, Charles Villiers Stanford (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2017); Jeremy Dib-
ble, Charles Villiers Stanford: Man and Musician (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2002) and Jeremy Dibble, “Stanford,” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Mu-
sicians, vol. 24, ed. Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 2001), 278–85.
14 Frederick Corder, “Some Plain Words,” The Musical Times 59, no. 899 (1 January
1918): 7, https://doi.org/10.2307/908741.
92
Stanford (1852–1924),13 who from the college’s beginnings in the 1880s ex-
erted a great influence on the institution. He was also professor of music
in the University of Cambridge from 1887 until his death. His composition
pupils at the College included some of Parry’s old students, Gustav Holst,
Vaughan Williams and Frank Bridge, as well as John Ireland (1879–1962).
Like that of Parry, Stanford’s output was enormous, with seven Brahmsian
symphonies, numerous concertos, and a vast collection of songs and other
vocal music and much chamber music. Parry and Stanford were like gods
in the Royal College of Music, acting as role models for aspiring composi-
tion students. It also seems to have been the case that those students who
did not follow these role models were sometimes put at a distinct disadvan-
tage in their progress through the courses that they followed in the Royal
College.
The equally capable Scottish composer Alexander Mackenzie (1847–
1935) was principal of the Royal Academy of Music from 1888 until 1924.
In a less overwhelming way his reputation stood high, in addition to that
of his music, for his constant and dedicated improvement in the standards
of the Academy’s work. His principal composition professor was a fasci-
nating character named Frederick Corder (1852–1932). In the 1870s, Cord-
er had studied composition with George Macfarren at the Academy (at the
time under the principal William Sterndale Bennett) and in 1889 became
the Professor of Harmony and Composition at the Academy, a post he held
until his retirement in 1924.
In 1918, Corder wrote:
After nearly three-and-a-half years of war it seems reasonable to
take stock of the musical situation and see how we stand as regards
national art.14
The year 1918 formed a major turning point for the two conservatories, both
up to then controlled by prominent composers, but there was a crisis, too.
The First World War had ended with serious losses. Stanford’s pupil Er-
nest Farrar (1885–1918), who had taught the superb song writer Gerald Fin-
zi (1901–1956), died on the Somme, as did the very talented and promising
13 Paul Rodmell, Charles Villiers Stanford (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2017); Jeremy Dib-
ble, Charles Villiers Stanford: Man and Musician (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2002) and Jeremy Dibble, “Stanford,” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Mu-
sicians, vol. 24, ed. Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 2001), 278–85.
14 Frederick Corder, “Some Plain Words,” The Musical Times 59, no. 899 (1 January
1918): 7, https://doi.org/10.2307/908741.
92
