Page 99 - 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. 99
in the shadow of parry, stanford and mackenzie ...
R. O. Morris, before embarking, after World War II, on a more adventur-
ous line of exploration under the guidance of the Hungarian émigré, Má-
tyás Seiber (1905–1960).25
Another composer who assumed an important role in the Royal Col-
lege of Music in the years after Stanford’s death was John Ireland (1879–
1962), who had studied with Stanford after completing his basic work on
techniques with thorough but less well-known teachers. He said of Stan-
ford: “I think the best quality that Stanford possessed as a teacher was that he
made you feel nothing but the best would do” and “He could be severely criti-
cal, almost cruel at times.”26 Perhaps the most revealing remark that Ireland
made about Stanford was: “In his later years Stanford thought all his stu-
dents had gone mad.”27 Ireland played an important role in the teaching of
future composers at the Royal College.
Many students were happy working within the traditional model, but
there were a number of exceptions. In the Royal Academy of Music there
appear to have been few students who openly disagreed with the régime, but
in the Royal College of Music between the wars, there were a small number
of more adventurous students who did not fit the mould and caused some
consternation amongst the staff. Three students of composition (Benjamin
Britten, Elisabeth Lutyens and Humphrey Searle) and one prospective stu-
dent (Daphne Oram) illustrate the potential problems that could arise dur-
ing this period.
In the summer of 1930 Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) was advised by
his two teachers, the pianist Harold Samuel (1879–1937) and the compos-
er Frank Bridge, to apply for admission to the Royal College of Music to
study piano and composition. On gaining entry with a recommendation
for a scholarship, Britten was to be taught piano by Arthur Benjamin who
helped him “very gently through a very, very difficult musical adolescence,”
but for composition Samuel recommended the extremely conservative R.
O. Morris, while Bridge advised the more adventurous and forward look-
ing John Ireland. Britten was very successful on the piano with Benjamin,
but for composition Morris proved completely unsatisfactory as expressed
by Britten’s biographer Neil Powell: “Morris was incurably wedded to Eng-
lish musical conservatism.”28 Ireland, who replaced Morris as Britten’s com-
25 Murray Schafer, British Composers in Interview (London: Faber, 1963), 137–146.
26 Ibid., 27.
27 Ibid., 28.
28 Neil Powell, Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music (London: Hutchinson, 2013), 45.
97
R. O. Morris, before embarking, after World War II, on a more adventur-
ous line of exploration under the guidance of the Hungarian émigré, Má-
tyás Seiber (1905–1960).25
Another composer who assumed an important role in the Royal Col-
lege of Music in the years after Stanford’s death was John Ireland (1879–
1962), who had studied with Stanford after completing his basic work on
techniques with thorough but less well-known teachers. He said of Stan-
ford: “I think the best quality that Stanford possessed as a teacher was that he
made you feel nothing but the best would do” and “He could be severely criti-
cal, almost cruel at times.”26 Perhaps the most revealing remark that Ireland
made about Stanford was: “In his later years Stanford thought all his stu-
dents had gone mad.”27 Ireland played an important role in the teaching of
future composers at the Royal College.
Many students were happy working within the traditional model, but
there were a number of exceptions. In the Royal Academy of Music there
appear to have been few students who openly disagreed with the régime, but
in the Royal College of Music between the wars, there were a small number
of more adventurous students who did not fit the mould and caused some
consternation amongst the staff. Three students of composition (Benjamin
Britten, Elisabeth Lutyens and Humphrey Searle) and one prospective stu-
dent (Daphne Oram) illustrate the potential problems that could arise dur-
ing this period.
In the summer of 1930 Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) was advised by
his two teachers, the pianist Harold Samuel (1879–1937) and the compos-
er Frank Bridge, to apply for admission to the Royal College of Music to
study piano and composition. On gaining entry with a recommendation
for a scholarship, Britten was to be taught piano by Arthur Benjamin who
helped him “very gently through a very, very difficult musical adolescence,”
but for composition Samuel recommended the extremely conservative R.
O. Morris, while Bridge advised the more adventurous and forward look-
ing John Ireland. Britten was very successful on the piano with Benjamin,
but for composition Morris proved completely unsatisfactory as expressed
by Britten’s biographer Neil Powell: “Morris was incurably wedded to Eng-
lish musical conservatism.”28 Ireland, who replaced Morris as Britten’s com-
25 Murray Schafer, British Composers in Interview (London: Faber, 1963), 137–146.
26 Ibid., 27.
27 Ibid., 28.
28 Neil Powell, Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music (London: Hutchinson, 2013), 45.
97
