conservatory

/keuhn serr"veuh tawr'ee, -tohr'ee/, n., pl. conservatories, adj.

n.

1. a school giving instruction in one or more of the fine or dramatic arts; specifically, a school of music.

2. a greenhouse, usually attached to a dwelling, for growing and displaying plants.

3. Archaic. a place where things are preserved.

adj.

4. serving or adapted to conserve; preservative.

[1555-65; < L conserva(re) (see CONSERVE) + -TORY²; in the sense "music school" < F or It; see CONSERVATOIRE]

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I

In architecture, a heavily glazed structure, frequently attached to and directly entered from a dwelling, in which plants are protected and displayed.

Unlike the greenhouse, an informal structure situated in the working area of a garden, the conservatory became a popular 19th-century decorative architectural feature proclaiming the status of its owner. The most outstanding example is Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace.

II

In music, institution for education in musical performance and composition.

The term and institution derives from the Italian conservatorio, which in the Renaissance period and earlier denoted an orphanage often attached to a hospital. The children there were given musical training; the term gradually came to apply to music schools. The first secular school of music for students at large was established in Paris in 1784. Throughout the 19th century the French model was copied, with modifications, in Europe and in the U.S., later in Canada and Australia. Conservatories typically offer instruction to people of all ages, but the primary focus is on students age 10–25. Important U.S. conservatories include the Curtis Institute of Music, the Eastman School, and the Juilliard School.

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▪ building

      in architecture, building in which tender plants are protected and displayed, usually attached to and directly entered from a dwelling. It was not until the 19th century that a conservatory was distinguished from a greenhouse (q.v.), also a building in which tender plants are cultivated but sited in the working area of the garden.

      The conservatory was a direct descendant of the orangery (q.v.), and, like the orangery, it became a decorative architectural feature proclaiming the status of its owner. Its great period was represented by the Palm House at Kew Gardens, near London, and by Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace, designed for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London and modelled on a conservatory he had designed earlier.

▪ musical institution

      in music, institution for education in musical performance and composition. The term and institution derive from the Italian conservatorio, which in the Renaissance period and earlier denoted a type of orphanage often attached to a hospital (hence the term ospedale also applied to such institutions). The foundlings (conservati) were given musical instruction at state expense; Naples was the centre for boys and Venice for girls. The conservatori were thus the first secular institutions equipped for training in practical music (the choir schools of the Middle Ages were attached to churches, and music in medieval universities was a theoretical subject comparable to mathematics). Institutions such as the Ospedale della Pietà (founded 1346, Venice) and the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo (founded 1589, Naples) either trained or had as faculty members most of the leading composers of 17th- and 18th-century Italian opera.

      The first secular school of music for students at large was established in Paris. Founded in 1784, it was reorganized and renamed the Conservatoire National de Musique et d'Art Dramatique in 1795 by the National Convention (the Revolutionary regime of 1792–95) as a result of the efforts of the bandmaster Bernard Sarrette. Its chief purpose was to train musicians to participate in public concerts, fêtes, and celebrations organized by the republic. A state subsidy was granted, admission was by competitive examination, and tuition was free. Later the curriculum was enlarged to include all branches of composition, instrumental and vocal technique, and acting (enabling students to train for the various Parisian opera houses and theatres). Eventually the institution's political aim was abandoned. Although many famous pupils later revolted against the Conservatoire's academic severities, it became the acknowledged centre of musical practice and erudition. It was renamed the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in 1957.

      Throughout the 19th century the French model was copied, with modifications, in Europe and in the U.S. Conservatories were founded in Milan (1807), Naples (1808), Prague (1811; the first such institution in central Europe), and Vienna (the Akademie, founded in 1817 by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde [Society of Friends of Music]). The composers Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann founded the Leipzig Conservatory (now called the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik) in 1843. Not all of the German schools, however, followed the principles of the Conservatoire nor did all similar institutions in Great Britain, of which the most notable were the Royal Academy of Music (1822; royal charter, 1830) and the Royal College of Music (first called the National Training-School of Music; founded 1882, royal charter 1883). The Royal Irish Academy of Music was founded in 1848 and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 1890.

      Such institutions began to appear in the United States in the 1860s. Two of the first were those at Oberlin, Ohio (1865), and the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, founded 1857 (first classes held in 1868). The New England Conservatory of Music and the Boston Conservatory of Music (both in Boston) followed in 1867 and the National Conservatory of Music in New York City in 1885. Other important institutions of music in the United States are the Eastman School of Music at Rochester, N.Y. (1919), and the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia (1924). The Institute of Musical Art (1905) and the Juilliard Graduate School (1924) were united in 1926 to form the Juilliard School of Music, in New York City; this institution became the Juilliard School in 1968. Canadian conservatories include that at Toronto (1886). Australia has the Adelaide Conservatorium (1898).

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