National Conservatory of Music of America

The National Conservatory of Music of America was an institution for higher education in music founded in 1885 in New York City by Jeannette Meyers Thurber. The conservatory was officially declared defunct by the state of New York in 1952, although for all practical pedagogical purposes, it had ceased to function much earlier than that; however, between its founding and about 1920 the conservatory played an important part in the education and training of musicians in the United States. A number of prominent names are associated with the institution, including that of Victor Herbert and Antonín Dvořák, director of the conservatory from Sep. 27, 1892 to 1895. (It was at the conservatory that Dvořák composed his famous E minor Symphony and subtitled it, at Thurber’s suggestion, From the New World.)

The idea of federally funded national conservatory in the United States had been a dream of Thurber's, who had studied at the Paris Conservatory in her teens. In the early 1880s she convinced a number of philanthropists, including Andrew Carnegie. to sponsor the founding of such an institution. The idea was to model the institution after that of Paris in order to create a “national musical spirit.” The conservatory (originally the "American School of Opera") was incorporated in the state of New York on September 21, 1885. The first director was Belgian baritone, Jacques Bouhy. Among the faculty was also Emma Fursh-Madi, one of the great sopranos of the day. There were 84 students when the conservatory started operations, operating out of two converted homes near Union Square at 126-128 East 17th St. in New York City.

It is not clear from sources exactly how much it cost to attend the conservatory or how scholarships were awarded. Some sources claim that no tuition was charged at all. Henry Finck, an NCMA music history lecturer for decades, wrote "It was not organized as a money-making institution, but as a musical high school ... for a merely nominal sum, or, if talented, without any charge for tuition.... [It was intended for those seeking a profession but] also for amateurs, for whom there are special courses." Its mission included "seeking out and encouraging female, minority and physically disabled students". In any event, the cost of operations was originally met by Mrs. Thurber and others. After three years of existence, the conservatory petitioned the US congress for $200,000 to support the institution, saying that “…hundreds of candidates have had to be rejected from lack of room to accommodate them and of funds to increase the staff of Professors which would be required by their admittance….” The petition failed. Thurber changed strategy and then proposed moving the conservatory to the nation’s capital, Washington D.C.. A bill to that effect was passed in congress and signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison in March, 1891.

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