Page 82 - HandbookMarch1

However, Italian artists have been coming to France; they showcase genius productions
of the Italian school that feature a style of singing that is sweet and expressive: this caused a
sensation among French artists and friends of melody alike; it was admired, and soon singers,
having clued in to the vices of the French school, believe it was time to change, as they sought to
imitate the Italians: but they failed, because the feeling is inimitable. They heard singing that was
ornamented, but they didn’t care how; and French singing was charged with ornaments which
good taste abhorred and which offered, in our language, only a ridiculous caricature of the
delicacy of Italian singing.

As this transpired however, some artists guided by nothing other than good taste
nonetheless succeeded in creating an independent genre, appropriate to the French language.
What greatness can we now expect from the school that is now established, since the majority of
these justifiably famous artists are now on faculty!

Singing was not alone neglected; wind instruments, pushed, by a select few musicians to
the highest degree of perfection, have yet remained in general trapped in mediocrity
incomparable to the status of stringed instruments. It seems that this mediocrity results not from
their construction and mechanics, but rather their instruction. The regiments of the old frontline
troops (from which we owe in part our naturalization of these instruments, most of which are
originally from Germany), in order to hasten their ability to play, only taught their music
students the very basic fundamentals: students were not required to be well-rounded students of
music; the only goal was the execution of basic marches and military pieces, usually achievable
after just a few months of playing, after which they practiced through application. If a few
students gifted with a higher ability wished to seek out more instruction, they had to overcome
many obstacles, including a total absence of methods and books on instruction for their
instruments. This was not the case for string instruments; after graduating through several
available graded methods books and primers, they could easily pursue a higher level through the
works, duos, trios, quartets, sonatas of several great masters. Finally, in the employ of
orchestras, stringed instruments, principally responsible for harmony in the orchestra, found in
the thorough reading of great dramatic works an avenue for continuing their development as
musicians, while wind instruments, by their nature, were only used as sparkling accessories,
entering and exiting the music without participating in the harmony, and consequently not
absorbing and enhancing their abilities, as the stringed instruments did as they executed their
work as ensemble member.

But the Republican government’s new institutions of public education have tasked the
Conservatory with spearheading the perfection and multiplicity of wind instruments. Essentially,
as the celebrations of our National festivals are outdoors, no one can doubt the importance of
wind instruments any longer: we know in volume and resistance to weather conditions stringed
instruments cannot compare. Now featured in the public festivals, wind instruments have a new
career to pursue, thus taking the place of violins and basses, whether in symphonies or in the
accompaniment of hymns, as the principal parts of the music. This new job, and the necessity of
promoting and extending the abilities of these instruments (which the artists of the Conservatoire
have so often already showcased), require a much more extensive system of pedagogy than that