Moscow Conservatory

History

Background

In 1766, the future site of the conservatory was bought by Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (1743-1810), later president of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy. The building was completed in the 1790s. Its author was Vasily Bazhenov, the design of the building was corrected by the hostess herself. Toward the end of her life, she spent winters here.

In 1810, the building was inherited by her nephew, Count Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov, a future war hero, participant in the Battle of Borodino, then governor of Novorossiya and Bessarabia, governor of the Caucasus. He was renting out the house. The house burned in 1812, rebuilt by 1824.

Establishment of a conservatory

The idea of establishing a conservatory in Moscow was first suggested in 1819 by Friedrich Scholz, Kapellmeister of the Bolshoi Theater, but the idea was not supported. Eleven years later, in 1830, he managed to get permission to open at his home "free teaching of figured bass and composition". In 1860, Nikolai Rubinstein, together with Vasily Kologrivov, organized in Moscow musical classes of the Moscow branch of the Imperial Russian Musical Society. Rubinstein's co-founder was Prince Nikolai Petrovitch Troubetzkoy, chairman of the Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society (1863-1876). Initially, the music classes were held in Rubinstein's apartment (who lived on Sadovaya Street, in Volotsky's house). First of all, classes in choral singing (Konstantin Albrecht) and elementary music theory (Eduard Langer, then Nikolai Rubinstein and Nikolay Kashkin) were organized. Since the fall of 1863, most of the classes moved to the new address of Rubinstein's residence (Myasnoy alley, house of Burkin). Solo singing (Bertha Walzek and Adolf Osberg) and playing various instruments began to be taught: violin (Karl Klamroth and Vasily Bezekirsky), piano (Nikolai Rubinstein, Eduard Langer and Nikolay Kashkin), cello (Karl Ezef), flute (Ferdinand Büchner), trumpet (Fyodor Richter). In 1864 the number of pupils exceeded two hundred, and the Russian Musical Society rented Voeikova's house on Mokhovaya Street, where Rubinstein's apartment was located. In 1866, teachers Ludwig Minkus (violin), Józef Wieniawski and Anton Door (piano), and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (elementary music theory) joined.

In 1862, a conservatory was established in Saint Petersburg, and there was a need for a higher musical institution in Moscow. The report of the Russian Musical Society for 1863/1864 already mentioned a concert organized "for the benefit of the conservatory to be opened in Moscow"

Conservatory in Moscow was co-founded in 1866 as the Moscow Imperial Conservatory by Nikolai Rubinstein and Prince Nikolai Troubetzkoy. The grand opening was held on 1 September. It is the second oldest conservatory in Russia after the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was appointed professor of theory and harmony at its opening. Since 1940, the centenary of his birth, the conservatory has borne his name.

Conservatory

The highest permission for the opening of the Moscow Conservatory, at the request of the August Patroness of the Society, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, followed on 24 December 1865. Pianist N.G. Rubinstein was approved as its director on 6 February 1866. Konstantin Albrecht was appointed inspector of the conservatory. By the day of the opening of the Conservatory a house was rented at the corner of Vozdvizhenka and the Arbatskie Gates passage, in the house of Baroness Cherkasova. The house has not survived; in 1941, during an air raid on Moscow, the building was destroyed by a bomb. In 1871 the Moscow Conservatory rented Dashkova's house, and in 1878 bought it for 185 thousand rubles.

The Conservatory was financed by the income of the Russian Musical Society from concert activities, as well as city and government subsidies, donations from private individuals and tuition fees. The course of study at the conservatory took six years until 1879, then was increased to nine years. It covered both music classes (instrumental, vocal, orchestral, choral, opera, and theory) and general education. Until 1917, tuition was paid.

In the early years of the Conservatory, the level of requirements for admission to the Conservatory was by necessity very low. Only those who had studied earlier in the Music Society classes had some theoretical training. All others were required to begin music theory with an elementary course, in which everyone was enrolled regardless of proficiency in any instrument, mainly piano. In the first school year of 1866/1867, the professorial (senior) classes had 38 pupils on the piano; the junior classes (adjunct classes) had 43. In May 1867, general examinations were held, on the basis of which the students were assigned to courses.

In the early years of its activity the Conservatory was taught by professors: piano - Nikolai Rubinstein, Józef Wieniawski, C. F. Wilshau (adjunct), Anton Door, C. E. Weber (adjunct), Alexandre Dubuque, A. K. Zander (adjunct), Karl Klindworth (from 1868), Nikolay Kashkin, E. L. Langer (adjunct), L. F. Langer (from 1869), Nikolai Zverev (junior piano classes from 1870); solo singing - A. D. Alexandrova-Kochetova, B. O. Walzek, Vladimir Kashperov, A. R. Osberg, J. Galvani (from 1869); violin - Ferdinand Laub, Ludwig Minkus, Jan Hřímalý (from 1869 - adjunct, from 1874 - professor), G. Shradik (adjunct); cello - B. Kosman, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen (from 1870); double bass - G. F. Spekin; flute - F. F. Büchner; oboe - E. F. Meder; clarinet - W. Guth; French horn - M. Barthold, trumpet - F. B. Richter, bassoon - K. F. Ezer; history and theory of church singing in Russia - D. V. Razumovsky; music-theoretical subjects - Konstantin Albrecht, N. A. Hubert, Nikolay Kashkin, E. L. Langer, Herman Laroche, A. S. Razmadze; elementary music theory and harmony - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (since 1870 - instrumentation and free composition).

Choral faculty

Prior to the October Revolution, the choral faculty of the conservatory was second to the Moscow Synodal School and Moscow Synodal Choir, but in 1919, both were closed and merged into the choral faculty. Some of the students now listed as being of the conservatory were in fact students of the Synodal School.

Halls

Great Hall (a renovation of the hall was completed in 2011)

Small Hall

Rachmaninov Hall (built in 1890)

Conference Hall

N.Y. Myaskovsky Concert Hall

The Oval and Exhibition Halls at the Rubinstein Museum

Conservatory structure

At present, the Conservatory has the following faculties:

vocal

conducting (Choral and Opera and Symphony Conducting Departments)

compositional

orchestral

piano

historical and contemporary performing arts

a number of interfaculty departments

The conservatory consists of:

S. I. Taneyev Scientific and Musical Library (one of the largest music libraries in the Russian Federation)

Sound recording laboratory ("phonotheque", since 1947)

Scientific and Publishing Center "Moscow Conservatory"

N.G. Rubinstein Museum

opera studio

postgraduate studies, assistantships and doctoral studies

Training and methodological center of practices with evening music school

Information and Computing Center

Scientific subdivisions (institutes) of the Conservatory:

Problem research laboratory

Church Music Research Center