This establishment, situated in the _Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière_,
was founded on the 16th of Thermidor year III, (4th of August 1795)
for the preservation and reproduction of music in all its branches.
It is composed of a director, three inspectors of teaching, a
secretary, a librarian, and thirty-five professors.
The director presides over the whole establishment; the inspectors
superintend the teaching, examine the pupils, and teach the branches
of study attributed to them by the regulation.
In the Conservatory, the instruction is divided as follows:
composition, harmony, solfaing, singing, violin, violincello,
harpsicord, organ, flute, hautboy, clarinette, French-horn, bassoon,
trumpet, trombonne, serpent, preparation for singing, and declamation
applicable to the lyric stage.
The completion of the study is effected by a series of lectures,
treating specially of the relations between the sciences and the art
of music.
Three hundred pupils of both sexes, taken in equal number from each
department, are instructed gratuitously in the Conservatory. The
principal points towards which their studies are directed, are, to
keep up music in society, to form artists for the execution of public
_fêtes_, for the armies, and for the theatres.
These pupils are admitted after an examination, which takes place
four times a year. Prizes are distributed annually, in a public
meeting of the Conservatory, to the pupils who distinguish themselves
in each branch of study.
* * * * *
_February 2, in continuation._
To the preceding brief account of the Conservatory, I shall subjoin a
few observations on the