Till the year 1789, this was the country where the greatest expense
was incurred in cultivating music; yet the means which were employed,
though very numerous, produced but little effect, and contributed not
to the improvement of that art. Every thing even announces that its
progress would have been still more retarded, but for the
introduction of the Italian Opera, in 1645, by Cardinal Mazarin.
The brilliant success of _Orfeo e Euridice_, in 1647, determined the
national taste in favour of this sort of _spectacle_, and gave birth
to the wish of transplanting it to the French stage. It was in 1659
that the first opera, with music adapted to a French poem, was
performed at Issy.
Since the epoch of the establishment of the French opera, every
department belonging to it, with the sole exception of the singing,
has been so much improved, that it is become the most brilliant
_spectacle_ in Europe. But, as the lyric theatres in France were
always obliged to seek recruits among the pupils formed in the
schools maintained by the clergy for the service of public worship,
the influence of the clerical mode of instruction was felt; and this
was, in fact, the source of the bad taste which for a long time
characterized French singing.
Had the grand opera in France been continued an Italian one, as it
was first established, (like those subsequently introduced in the
principal cities of Europe) it would have been supported by
performers formed by the Conservatories of Italy; and the good taste
of those schools would have balanced or proscribed the bad taste of
the French cathedrals; but the genius of the seventeenth century
chose that the French language, purified and fixed by the writers who
rendered it illustrious, should also become the language of the lyric
theatre. Musical instruction, remaining entirely subservient to the
customs of religion, was unable to keep pace with the rapid progress
of the arts and sciences during that brilliant period.
Among the defects of the old system of teaching music, must be placed
that of confining it to men; nevertheless, the utility of women in
concerts and plays was as incontestable then as it is at the present
day. Public instruction was therefore due to them in that point of
view; but, had no such consideration existed, they should have been
admitted to participate in this instruction, in order to propagate
the art in society. The success of this method would have been
infallible: as soon as women should have cultivated the musical art
with success, its naturalization would have been effected in France,
as it has been in Germany and Italy.
The expense of the musical instruction pursued in the schools
belonging to the cathedrals was immense, compared with its results in
every branch of the art. As to composers, they produced but a very
small number, and few of these distinguished themselves; no
instrumental performer of eminence ever issued from them; and, with
few exceptions, the singers they formed were very indifferent.
The necessity of introducing a better method of singing induced the
government, in 1783, to establish a _Special School of Singing and
Declamation._ This institution continued in full exercise for ten
years; but, though the celebrated PICCINI was appointed to preside
over the vocal department, the habits of the old school obstructed
its progress, and prevented it from producing the good which was
expected from it.
At the epoch of the dissolution of the monarchical institutions,
there remained in France only the School of Music of the Parisian
national guard, and that of Singing and Declamation just mentioned.
The republican government ordered them to be united, and thus was
formed the _Conservatory of Music_.
Nor let it be imagined that policy has had no share in establishing
this institution. It has furnished the numerous bands of musicians
rendered necessary by the levy of fourteen armies which France had,
at one and the same time, in the field. It is well known that music
has done almost wonders in reviving the courage of the French
soldiers, who, when Victory seemed adverse to them, inclined her in
their favour, by rallying to the tune of the _Marseillois_. In the
heat of action, joining their voice to the instruments, and raising
themselves to a pitch of enthusiasm, they received or dealt out
death, while they kept singing this hymn. The French then are no less
indebted to ROUGET DE LILLE than the Spartans were to TYRTÆUS. At the
beginning of the revolution, they had no songs of the warlike kind,
except a few paltry ballads sung about the streets. ROUGET, who was
then an officer of engineers at Strasburg, was requested to compose a
martial hymn. Full of poetic fire, he shut himself up in his chamber,
and, in the course of one night, wrote the words of the
_Marseillois_, adapting to them music, also of his own composition.
Notwithstanding this patriotic production, and the courage which the
author is said to have displayed during the war, he was twice
imprisoned, at one time on suspicion of royalism; at another, of
terrorism.
Independently of the great number of musicians with which the
Conservatory has supplied the armies, it has furnished between two
and three hundred to the theatres, as well in Paris as in the
departments.[1] The band of the Consular guard was formed from the
pupils of the Conservatory, and sixty of them at present compose the
orchestra, known in Paris by the name of _Concert Français_, and the
execution of which has been much applauded by many celebrated
composers.
Its members meet to discuss the theories which may improve and extend
the different branches of the musical art. They have already laid the
principal foundations of a body of elementary works for teaching them
in perfection. _Les Principes élementaires de Musique_, and a _Traité
d'Harmonie_, which is said to have gained the universal approbation
of the composers of the three schools, assembled to discuss its
merits, are already published. A method of singing, established on
the best principles of the Italian school, applied to French
declamation, is now in the press; and these publications are to be
successively followed by other didactic works relative to the history
of the art.
A principal cause of the present scarcity of fine voices in France,
is the war which she has had to maintain for ten years, by armies
continually recruited by young men put in requisition at the period
when the voice is forming, and needs to be cultivated in order to
acquire the qualities which constitute a good singer.
Formerly, French commerce derived but very little advantage from
articles relating to music; but the means employed by the
Conservatory may probably turn the scale in favour of this country,
as well as render it, in that respect, independent of foreign
nations.
Before the revolution, England furnished France with _piano-fortes_,
the common price of which was from three to five hundred francs.
Germany mostly supplied her with wind and string instruments. German
French-horns, though coarsely-made instruments, cost seventy-two
francs, and the good violins of the Tyrol were paid for as high as
one hundred and twenty. The consumption of these instruments was
considerable. Nor will this appear surprising, as previously to the
foundation of the Conservatory, the instrumental musicians, employed
in the French regiments and places of public amusement, were mostly
Germans.
The French _piano-fortes_ are now in request in most parts of Europe,
and their price has, in consequence, increased from one thousand to
two thousand four hundred francs. The price of French-horns, made in
Paris, which, from being better finished, are preferable to those of
Germany, has, in like manner, risen from three to five hundred
francs. Parisian violins have increased in proportion.
With respect to printed music, the French import none; but, on the
contrary, export a great deal; and the advantages resulting from
these two branches of commerce, together with the stamp-duty attached
to the latter, are said to be sufficient to defray the expenses of
the musical establishments now existing, or those proposed to be
created.
Before I close this letter, I must not omit to mention a very useful
institution, for the promotion of the mechanical arts, established
in the _Rue de l'École de Médecine_, and called the