A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/National Training School for Music, The
NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL FOR MUSIC, THE. This institution, which had been projected and discussed since 1854, and the idea of which had emanated from the late Prince Consort, was not founded until 1873, when a plot of ground was granted, free of cost, by Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, on their estate at South Kensington, and the present building was begun at the cost of C. J. Freake, Esq., who presented it to the country on its completion in 1875. In that year (June 15) the matter was fully discussed at a meeting convened by the Prince of Wales at Marlborough House, and the first scholarships were promised. The building, on the west side of the Albert Hall, was designed by Lieut. H. H. Cole, R.E., in the English style of the 17th century, with panels decorated with sgraffito. In 1876, fifty scholarships having been established, and upwards of twenty more promised, the School was opened for study. The ultimate number of scholarships is to be 300, of the value of £40 a year each, for five years.
The control of the school is placed in the hands of a small General Committee of Management, consisting of representatives of Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, of the Council of the Corporation of the Albert Hall, of the Society of Arts, and of the founders of scholarships. Among the members of the committee are the Duke of Edinburgh (Chairman), Prince Christian, the Chairman of the Council of the Society of Arts, the Lord Mayor, Sir Henry Cole (who has always taken an active part in the scheme from the beginning), Mr. and Mrs. Freake, etc. The lay administration is under a Registrar (the Rev. John Richardson, M.A.), a Lady-Superintendent, etc. The professional work is under the direction of a Principal (Dr. Sullivan), and a board of professors, consisting of Mr. Ernst Pauer, Dr. Stainer, Mr. Alberti Visetti, and Mr. J. T. Carrodus. The instruction of the scholars is carried on by the members of the board, and an additional body of professors, among whom are Mr. John F. Barnett, Dr. Bridge, Mr. Ebenezer Prout, Mr. Franklin Taylor, etc. The lady-professors are Signora Mazzucato and Miss Edith Jerningham. [App. p.728 "Additions and corrections will be found under Training School, vol. iv. p. 158. The date of the incubation of the scheme is 1854, as in vol. ii.; not 1866, as in vol. iv."]