History of the Conservatory
History of the Cherubini Conservatory
Florence, cradle of the melodrama and a city of art par excellence, has hosted music schools since at least the fourteenth century, the period of the flowering of the Ars Nova. However, these schools had a private character for a long time; in fact, they arose thanks to the personal initiative of some renowned artists or through the interest of patrons, without assuming the character of a public function. Under the French government, between the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, the first municipal music schools were established, on the consistency and organization of which there is no precise information. In the various Academies existing in Florence, among which the Accademia Fiorentina, the Accademia della Crusca and the Accademia degli Apatici, regular teaching was established, among which, however, it does not seem that musical disciplines were included.
More precise information is available on the Academy of Fine Arts, already active in 1811 and divided into three classes, one of which was dedicated to Music and declamation; music schools with their own teachers depended on this one, including those of counterpoint, singing, piano, violin, declamation and theatrical art.
A grand-ducal decree of 6 August 1849 converted the music school of the Academy of Fine Arts into music institute to itself: Giovanni Pacini, a well-known composer of the time and an excellent opera composer (he composed ninety theatrical works, including Sappho and Medea), was called to direct it.
Vittorio Emanuele II, with a decree dated March 15, 1860, suppressed the old schools, definitively detaching them from the Academy of Fine Arts and transforming them into the “Royal Musical Institute of Florence”. Its director was Luigi Ferdinando Casamorata, one of the most illustrious figures, together with Abramo Basevi, of the Florentine musical life of the time.
In 1910 the Musical Institute was named after Luigi Cherubini. Finally, during the direction of Arnaldo Bonaventura, the Royal Decree of 31 December 1923 transformed the Institute into “Royal Conservatory of Music”.
Today, the Cherubini Conservatory, the only Conservatory operating in the Tuscany Region, attracts an international student population from Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. The Institution, through its ERASMUS Office, has stipulated bilateral agreements with university and musical institutions throughout Europe. To date, agreements have been activated with Antwerp, Berlin, Brasov, Brussels, Budapest, Cologne, Dijon, Fribourg, Graz, Hannover, Leipzig, Manchester, Seville, Stockholm, Trossingen, Turku, Vienna, Zurich, which have allowed exchanges of students and teachers within the ERASMUS Program.
The Directors
Many famous musicians have taught at the Florentine Conservatory. The Institute’s directors, from 1849 to the present, have been Giovanni Pacini, Luigi Ferdinando Casamorata, Guido Tacchinardi, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Arnaldo Bonaventura, Giacomo Setaccioli, Alberto Franchetti, Guido Guerrini, Vito Frazzi, Adriano Lualdi, Antonio Veretti, Guido Turchi, Amleto Manetti, Valentino Bucchi, Firmino Sifonia, Giuseppe Giglio, Giovanni Cicconi, Mario Pazzaglia, Paolo Biordi, Flora Gagliardi, Paolo Zampini, Giovanni Pucciarmati (current director).
Library and Museum of Musical Instruments
The Library of the Conservatory is composed of the old school’s collection, the archive of the Grand Ducal Court of Tuscany (Pitti Collection) and various donations from specific collections (Ricasoli, Casamorata, Basevi, Corsini etc.). The Basevi collection is particularly important, consisting of bibliographical material from various periods.
The Library is flanked by the Museum of Musical Instruments coming from the Medici Collection, of which Bartolomeo Cristofori, the first piano maker, was the consignee. The Museum consists of highly valuable string instruments (Stradivari, Amati, etc.), as well as keyboard and wind instruments.
The two locations
Luigi Cherubini
Born in Florence in 1760, he began studying music at the age of nine, under the guidance of Bartolomeo and Alessandro Felici. After moving to Bologna, he continued his studies with Giuseppe Sarti, a well-known opera composer of the time. Following the example of his teacher and other Italian musicians who had been exporting Italian opera throughout Europe for about a century, Cherubini began to travel, settling first in London and then in Paris. In Paris he achieved his first successes, with the performance of the theatrical works Demofoonte and Lodoïska. In Paris he also began his teaching career, after the Banda Repubblicana, of which he was a member, transformed into a Conservatory of Music.
Already well known abroad, embittered by the hostility of Napoleon – who preferred the easy melodies of Neapolitan opera to his austere music – Cherubini agreed to move to Vienna, where he met Haydn and Beethoven. After composing the opera Faniska he went through a serious period of existential crisis, from which he recovered in 1808 with the composition of the Mass in F major for soloists, choir and orchestra.
In 1815 he returned as a teacher to the Paris Conservatory, where he was Director from 1822 until his death in 1842.
The last period of Cherubini’s life was marked by intense teaching activity (his Corso di contrappunto e fuga is justly famous) and by the production of great religious compositions: Messa solenne in D minore, Messa da Requiem, etc.
In addition to the theatrical works already mentioned, Cherubini also composed L’osteria portoghese, Le due giornate ovvero il portatore d’ acqua, Pygmalion, Gli Abencerragi and others, among which Medea stands out, which Brahms defined as “… the supreme peak of dramatic music”. He also composed a symphony, chamber music and pieces for piano.