Masters Take Up the Challenge

Abstract

The early conservatories were trade schools. Over a period of about ten years they needed to transform orphans, then thought of as social outcasts, into skilled craftsmen who could earn a productive income and become self-supporting. So they developed practical methods to give boys the skills needed to become professional church organists, court composers, opera singers, orchestral musicians, or choir directors. The chapter surveys the historically most important music masters in Italy and the types of innovative lessons that they developed.