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5 - Hugh Allen’s RCM and Musical Life between the Wars, 1919–1937

from Part II - Renewal and Conventionality (1919–1960)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2019

David C. H. Wright
Affiliation:
Royal College of Music, London
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Summary

The chapter opens with an account of the Golden Jubilee orchestral concert (1933) because the orchestra (made up of former students) is representative of the major orchestral players the College had trained, and Leopold Stokowski, the conductor. Yet this did not seem quite so likely at the end of the First World War. The College was fortunate that Hugh Allen succeeded Parry as Director, because he transformed its prospects through his selection of staff (including Adrian Boult) and revitalizing of its curriculum. Anxious to ensure employment for College students, Allen cooperated with the Teachers’ Registration Council to institute the Graduate diploma (GRSM) in association with the RAM. Allen brought about the Parry Theatre, beginning the RCM’s reputation for opera training. Allen’s liberal regime of allowing students to remain at the College for as long as they wanted helped some initially unpromising students to find themselves and to flourish within the RCM’s unconventional milieu. But Allen saw the RCM as representative of British musicians’ interests and this led to clashes with the BBC. George Dyson and Constant Lambert are discussed as two antipodal figures of Allen's RCM.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Royal College of Music and its Contexts
An Artistic and Social History
, pp. 133 - 186
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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