Du Conservatoire au concours du Prix de Rome: l’influence de l’Italie sur l’enseignement musical en France au tournant des xviiie et xixe siècles

Résumé 0

After abolishing the schools of musical education of the Ancien Régime, the revolutionary governments set up new institutions. Thus, the Conservatoire de musique de Paris and the Institut de France were founded in 1795. The nationalist impulse of the French Revolution then gave rise to the desire to see a French school of singing and composition emerge. While a very great anarchy reigned over French musical teaching methods, the Conservatoire de Paris decided to put some order in it by publishing a series of methods for the students of this institution. At the same time, the Institute opened the French Academy in Rome to musicians. Nevertheless, despite the desire to form a French school of singing and composition, these initiatives were to be strongly influenced by Italy, which at that time enjoyed a very good reputation. Based on several documents often neglected by scholars (the first Méthode de chant du Conservatoire, the first rules of the Envois de Rome etc.), this article will focus on the paradoxical influence of Italian music on the teaching of singing and the training of composers of French music between the Revolution and the beginning of the 19th century.