Child Composers in the Old Conservatories: How Orphans Became Elite Musicians

by Robert O Gjerdingen

In seventeenth century Italy, overcrowding, violent political uprising, and plague led an astonishing number of abandoned and orphaned children to overwhelm the cities. Out of the piety of private citizens and the apathy of local governments, the system of conservatori was created to house, nurture, and train these fanciulli vaganti (roaming children) to become hatters, shoemakers, tailors, goldsmiths, cabinet makers, and musicians - a range of practical trades that might sustain them and enable them to contribute to society. Conservatori were founded across Italy, from Venice and Florence to Parma and Naples, many specializing in a particular trade. Four music conservatori in Naples gained particular renown for their exceptional training of musicians, both performers and composers, all boys. By the eighteenth century, the graduates of the Naples conservatories began to spread across Europe, with some 600 boys formerly in residence beginning to dominate the European musical
world. Other conservatories in the country - including the Paris Conservatory - began to imitate the principles of the Naples' conservatory's training, known as the partimento tradition. The daily lessons and exercises associated with this tradition were largely lost-until author Robert Gjerdingen discovered evidence of them in the archives of conservatories across Italy and the rest of Europe.

Compellingly narrated and richly illustrated, Child Composers in the Old Conservatory follows the story of these boys as they undergo rigorous training with the conservatory's maestri and eventually become maestri themselves, then moves forward in time to see the influence of partimenti in the training of such composers as Claude Debussy and Colette Boyer. Advocating for the revival of partimenti in modern music education, the book explores the tremendous potential of this tradition to enable natural musical fluency for students of all ages learning the craft today.

Genres: Music, History

364 pages, Hardcover

Published February 7, 2020

Reviews

[FL · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is exactly what one would expect if one's read anything else by Gjerdingen: a nostalgia for how music used to be taught back when music was "good," and a push that that's how we should teach it now. To be fair, the book has a lot of information in it, is clear and readable, and would make a good introduction if someone wants to know about how music was taught in 18th and 19th century Italy and France.

But, his evangelical fervor is just too offputting. Does he really think that Alma Deutscher, a vapid child prodigy, is the sole living musician worth discussing? Are 18th-century practices of child labor really ever defensible, as he somehow claims at one point?!

I have to admit, he knows his stuff. I just can't reasonably agree with the case he makes, and I find it despicable that some of his more ardent claims are in print.

[Andrew Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally great and awesome. Big takeaway: we have to educate "listeners" and "hearers" differently. Listeners need to get craft training: solfege, harmony, partimento, immersion in actual construction of music based off of centuries-old instructional techniques. Hearers need to expand their horizons: the whole world of music is available to them on the internet and they can learn a lot by experiencing what people in West Africa or India are listening to right now, or by exposing themselves to the 400 different kinds of popular music listened to in America.

His website partimenti.com is a fantastic resource for "listeners".