Elder Conservatorium of Music

Two men provided the encouragement needed for the establishment of the School of Music.  In 1883 Sir Thomas Elder indicated that he would be prepared to give substantial help towards a Chair of Music.  Then, in March 1884, the University Council received a letter from the Governor, Sir William Robinson, saying that he had received promises from friends of donations (amounting to 530 pounds a year for five years) to support a School of Music.

The Council resolved to go ahead; and it was reported soon afterwards that the Adelaide City Council would be prepared to appoint the Professor, when selected, as the City Organist.  The Adelaide City Council would make a contribution to the salary, and in return the Professor would be required to give two recitals each week on the Town Hall organ.

Joshua Ives, a Cambridge graduate in Music, was appointed Professor of Music in 1884, and he arrived in time to begin work in 1885.  He was the first Professor of Music to be appointed in Australia.

Nevertheless, the financial support for the Chair was precarious, and a Faculty was not at first appointed.  Musical studies were administered by a Board; but Regulations for the degrees of Bachelor of Music and Doctor of Music, and for Public Examinations in Music, were soon in force.

Fourteen years after the establishment of the Chair, the Elder Conservatorium of Music was set up in 1898 following a bequest of £65,000 to the University of Adelaide on the death of Sir Thomas Elder, £20,000 of which was to the School of Music.  Professor Ives became the Director,with dual responsibility for the theory and practice of music. [1]

The foundation of the Elder Conservatorium building was laid on 26 September 1898 and was formally opened on 26 September 1900.

The first staff were contracted from the Adelaide College of Music, with most of the students also transferring from the College to the Conservatorium. The Conservatorium was open to both professional and amateur students who could enrol  in a course of academic study (with particular reference to composition) leading to the degree of Bachelor of Music and modelled on traditional British lines; courses in performance leading to the  Diploma of Associate in Music; or individual teaching in a singe study  such as pianoforte, singing, string playing. All candidates for admission were required to pass an entrance examination and were graded as of Junior, Intermediate and Senior level.

Upon Ives' refusal to continue as Director of the Conservatorium in 1900 an acting-Director was appointed. The successor to Ives was appointed in 1901 as Professor of Music and Director of the Conservatorium and this joint responsibility was retained until 1977.

In 1905 a Faculty of Music was established in addition to the Board of Musical Studies. The Faculty dealt with the whole of business in connection with the Chair of Music and the public examinations, leaving the Conservatorium work for the Board of Musical Studies to deal with.

From 1914 the Board was incorporated with the Faculty although the Statute establishing the Board (Chapter X1) was not repealed until 1919. [2]

The Elder Conservatorium of Music is a product of three mergers: one in the late nineteenth century (1898) with the Adelaide College of Music; one in the late twentieth century (1991), with the School of Performing Arts of the then South Australian College of Advanced Education; and one at the beginning of the twenty-first century (2001), with the School of Music of the Adelaide Institute of TAFE (aka Flinders Street School of Music).

Formerly a faculty of the university (the Faculty of Music) it is now constituted as a professional School within the Faculty of Arts.

Since 2002 it has been an associate member of the Association of European Conservatoires (AEC), and is also a partner school of the Helpmann Academy, an umbrella body created by the State Government of South Australia to promote collaboration between various schools of visual and performing arts.

Elder Professorship of Music

There have so far been only seven incumbents of the Elder Professorship of Music, all of whom have also served as director and/or dean of the Elder Conservatorium of Music and have provided the artistic and academic leadership for the institution:

• Professor Joshua Ives (1884–1901)
• Professor J.Matthew Ennis (1902–1918)
• Professor Dr. E.Harold Davies (1918–1948)
• Professor John Bishop, OBE (1948–1964)
• Professor David Galliver, AM (1966–1983)
• Professor Heribert Esser (1986–1993)
• Professor Dr. Charles Bodman Rae (since 2001).

Since the late 1970s the administrative position of director of the Conservatorium has from time to time been occupied by a staff member other than the Elder Professor of Music. In this category can be included: the clarinettist, David Shepherd; the pianist, Clemens Leske AM; the horn player, Patrick Brislan; the pianist, David Lockett AM; and the choral conductor, Carl Crossin OAM.

Since 2014 the director has been the noted composer, Professor Graeme Koehne, AO. [3]

References:

1. ​The University of Adelaide, 1874-1974: A Statement of the Case for Supporting the University's Centenary Appeal.  1972.

2. Taken from UAA Provenance Record UAR-0012

3. Taken from Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elder_Conservatorium_of_Music - Accessed 13 December 2020

Elder Conservatorium Photographs (Ref: UA-00003300/S0312-0068)