Editing Royal College of Music (section)

==History==

===Background===
{{main|National Training School of Music}}
The Royal College of Music was founded in 1883 to replace the short-lived and unsuccessful [[National Training School of Music]] (NTSM). The idea for the NTSM was initially proposed by the [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Consort]] decades before the school opened. Conservatoires to train young students for a musical career had been set up in major [[Europe|European]] cities, but in London the long-established [[Royal Academy of Music]] had not supplied suitable training for professional musicians: in 1870 it was estimated that fewer than ten per cent of instrumentalists in London orchestras had studied at the academy.<ref name=wright>Wright, David [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3557473 "The South Kensington Music Schools and the Development of the British Conservatoire in the Late Nineteenth Century"], ''Journal of the Royal Musical Association'', Vol. 130, No. 2 (2005), pp. 236–282 {{subscription required}}</ref> 

The NTSM opened in 1876, with [[Arthur Sullivan]] as its principal. Under Sullivan, a reluctant and ineffectual principal, the NTSM failed to provide a satisfactory alternative to the [[Royal Academy of Music|Royal Academy]] and, by 1880, a committee of examiners comprising [[Charles Hallé]], [[Julius Benedict|Sir Julius Benedict]], [[Michael Costa (conductor)|Sir Michael Costa]], [[Henry David Leslie|Henry Leslie]] and [[Otto Goldschmidt]] reported that the school lacked "executive cohesion".<ref name=wright/> The following year Sullivan resigned and was replaced by [[John Stainer]].<ref name=mt/> The original plan was to merge the Royal Academy of Music and the National Training School of Music into a single, enhanced organisation. The NTSM agreed, but after prolonged negotiations, the Royal Academy refused to enter into the proposed scheme.<ref name=mt>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3357634 "The Proposed College for Music"], ''The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular'', Vol. 23, No. 467 (January 1882), pp. 17–18 {{subscription required}}</ref>

In 1881, with [[George Grove]] as a leading instigator and with the support of the Prince of Wales, a draft charter was drawn up for a successor body to the NTSM. The Royal College of Music occupied the premises previously home to the NTSM and opened there on 7 May 1883. Grove was appointed its first director.<ref name=mt83>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3357708 "Royal College of Music"], ''The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular'', Vol. 24, No. 484 (June 1883), pp. 309–310 {{subscription required}}</ref> There were 50 scholars elected by competition and 42 fee-paying students.<ref name=grove>Rainbow, Bernarr and Anthony Kemp. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/16904pg8 "London – Educational establishments"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford Music Online, accessed 4 January 2012 {{subscription required}}</ref>

===Early years===
Grove, a close friend of Sullivan, loyally maintained that the new college was a natural evolution from the NTSM.<ref name=wright/> In reality, his aims were radically different from Sullivan's. In his determination that the new institution should succeed as a training ground for orchestral players, Grove had two principal allies: the violinist [[Henry Holmes (composer)|Henry Holmes]] and the composer and conductor [[Charles Villiers Stanford]].<ref name=wright/> They believed that a capable college orchestra would not only benefit instrumental students, but would give students of composition the essential chance to experience the sound of their music.<ref name=wright/> The college's first intake of scholarship students included 28 who studied an orchestral instrument. The potential strength of the college orchestra, including fee-paying instrumental students, was 33 violins, five [[viola]]s, six [[Cello|cellos]], one [[double bass]], one [[flute]], one [[oboe]] and two [[Horn (instrument)|horns]].<ref name=wright/> Grove appointed 12 professors of orchestral instruments, in addition to distinguished teachers in other musical disciplines including [[Jenny Lind]] (singing), [[Hubert Parry]] (composition), [[Ernst Pauer]] (piano), [[Arabella Goddard]] (piano) and [[Walter Parratt]] (organ).<ref name=mt83/>

The old premises proved restrictive and a new building was commissioned in the early 1890s on a new site in [[Prince Consort Road]], [[South Kensington]]. The building was designed by [[Arthur Blomfield|Sir Arthur Blomfield]] in [[Antwerp Mannerism|Flemish Mannerist]] style in red brick dressed with buff-coloured Welden stone.<ref>"State opening of the Royal College of Music", ''Musical Times'', '''35''' (1 June 1894:390); the style was reported as "Renaissance, freely treated"</ref> Construction began in 1892 and the building opened in May 1894.<ref>The date 1892 on a tablet in the peak of the central pavilion. The formal opening was in May 1894.</ref> The building was largely paid for by two large donations from [[Samson Fox]], a Yorkshire industrialist, whose statue, along with that of the Prince of Wales, stands in the entrance hall.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47530 |title=Royal College of Music &#124; British History Online |publisher=British-history.ac.uk |date=2003-06-22 |access-date=2010-05-02}}</ref>

Grove retired at the end of 1894 and was succeeded as director by Hubert Parry.<ref name=dnb>Young, Percy M. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11680 "Grove, Sir George (1820–1900)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2006 accessed 2 November 2010 {{subscription required}}</ref>

===Later history===
Parry died in 1918 and was succeeded as director by [[Hugh Allen (conductor)|Sir Hugh Allen]] (1919–37), [[George Dyson (composer)|Sir George Dyson]] (1938–52), [[Ernest Bullock|Sir Ernest Bullock]] (1953–59), [[Keith Falkner|Sir Keith Falkner]] (1960–74), [[David Willcocks|Sir David Willcocks]] (1974–84), [[Michael Gough Matthews]](1985–93), Dame [[Janet Ritterman]] (1993–2005) and Professor [[Colin Lawson]] (2005-2024). The College's current Director is James Williams, whose tenure began in September 2024.<ref>[http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=6132&inst_id=25&nv1=search&nv2= "Royal College of Music: Director"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513043007/http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=6132&inst_id=25&nv1=search&nv2= |date=13 May 2013 }}, AIM 25, accessed 6 January 2012</ref>

The College's teaching professoriate numbers over 200 musicians, including internationally known figures like [[Dmitri Alexeev]], [[Martyn Brabbins]], [[Natalie Clein]], [[Danny Driver]], [[Martin Gatt]], [[Chen Jiafeng]], [[Jakob Lindberg]], [[Mike Lovatt]], [[Patricia Rozario]], Brindley Sherratt, [[Ashley Solomon]], [[Mark-Anthony Turnage]], [[Maxim Vengerov]], [[Roger Vignoles]], [[Raphael Wallfisch]] and [[Errollyn Wallen]] as well as principals of the major London orchestras including the [[London Symphony Orchestra|London Symphony]], [[BBC Symphony Orchestra|BBC Symphony]], [[London Philharmonic Orchestra|London Philharmonic]] and the [[Philharmonia Orchestra|Philharmonia]].<ref>[http://www.rcm.ac.uk/requestaprospectus/Faculties.pdf "Faculties"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108080222/http://www.rcm.ac.uk/requestaprospectus/Faculties.pdf |date=8 November 2011 }}, Royal College of Music prospectus 2012, accessed 6 January 2012</ref>

Since its founding in 1882, the college has been linked with the [[British royal family]] and its Patron is His Majesty King Charles III. For 40 years [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother]] was president; in 1993 [[Charles III]] (then Prince of Wales) became president.<ref>[http://www.rcm.ac.uk/about/historyofthercm/ "History of the RCM"], Royal College of Music, accessed 6 January 2012</ref>

Opened in 2016, the Royal College of Music’s hall of residence, Prince Consort Village, provides accommodation for more than 400 students and with acoustically treated bedrooms and dedicated practise rooms. 

The college is a [[Charitable organization|registered charity]] under English law.<ref>{{EW charity|309268}}</ref>