[221]
[Footnote 221: It published, in eleven volumes, the ancient works that
it performed. Before this experiment there had been the _Concerts
historiques de Fetis_, preceded by lectures, which were inaugurated in
1832, and failed; and these were followed by Amedee Mereaux's _Concerts
historiques_ in 1842-1844.]
In 1853, Louis Niedermeyer founded in Paris an _Ecole de musique
religieuse et classique_, which strove "to form singers, organists,
choir-masters, and composers of music, by the study of the classic works
of the great masters of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth
centuries." This school, subsidised by the State, was a nursery for
some real musicians. It reckoned among its pupils some noted composers,
conductors, organists, and historians; among others, M. Gabriel Faure,
M. Andre Messager, M. Eugene Gigout, and M. Henry Expert. M. Saint-Saens
was a professor there, and became its president. Nearly five hundred
organists, choir-masters, and professors of music of the Conservatoire
and other French colleges were trained there. But this school, serious
in intention, and a refuge for the classic spirit in the midst of the
prevailing bad taste, did not trouble itself about influencing the
public, and, in fact, almost ignored it.
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