Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2025

« Travaillez jeunes gens » : description du concours du Conservatoire de Paris (1896-1920)

Résumé

Each year, as the summer approached, the Paris Conservatoire, the main music school in France, prepared for its «end-of-year concours». Hundreds of candidates were to compete during two weeks for a «prix» that aimed to distinguish between those who were ready to begin their careers in the public sphere and those who were not. The event was not limited to the students and the jurors who assessed them: the Conservatoire’s teachers, its administration and, above all, a public made up of numerous journalists and representatives of the French State also took part in the «concours». While it was one of the rituals that shaped the Conservatoire’s agenda, it was also an eminently public event: the considerable number of reports that appeared in the press thus testify to the event’s influence for the French musical and dramatic economy. Limited to the directorships of Théodore Dubois (1896-1905) and Gabriel Fauré (1905-1920), this study aims to provide a description of the «concours», based on an extensive analysis of the Conservatoire’s administrative archives and press accounts. We will examine the organisation and nature of the tests, characterise the candidates, the public and the jurors, and analyse the assessment process. Using this information as context, we will then discuss debates surrounding the «concours», on the nature of the event, the quality or inadequacy of the candidates and the function of the competition in terms of the school’s internal operations. In a third section, we will emphasise the role of the press in the event by focusing on – often gendered – narratives of the «concours», created by journalists. Ultimately, the example of the «concours», and its regulatory function within French musical life gives way to a definition of artistic value at the turn of the 20th century.

Domaines

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Dates et versions

hal-04976793 , version 1 (04-03-2025)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04976793 , version 1

Citer

Apolline Gouzi, Arthur Macé, Yannaël Pasquier. « Travaillez jeunes gens » : description du concours du Conservatoire de Paris (1896-1920). Charles Edward McGuire. European Musical Competitions, 1700-1940. History, Context and Meanings, Brepols, 2025, 978-2-503-61861-6. ⟨hal-04976793⟩
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