Musical degrees. [See Degrees.] The endowment of the chair is little more than nominal.
The Cambridge Professorship was founded by the University in 1684, and has been held by Staggins (1684), Tudway (1705), Greene (1730), Randall (1755), Hague (1799). Clarke Whitfeld (1821), Walmisley (1836), Sterndale Bennett (1856), and G. A. Macfarren (1875), [App. p.751 "Dr. C. V. Stanford (1887)"] successively. The duties, like those at Oxford, consist chiefly in examining candidates for Musical degrees, and in prescribing those objects of musical study in which changes are made from time to time. The salary of the Professor is £200 per annum.
The Edinburgh Professorship was endowed by General Reid in 1839. The Professor is appointed by the University Court. Sir Herbert Oakeley, the present occupant of the chair, was elected in 1865: his predecessors were John Thomson, 1839; Sir H. R. Bishop, 1841; H. H. Pierson, 1844; John Donaldson, 1845. Unlike the non-resident Professors at Oxford and Cambridge, the Professor at Edinburgh is a member of the educational staff of the University. He receives a salary of £420 per annum, and a further sum of £200 per annum is allowed for assistants and for class-expenses. There is a regular double course of musical instruction:—(1) Lectures by the Professor on the history and development of the art and science of music; the various schools and styles; the history and construction of the principal musical instruments; the modern orchestra, etc., or on the works of the great masters. Organ performances, with instructive remarks in programmes, are given from time to time during the session. (2) Separate and individual instruction in organ or pianoforte-playing is given to a certain number of the younger students. To these the theory of music is practically imparted. Sir Herbert Oakeley is also president and conductor of the Edinburgh University Musical Society, established in 1867.
The Dublin Professorship was dormant till 1764, when Lord Mornington was appointed. He held office for ten years, after which time the Professorship again sank into oblivion. It was revived in 1845 [App. p.751 "1847"], in the person of Dr. Smith, and a few examinations of a rudimentary character were held, and degrees given. It was, however, reserved for the present Professor, Sir Robert Stewart, elected in 1862 [App. p.751 "1861"], to raise the standard of musical science in Dublin by examining in history, counterpoint, orchestration, and all that is included in modern musical study. Although the statutory duties of the Professor are confined to examinations and to the conduct of business relating to Musical degrees, and although there exists no endowment at Dublin like that which defrays class-expenses at Edinburgh, yet the actual condition of musical study at Dublin resembles that of Edinburgh rather than the two English Universities. Sir Robert Stewart, who is resident at the University, and is the organist of Trinity College Chapel, both delivers courses of lectures and imparts practical instruction by training the University Choral Society, and conducting the orchestral concerts, which, after weekly rehearsals, are held from three to five times during the season. The important change lately made at Oxford and Cambridge, by introducing literary elements into the examination for Musical degrees, was effected at Dublin by the present Professor many years before.
PROGRAMME (from πρό, 'before,' and γράμμα 'a writing'). A list of the pieces to be performed at a concert, usually accompanied by the names of the performers. The term seems to have come into use in this connexion in the present century, and is now often further applied to the books containing the words, and the remarks on the pieces, which are becoming so usual. It is not however used for the book of words of an oratorio or opera.
Programmes are now commonly restricted in length to 2 hours or 2½. The concerts of the Philharmonic Societies of London and Vienna, the Gewandhaus at Leipsic, and the Conservatoire at Paris, are of that length, usually containing a symphony and a smaller orchestral piece, a solo concerto, two or three vocal pieces for solo or chorus, and one or two overtures. This is sometimes divided into two parts, sometimes goes on without break.
Formerly concerts were of greater length. In the old days of the Philharmonic two symphonies were de rigueur, and even such colossi as Beethoven's Eroica, No. 7, and No. 9, were accompanied by a symphony of Haydn, Mozart, or Spohr, besides 4 vocal pieces, 2 overtures (the concluding one often styled a 'Finale'), a concerto, and some such trifle as Beethoven's Septet. This was a survival from an older order of things. The Haydn-Salomon Concerts of 1792–6 contained each 2 (once at least 3) Symphonies, and a final orchestral piece, 2 concertos, and 4 vocal pieces; and these again were modelled on the programmes of the petty German Concerts. Jahn in his Life of Mozart (i. 294) mentions that at Vienna about 1778, Count Firmian's soirees lasted for 6 hours; at one of them 'several symphonies' by Christian Bach, and four by Martini, were performed; at another 'twelve new Violin Concertos' by Benda. At a private concert at Dresden, Sept. 21, 1772, given for the benefit of Dr. Burney (Tour, ii. 44), the programme was in two parts, each containing a symphony, a violin solo, a flute concerto, and an oboe concerto; and, in addition, 'by way of a bonne bouche, Fischer's well-known rondeau minuet.' It must be remembered that these pieces were probably not nearly so long as those which now go by the same names. Our next instance, however, contains pieces of which we can all judge. It is the programme of a concert given by Mozart at Vienna, on March 22, 1783. All the pieces are by him.
- The Hafner Symphony (Allegro and Andante).
- Air from Idomeneo 'Se il padre.' Mad. Lange.
- PF. Concerto in C.
- Scena and Aria, 'Misera dove son.' Herr Adamberger.
- Andante grazioso and Rondo allegro, from Serenade in D; for orchestra.
- The favourite PF. Concerto in D.
- Scena, 'Parto' (Lucio Silla). Mad. Teyber.
