Fonds F1016 - Trinity College Faculty of Music

The University of Trinity College was founded in Toronto in 1851, receiving its royal charter in 1852. It had
degree-granting rights in arts, divinity, medicine and law. Although no Faculty of Music had been formed,
on 28 April 1853 Trinity appointed George William Strathy to be Professor of Music. On 1 June 1853, he
was granted a Bachelor of Music (B.Mus.) and a Doctor of Music (D.Mus.) in 1858.
Strathy was listed in the University’s calendar throughout the 1860s and early 1870s. However, he seems
to have taught only occasional lectures until the 1878-79 academic session when he formed a class in
music theory.
In the April 1881 edition of the student magazine "Rouge et Noir" (later the "Trinity University Review"),
students complained about the neglected state of music education at the College. Later that year there
was an application from a candidate for examination in music. That same year Trinity formally created a
Faculty of Music, however, it was only to administer examinations. The College still failed to offer a full
course of studies in the field.
Candidates for the B.Mus. degree had to provide evidence of five years of musical study, to compose 'a
song or anthem in four parts, and perform the same publicly,' and to pass an examination in theory. The
doctorate required evidence of eight years of study along with the composition and performance of a
partsong or anthem in six or eight parts with orchestral accompaniment.
Requirements were changed in 1883 so that B.Mus. candidates had to pass three annual examinations, in
harmony, counterpoint, history of music, form in composition, and instrumentation, and had to compose
an exercise in at least four parts with accompaniment. No arts subjects were required. Three years after
obtaining a B.Mus. a student could achieve a D.Mus. Women were allowed to take the B.Mus.
examination and received a certificate of passing, but only in 1885 were they offered degrees. Emma
Stanton Mellish, later a theory teacher at the Toronto Conservatory of Music, and Helen Emma Gregory,
later a judge, were the first female graduates of Trinity: Each received a B.Mus. in 1886.
In 1885 London's Musical Standard, with information gleaned from a US journal, published Trinity's
curriculum and examination papers. Practising musicians, deterred from pursuing music degrees in British
universities because of their arts prerequisites, requested that Trinity hold music examinations in England.
Since Trinity's royal charter allowed it 'all such and like privileges as are enjoyed by the Universities of our
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,' it felt entitled legally to decide in favour of simultaneous
London and Toronto examinations. In the same year it rejected an application for affiliation from London's
Trinity College, a music school. It appointed a former Trinity professor of mathematics, Edward K. Kendall,
to serve as acting registrar in England and subsequently named as examiners for England and Canada
Edward John Hopkins, William Henry Longhurst, and Edwin Matthew Lott, all prominent English church
organists on whom Trinity conferred honorary doctorates in 1886. The program began after stiffening its
matriculation requirements in order to meet British standards. Students had to produce certificates of
character, 'satisfactory evidence of attainments' in general education, and certificates showing five years
of musical study and practice.
In 1889 Trinity College Faculty of Music became affiliated with the Toronto Conservatory of Music. This
affiliation exempted Conservatory students from having to take some of the Faculty’s examinations. In
1890 the Faculty of Music also held examinations in New York. By the end of that year the Faculty had granted 5 honorary and 9 in-course doctorates as well as 1 honorary and 86 in-course bachelor degrees,
the majority to British candidates.
The intrusion of a Canadian university into Britain occasioned the publication of increasingly numerous
complaints in British music journals. In 1890, 35 prominent musicians submitted to Lord Knutsford, the
colonial secretary, 'memorials' condemning Trinity's practice of granting in absentia degrees in England
stating that Trinity was lowering standards by not requiring literary examinations. As well, these musicians
felt that Trinity had overstepped its powers and could open the door to bogus degrees. In addition to the
‘memorials,’ music journals and newspapers took up the cause against the Trinity degrees. The Trinity
College Provost, C.W.E. Body, hurried to England but failed to counter the criticism and as of 1 February
1891 the University of Trinity College decided to discontinue the examinations in London and New York.
In 1900 Trinity established a board of musical studies to oversee the affairs of the faculty and to name
examiners. However, when Trinity became a federated college of the University of Toronto in 1904, its
Faculty of Music came to an end after having granted 161 B.Mus. degrees (including 1 honorary) and 34
D.Mus. degrees (including 6 honorary). Affiliation with the Toronto Conservatory of Music was also
terminated at this time.