The Conservatorio Statale di Musica "Gioachino Rossini" is a music conservatory in Pesaro, Italy. Founded in 1869 with a legacy from the composer Gioachino Rossini, the conservatory officially opened in 1882 with 67 students and was then known as the Liceo musicale Rossini. By 2010 it had an enrollment of approximately 850 students studying for higher diplomas in singing, instrumental performance, composition, musicology, choral conducting, jazz or electronic music. The conservatory also trains music teachers for secondary schools and holds regular master classes. Its seat is the 18th century Palazzo Olivieri–Machirelli on the Piazza Oliveri in Pesaro. Amongst its past Directors are the composers Carlo Pedrotti, Pietro Mascagni, Riccardo Zandonai and Franco Alfano. Mascagni's opera Zanetto had its world premiere at the conservatory in 1896.
History
In his will, Rossini left virtually his entire estate to Pesaro, his native city, for the establishment of a free music school there with the provision that the legacy would only come to the city upon the death of his widow, Olympe Pélissier. In 1869, the year following Rossini's death, the city set up the association which would eventually become the "Liceo musicale Rossini". Olympe Pélissier died in 1878. Four years later, on 5 November 1882, the school opened the doors of its temporary home in the former Convent and Church of San Filippo Neri to the first cohort of 67 students, of whom 25 were enrolled in the choral school. Following the terms of Rossini's will, the school emphasised operatic and choral singing as well as composition. Its first Director, Carlo Pedrotti, was the composer of 17 operas and had previously been the Director of Turin's opera house, the Teatro Regio. He was also a noted voice teacher. Amongst his pupils were the tenors Francesco Tamagno and Alessandro Bonci. During Pedrotti's tenure, the conservatory moved to its permanent home in the Palazzo Olivieri–Machirelli and an auditorium was added which now bears his name. Following Pedrotti's retirement in 1893, the conservatory was without a director until the appointment two years later, of another opera composer, Pietro Mascagni.
Mascagni took up his post in December 1895. Thanks to Rossini's large legacy, the school was well endowed financially. Mascagni's annual salary was 12,000 lire, more than twice that of the much older Parma Conservatory, and was supplemented with a lavish rent-free apartment in the Palazzo Olivieri–Machirelli. Despite its large endowment, the conservatory had made little progress in raising its prestige during the Pedrotti years and was overshadowed by the big conservatories of Milan, Rome, and Naples and even the smaller Parma Conservatory. It had yet to produce any musicians of note and its enrollment had only increased from the initial 67 students to 73. Its location in a small sea-side town also made it relatively less attractive to the more gifted students and distinguished teachers who tended to prefer the conservatories located in major cultural centres. Mascagni was eager to change the situation and to implement his own ideas about what conservatory education for young people should be. He was opposed to the methods used in many Italian conservatories at the time which taught music largely by rote memorization or as he put it, "like a catechism." Within three years, Mascagni had started the Liceo Symphony Orchestra, which included both students and faculty and was the first permanent orchestra to be established in an Italian conservatory. Mascagni himself conducted their concerts. The orchestra also played in the world premiere of his opera Zanetto, which he had completed shortly before taking up his post. Two students from the conservatory sang the leading roles, and went with Mascagni when he took the opera to La Scala. He also established the first conservatory-published music journal in Italy, La cronaca musicale, as well as the first conservatory course specifically devoted to sacred music. Within four years, the faculty had grown and the enrollment had doubled, as had the number of diplomas awarded.