The Mannes School of Music (/ˈmænɪs/), originally called the David Mannes Music School and later the Mannes Music School, Mannes College of Music, the Chatham Square Music School, and Mannes College: The New School for Music, is a music conservatory in The New School, a privateresearch university in New York City. In the fall of 2015, Mannes moved from its previous location on Manhattan's Upper West Side to join the rest of the New School campus in Arnhold Hall at 55 W. 13th Street.[2]
History
Mannes School of Music (2016)
Originally called The David Mannes Music School, it was founded in 1916 by David Mannes, concertmaster of the New York Symphony Orchestra, and his wife Clara Damrosch, sister of Walter Damrosch, then conductor of that orchestra, and Frank Damrosch. The Damrosch and Mannes families were perhaps the most important music families in America at that time, with David Mannes emerging as one of the first American born violin recitalists to achieve significant status. David Mannes was the director of the Third Street Music School Settlement as well as founder of Colored Music Settlement School, all prior to founding the Mannes School.[citation needed] The school was originally housed on East 70th Street (later occupied by the Dalcroze School).
A larger campus was created out of four converted brownstones beginning at 157 East 74th Street, in Manhattan's Upper East Side.[3] After 1938, the school was known as the Mannes Music School in recognition of the broader course of study that expanded the school well beyond that of a community music school, including the three-year Artist Diploma. When Clara died in 1948, their son Leopold Mannes became president, endowing the school with his fortune from co-inventing Kodachrome film. In 1953 the school began offering a Bachelor of Science degree and changed its name to the Mannes College of Music. In 1960 it merged with the Chatham Square Music School. In 1984 the school moved to larger quarters on West 85th Street. In 1989 Mannes joined The New School. In 2005, the New School administration changed the name to Mannes College: the New School for Music. In 2015, the university renamed it Mannes School of Music, and moved it to Arnhold Hall in the West Village.[1] It is part of the College of Performing Arts at The New School, which also includes the School of Drama and the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. The College of Performing Arts, including Mannes Prep, has a total of 1,450 students. The students in any of the three schools of The New School College of Performing Arts' three schools can take courses in Drama, Jazz, and Music.
Academics
Two academic divisions constitute the conservatory:[1]
College: the academic spine of the school, conferring undergraduate and graduate degrees and diplomas
Preparatory: pre-college training for children and adolescents
The Techniques of Music program is the foundation for academic musical study in the two divisions at Mannes, encompassing the range of elementary to advanced music theory and aural skills and analysis classes.
Music theory was taught at Mannes from its inception, with David Mannes hiring important figures such as Ernest Bloch and Rosario Scalero to teach theory and composition. In 1931 Mannes hired Hans Weisse, a student of Austrian music theorist Heinrich Schenker.[4] Over the following nine years, Weisse promoted not just the study of Schenkerian analysis but also the incorporation of it into the musical life of the school, including performance and composition. Schenker's publication Five Graphic Music Analyses (Fünf Urlinie-Tafeln) was published jointly by Mannes and Universal Edition in 1932.[5]
In 1940, Weisse was replaced by Felix Salzer, who had also been a student of Schenker. Mannes continued to build on Weisse's foundation by reorganizing the theory program into the Techniques of Music Department. Salzer's purpose was and to integrate the school's approach to musicianship, theory, and performance, based on Schenker's focus on the role of theory in tonal music. Salzer was later joined on the faculty by his own student, Carl Schachter.[6] Subsequently, Schacter's own students continued and strengthened the department in this tradition.
In the 2020s, Mannes' has revised and expanded its program. The curriculum added courses in music technology, improvisation ensemble, teaching artistry, arts journalism, film music composition, and creative entrepreneurship.[7] The school has further enhanced its commitment to contemporary music beyond the tonal-based, eurocentric approach of Schenker. The Mannes of today includes a number of programs in partnership with its sister conservatory, School of Jazz.[8]
