in a nutshell, the JMF (julliard musical foundation) trustees were named in the will as: frederick julliard, james n. wallace, and charles h. sabin. but at age 55, mr. wallace was at the doctors office and suddenly dropped dead. a heart attack victim. so, then george w. davison took his place.
frederick julliard picked eugene a. noble for the role of president. he had never met augustus julliard - but frederick liked him. he was not a philanthropist, nor a performer, nor a music educator. he was a 55 year old methodist preacher preaching in schenactady, ny. he had studied at wesleyan university and had been in the same fraternity as one of the trustees: george davison.
'the years 1920-21-22 passed without any discernible action on the part of noble or the foundation. no money was paid to support a musical or concert organization. in december 1922 - noble announced that students had been chosen for free musical education --although no names or numbers of students were given.
in february 1923 the foundation was finally 'ready for applicants.' incidentally, the ny times reported, it was disclosed that for the time being only those of american birth or citizenship will be eligible to the benefits of the foundation.' this requirement was found nowhere in julliard's will, but the press never again raised the issue. noble dictated another condition: 'the purpose of the foundation is to render a social service through music , and applications will be primarily investigated to determine the fitness of individual students to co-operate in such a service.' awards were given for one year at a time, and the maximum amount was $1000. worth of instruction. the money went directly to the teachers, not to the students.
well, this book goes on forever. it is a might one-sided - but an interesting read of history.
in september 1924 noble 'revealed the names of the examining board who were to decide which of the many applicants would be admitted. they were author henry h. bellamann, critics richard aldrich and lawrence gilman, conductor of the american orchestral society chalmers clifton, composer and associate conductor of the ny philharmonic henry hadley, composer charles m loeffler, and pianist ernest schelling.
the first piano teachers on board: ernest hutcheson, josef lhevinne, olga samaroff, erno von dohnanyi. the julliard graduate school had several yearsof too many teachers for the number of students. olga samaroff's first students included: eugene list, rosalyn tureck, william kappel, alexis weissenberg, and vincent persichetti.
Topic: julliard