article · Part of No. 11, December 1948, English section (pages 1–13) · p. 6 p. 7

The Conservatoire National Libanais

Le Conservatoire National Libanais

In 1910 a School of Music (Dar-el-Musica) was founded in Beirut (Lebanon) by Mr. Wadih Sabra, a pupil of Lavignac and former organist of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Paris. This private school was endowed by the Maison Pleyel with an annual prize consisting of a piano of that make, intended to be presented to the pianist-pupil ranked first in the institution's annual competitions. Thanks to the generosity of the Pleyel directors, nine pianos were sent to Lebanon for this purpose up to 1927. After the First World War Mr. Sabra returned to Paris to collaborate with Mr. Gustave Lyon on the question of the Arab scale. On his return from Paris, he resided in Cairo. Called upon in 1924 by the Lebanese Government to take over the direction of a National Conservatory, he settled permanently in Lebanon.

The program of this Conservatory comprised:
A course in solfège and theory
Two courses in piano
A course in the transcription of Arab music
A course in violin
A course in violoncello
A course in singing
A course in Arabic singing
A course in the history of music

In 1926 a musical comedy, words by Chamboulan, music by W. Sabra, was performed for the first time in Lebanon, followed in 1927 by the first opera in the Arabic language, in three acts, by W. Sabra, which was performed six times and revived four years later.

In 1938 Gounod's opera "Mireille" was performed by the pupils of the Conservatory, with a success borne out by the congratulations addressed to the Director of the Conservatory by Mme Gounod-Lassus, daughter of the great composer. From 1943 onward, the National Conservatory underwent a considerable expansion. The number of pupils, which stood at some sixty in 1925, rose to 200 in 1943 and to 300 in 1947.

The teachers at present number 32, distributed among the classes listed below:
Two classes of Arabic singing
Two classes of Arab violin
Three classes of lute
One class of Arabic diction

One class of French diction
One class of violoncello
One orchestra class
One ensemble class
One class of oboe
One class of clarinet
One class of flute
An advanced course in the history of Arab music
Two courses in the history of music
Three classes of singing
Nine classes of violin
One class of harmony
Six classes of solfège
Two of theory and musical dictation.

Three classes of advanced instruction in piano
Eighteen classes of piano.

It was after presiding over the Lebanese Delegation to the Congress of Arab Music in Cairo in 1932 that Mr. W. Sabra undertook a series of studies on Arab music. The most important reviews hastened to publish them, the principal ones being: the Revue de la S.I.A.M.F. of February 1933, "The Origins of the Tempered Scale"; Le Courrier Musical of October 15, 1934, which published his comparative study of the great musical systems in use among the Hindus, the Chinese, the Arabs, the peoples of the West, as well as those of ancient Greece; the Revue d'Acoustique, which published in January 1936 "The Trial of the Minor Scale"; Le Guide Musical of November 1935, "The Music of Ancient Greece".

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