GRAVES OF ACADEME
SIR,—Mr. Frank Howes accuses me of failing to do my researches properly; but his own are barren. The names he gives of 'successful alumni of the London conservatoires' prove nothing. No one disputes that something gets through from time to time. My point is that it is a poor total in relation to the vast popula- tion on which the colleges draw (their apologists arc never tired of proclaiming them as a hub of the Commonwealth). I do not deny that the people on Mr. Howes's list physically passed through these in- stitutions and emerged at the other end. But Mr. Howes ignores the only relevant question—whether they succeeded because or in spite of the college system, and how much credit if any the colleges are entitled to claim for their successes. To mention only two of his names, Benjamin Britten and Clifford Curzon: has Mr. Howes forgotten Mr. Britten's pub- lished opinion of the general musical education he received at 'the Royal College? He might also ponder whether it was the Royal Academy or the late Mr. Artur Schnabel that was largely responsible for helping Mr. Curzon to fulfil his talents. There are really no grounds for Mr. Howes's strange com; placency.—Yours faithfully,
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