Fontainebleau Schools
consists of two schools, the American Conservatory and the School of Fine Arts at Fontainebleau
The Fontainebleau Schools were founded in 1921, and consist of two schools: The American Conservatory, and the School of Fine Arts at Fontainebleau.
History
When the American Expeditionary Forces entered the First World War, the commander of its army, General Pershing, decided the quality of US military band music needed improvement. Walter Damrosch, then conductor of the New York Philharmonic, was asked to organize a school in Chaumont, where US troops were headquartered, led by composer and teacher Francis Casadesus.
The American Conservatory
The conservatory was created during World War I when the US sought to build a music school to improve the U.S. military bands, headquartered in France.
After the war, Damrosch and Casadesus decided to continue this successful operation. With the full support of French authorities, as well as that of composer and organist Charles-Marie Widor, who became its first director, the American Conservatory, was granted permission to open in the Louis XV wing of the Chateau of Fontainebleau. The American Conservatory (Fr. Conservatoire américain de Fontainebleau) intended to offer the best of French musical education to young, promising musicians.
Since 1921, the teaching staff has included renowned faculty such as: the trio Pasquier, Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns, Marcel Dupré, Robert and Gaby Casadesus, Charles-Marie Widor, Henri Dutilleux, Gilbert Amy, Betsy Jolas, André Boucourechliev, Pierre Amoyal, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Igor Stravinsky, Arthur Rubinstein, Tristan Murail and Leonard Bernstein.
Nadia Boulanger, a young composition/harmony professor, was among this distinguished faculty from the beginning.
The public source identifies “Fontainebleau Schools” as consists of two schools, the American Conservatory and the School of Fine Arts at Fontainebleau. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Fontainebleau, Schools and consists.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q470082. VIAF identifies the subject as 123369907. The Library of Congress control number is n2006060976. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1921.
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This entry incorporates text from “Fontainebleau Schools” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.