Prior to the establishment of the Royal Academy of Music, there was no Public Institution in this country where Music was regularly taught. At the Cathedrals, indeed, to which are attached a limited number of Chorister Boys, a certain degree of musical education was given, in order to qualify them to perform in the Church Services. The instruction being thus confined to the one branch, could not have any general effect upon the musical character of the nation. As schools, they have been and must be still, but only to a small extent, useful; and, as for a long time they were the only places where music was taught, they necessarily belong more to a general Musical History.

The first establishment that received the name of Royal Academy of Music was founded in 1720. It was not an educational establishment, which its name seems to imply, but merely an institution so called, raised by large subscriptions among the nobility and gentry, for the purpose of introducing into this country the Italian Opera. It lasted but seven years; and when the subscriptions failed, the name of the Royal Academy of Music ceased also. This Society, though not professing instruction, yet having laid the foundation for the Italian School, at that time the best in the world, may be considered to have rendered great service to the cause, by the development of our national talent for music.