History of music

Entrance examination 2025-2026 in HISTORY OF MUSIC

Age limit: must be under 28 on¹ October 2025.

Application period from 6 January to 10 February 2025 on the Conservatoire de Pariswebsite.

1. Preliminary tests

These tests are common to both the preparatory musicology cycle entrance examination and the advanced musicology cycle entrance examination.

Candidates who pass the eliminatory tests are eligible for all subsequent competitions.

1.1 Musical training :

• Written tests (duration: 1h30)
  • Dictation with missing parts from the recorded repertoire, which may contain rhythmic, melodic and harmonic statements.
  • Monodic atonal reading and recognition of cadences and keys.
• Oral test
  • Walk through an orchestral conductor including transposing instruments with rhythmic and sung reading on audio support (prior dressing room: 10 minutes).

These tests are common to the entrance examinations for the Advanced Musicology Cycle (Theoretical and Applied Analysis, Aesthetics, History of Music and Music Culture) and the Preparatory Cycle.

The following are exempt from this test

• students or former students in the advanced writing, composition, orchestration, conducting, accompaniment, keyboard improvisation, voice conducting, vocal accompaniment and choreographic accompaniment classes at the Paris Conservatoire;
• instrumentalist students who have passed the exemption exam or obtained the Music Training certificate from the Paris Conservatoire;
• holders of the Diplôme d'État de Formation musicale ;
• holders of the following Certificats d'Aptitude : Formation musicale, Culture musicale, Écriture, Accompagnement, Professeur animateur et Directeur.
• Candidates admitted to the agrégation in music;
• Holders of a DEM in music training or orchestral conducting;
  
  

1.2 Vocal or instrumental practice :

Performance of a work or excerpt from a work of the candidate's choice lasting a maximum of 5 minutes.

This test is waived for

• students or former students in the instrumental classes of a CNSMD ;
• holders of a Diplôme d'Etat or Certificat d'Aptitude in instrumental or vocal performance;
• holders of a specialised cycle award (acquired) from a CRD or CRR, a Conservatoire Municipal d'Arrondissement de Paris, a brevet d'exécution from the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, or their equivalent from a school abroad, less than five years old.

Proof of these qualifications must be provided at the time of registration.

2. Eligibility tests

The entrance examinations consist of two modules:

• a module common to all disciplines ;
• a specific module.

Module 1 : (Duration 4 h)

Test common to all four disciplines: three listening commentaries, one of which must include a score.
The commentaries may be accompanied by questions on specific points of analysis. Each work or excerpt from a work will be played two or three times.

Candidates who have already passed the entrance examination for the Musicology and Analysis department are exempt.

Module 2: (Duration 4 h)

Examination common to all three subjects: Aesthetics, History of Music, Musical Culture: essay and/or text commentary.

Candidates who have already passed the entrance examination for the musicology and analysis department are exempt.

3. Admission tests

Oral test: appearance before the jury with a dressing room.
2 hours in the box and 40 minutes of speaking time (20 min. presentation and 20 min. discussion).
When appearing before the jury, the candidate comments on 1 or 2 documents of his/her choice from a file containing several (scores, texts, images from the ^17th century to the second half of the 20th^century ).

Internal transfer to the Music History class

Conservatoire students who have obtained both :

• a History of Music certificate with distinction (History of Music: Chronological and Synthetic Study, History of Music: Study of Performance, History of Music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance) ;
• a methodology course with a grade of 'Bien' or 'Très Bien' (Practical methodology of research and mediation or Methodology and theories of musicology),

may enter the Music History and Music Culture Professions classes without taking the competitive entrance exam, subject to availability.

CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

Continuous assessment accounts for 50% of the final exam mark:

• a summary of the course content ;
• writing a critical note on an article or book chapter chosen from the bibliography of the year's course;
• each year, writing a dissertation of around thirty pages on an unpublished music history subject; the dissertation is assessed by the teacher.

FINAL EXAMINATION

The final examination is the same for students in years ¹,² and³.

• Written tests: (Duration: 2 x 5 h)
  Two commentaries on written and/or audio documents on the themes covered during the year (table-top);
  
  
• Oral test: (timetable: 1 h)
  A presentation on a question drawn from the year's theme;
  A presentation on the dissertation prepared during the year.

AWARDS

^1st year honours Very Good, Good, Quite Good

^2nd year: distinction Very Good, Good or Fairly Good

Cumulative honours are awarded in points (Assez Bien = 1 point, Bien = 2 points, Très Bien = 3 points) according to the following scale:

• Mention Très Bien: at least 5 points ;
• Mention Bien: at least 3 points;
• Mention Assez Bien: at least 1 point.

Honours are awarded for the first year only.

During the final deliberations, the jury may award an additional point to a candidate in the^2nd year for obtaining an additional mention in the context of the prize that the jury considers deserved.

The History of Music Prize validates one of the main disciplines of the^Master '^s degree in Musicology. Within this framework, the History of Music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance discipline is compulsory in the second or third year. For details of this programme (organisation of studies, ECTS, etc.), see the study programme for the Advanced Cycle in Musicology.

2 years (8h weekly), 3rd year possible on teacher's advice