(Association for the Promotion of the Art of Music). Dutch musical organization. The oldest association of its kind in the country, it was established in 1829 and laid the foundations of music education by setting up music schools and after 1881 by instituting examinations for professional musicians. After World War II, when music schools and conservatories in the Netherlands became government institutions, the association was no longer deeply concerned with music education, although it continued to provide grants for gifted music students. Much work is done in forming choirs and in renewing the choral repertory; a federation of youth choirs is attached to the association, and the performance of Dutch choral works is encouraged. In 1982 the society helped to organize the Stichting Nederlandse Korenorganisaties. The association has built up an important library, which since 1955 has been an independent organization; it consists of a loan department for choral and orchestral material and a research department containing valuable historical material (e.g. manuscripts and early music prints). The 1990s saw closer links with the Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis.
J.D.C. van Dokkum: Honderd jaar muziekleven in Nederland (Amsterdam, 1929)
P. Cronheim: 125 jaar Toonkunst (Amsterdam, 1956)
P. van Reijen: ‘De Toonkunst-bibliotheek: structur en functie’, Mens en melodie, xxiv (1969), 323–6
W. Paap: ‘Bij het 150-jarig bestaan van de Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst’, Mens en melodie, xxxiv (1979), 159–61
P. van Reijen: ‘De jubileumviering van de Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst’, ibid., 257–9
WOUTER PAAP/JOHAN KOLSTEEG