BURNEY

BURNEY, CHARLES, Doctor of Music, was born in the ancient city of Shrewsbury, the capital of Shropshire, on the 7th of April 1726. He received his earlier education at the excellent free school of that city, and was afterwards sent to the public school at Chester. His first music-master was Mr Baker, organist of Chester Cathedral, and a pupil of Dr John Blow. Returning to Shrewsbury when about fifteen years old, he continued his musical studies for three years under his half-brother, Mr James Burney, organist of St Mary's Church; and was then sent to London as a pupil of the celebrated Dr Arne, with whom he remained three years. In 1749 he was appointed organist of a church in the city, with a salary of £30 a year; and was also engaged as conductor of a concert esta-

lished at the King's Arms, Cornhill. In that year and the next, he composed the music of three dramas for Drury Lane theatre—Alfred, Robin Hood, and Queen Mab. His health now became so seriously affected, that his physicians advised him to retire into the country; and he therefore went to Lynn, in Norfolk, where he was elected organist, with an annual salary of £100, and where he resided for the next nine years. During that time he began to entertain the idea of writing a general history of music. In 1760 he returned to London in good health, and with a young family; the eldest of whom, a girl of eight years of age, surprised the public by her attainments as a harpsichord-player. In 1766 he produced, at Drury Lane, a free English version and adaptation of J. J. Rousseau's operetta Le Devin du Village, under the title of The Canning Man, which was favourably received. The university of Oxford conferred upon him, on 23d June 1769, the degrees of bachelor and doctor of music, on which occasion he presided at the performance of his exercise for these degrees. His exercise consisted of an anthem, with an overture, solos, recitatives, and choruses, accompanied by instruments, besides a vocal anthem in eight parts,¹ which was not performed for the reason mentioned by Burney.² His friend, C. P. E. Bach, requested a copy of this exercise, and had it performed in St Catharine's Church at Hamburg, under his own direction, in 1773. It was repeatedly performed at Oxford, "after it had fulfilled its original destination," as Burney tells us (vol. iii. p. 329); and he apologises as follows for saying so much about it. "It is hoped that the reader will pardon this egotism, which has been extorted from me by occasional and sinister assertions, 'that I neither liked nor had studied church music.'" (Ibid.) In 1769 he published An Essay towards a History of Comets.

Amidst his various professional avocations, Burney never lost sight of his favourite object—his History of Music—and therefore resolved to travel abroad for the purpose of collecting materials that could not be found in Great Britain. Accordingly he left London in June 1770, furnished with numerous letters of introduction, and proceeded to Paris, and thence to Geneva, Turin, &c. The results of his observations he published in The present state of Music in France and Italy, 1 vol. 8vo, London, 1771. Dr Johnson thought so well of this work, that, alluding to his own journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, he said, "I had that clever dog Burney's Musical Tour in my eye." In 1771 Burney published a translation of Tartini's Letter to Signora Lombardini on Violin-playing. In July 1772 Burney again visited the Continent, to collect further materials; and, after his return to London, published his tour under the title of The present state of Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and United Provinces, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1773. In the latter year, he was chosen a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. In 1776 appeared the first volume (in 4to) of his long-projected History of Music; in 1782 the second volume; and in 1789 the third and fourth. His Tour in Germany, &c., and the first volume of his History, were sharply criticised by J. N. Forkel,³ music-director at

Göttingen, in the third volume of his Musikalisch-Kritische Bibliothek, Gotha, 1779. The Spanish ex-Jesuit, Requeno, in his Italian work Saggi sul Ristabilimento dell' Arte Armonica de' Greci e Romani Cantori, Parma, 1798, 2 vols. 8vo, attacks Burney's account of the ancient Greek music, and calls him lo scompigliato Burney.⁴ Burney's first tour was translated into German by Ebeling, and printed at Hamburg in 1772; and his second Tour, translated into German by Bode, was published at Hamburg in 1773. A Dutch translation of his second Tour, with Notes, by J. W. Lustig, organist at Groningen, was published there in 1786. The Dissertation on the music of the ancients, in the first volume of Burney's History, was translated into German by J. J. Eschenburg, and printed at Leipzig, 1781. In the same year that Burney published the first volume of his History of Music, appeared Sir John Hawkins' General History of the Science and Practice of Music, in 5 vols. 4to; but, although Hawkins' work had certain merits, the superior elegance and animation of Burney's style secured the favour of the public; and Hawkins' volumes have always been rather consulted by musical antiquaries, than read for instruction and amusement by professional musicians or amateurs. The Indices appended to Burney's History are so incomplete as to give great trouble in consulting his volumes. This is a serious defect in so large a work. From the two first volumes of Padre Martini's very learned Storia della Musica, Bologna, 1757-1770, Burney derived much aid.⁵ At the end of the fourth volume of his History of Music, Burney says: "I have at length arrived at the end of a work that has been thirty years in meditation, and more than twenty in writing and printing" (page 684). One cannot but admire Burney's persevering industry, and sacrifices of time, money, and personal comfort, in collecting and preparing materials for his History; and few will be disposed to condemn, too severely, errors and oversights in a work of such extent and difficulty. Dr T. Busby's History of Music (2 vols. 8vo, 1819), is a mere abridgment of Burney and Hawkins, written in a bombastic style. In 1779 he wrote, for the Royal Society,⁶ an account of the infant Crotch,⁷ whose remarkable musical talent excited so much attention at that time. In 1783, through the treasury influence of his friend Edmund Burke,⁸ he was appointed organist to the chapel of Chelsea Hospital, and removing thither with his family, resided there for the remainder of his days. In 1784 Burney published, with an Italian title-page, the music annually performed in the Pope's chapel at Rome during Passion week; a work which A. Choron republished at Paris in 1818. In 1785 he published, for the benefit of the Musical Fund, an account of the first commemoration of Handel in Westminster Abbey in the preceding year, with an excellent life of Handel, 1 vol. 4to. J. J. Eschenburg published a German translation of this at Berlin in 1785. In 1796 he published Memoirs and Letters of Metastasio, 3 vols. 8vo. Towards the close of his life, Burney contributed to the Rev. Dr Rees's Cyclopædia all the musical articles not belonging to Natural Philosophy and Mathematics. For these articles he received £1000; which seems a remarkable remunera-

tion, considering that most of his materials were merely transcribed from his own History of Music. He was made a member of the Institute of France, and nominated a correspondent in the class of the Fine Arts, in the year 1810.¹ He died at Chelsea College on the 12th of April 1814,² and was interred in the burying-ground of the college on the 20th of the same month. His funeral was attended by many persons of rank and talent. Burney had a wide circle of acquaintance among the distinguished artists and literary men of his day.³ At one time he thought of writing a life of his friend Dr Samuel Johnson; but retired before the crowd of biographers who rushed into that field. His character in private as well as public life, appears to have been very amiable and exemplary. Signor Serafino Lanzoni of Florence—a school-fellow and intimate friend of Cherubini, and who had long resided in London as a professional musician—told the writer of this article in 1818, that he had frequently met with Dr Burney at musical parties, and spoke highly of him as a man of pleasing and gentlemanly manners; but said that he was too fond of taking a part in singing, upon every occasion, for which he was not fitted by either ear or voice; adding, Stuonava da far crepare i sassi! But, like hundreds more, Burney may have been a very good player on the organ and harpsichord, without having a fine ear, or being able to sing in tune. Dr Burney's sons and daughters were all persons of talent. His eldest son, James, was a distinguished officer in the royal navy, and died a rear-admiral in 1821. He published several works of merit. Dr Burney's second son, the Rev. Charles Burney, D.D., was an eminent Greek scholar; and his second daughter, afterwards Madame D'Arblay, was a very successful novelist in her early life. Her Diary and Letters, already referred to, contain many minute and interesting particulars of her father's public and private life, and of his friends and contemporaries.

Besides the operatic music above mentioned, Burney's known compositions consist of, 1. Six Sonatas for the harpsichord; 2. Two Sonatas for the harp or piano, with accompaniments for violin and violoncello; 3. Sonatas for two violins and a bass; two sets; 4. Six Lessons for the harpsichord; 5. Six duets for two German Jutes; 6. Three concertos for the harpsichord; 7. Six concert pieces with an introduction and fugue for the organ; 8. Six Concertos for the violin, &c., in eight parts; 9. Two Sonatas for pianoforte, violin, and violoncello; 10. A Cantata, &c.; 11. Anthems, &c.; 12. XII. Canzonetti a due voci in Canone, paria dell' Abate Metastasio. (O. F. O.)