Charles Burney (1726-1814)
- Sonata VI for two violins with accompaniments, Op.1 (1748)
Performers: Ensemble BariAntiqua
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English musician, composer and music historian. His father, James
Macburney, was a dancer, violinist and portrait painter who dropped the
prefix from his surname about the time that Charles was born. Charles
and his twin sister Susanna, born to Macburney's second wife, were the
last of 20 children in the family. Before the age of eight he was sent
to Condover under the care of a nurse. He returned to Shrewsbury to
enrol in the Free School, and in 1739 rejoined his family in Chester,
where he entered Chester Free School as a King's Scholar. Here the early
introduction to music he had received at Condover was continued under
the direction of the organist of the cathedral, and he was soon able to
perform the services. His education and interest in music were
heightened by the many famous musicians who travelled through Chester on
their way to or from Ireland. In 1744 he became a protégé of Thomas
Arne, who provided further education leading to membership in the
Freemen of the Musicians Company in 1749. He directed and provided music
for several staged works, most significantly The Cunning Man, a
translation of Le devin du village by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In 1770 he
began a series of musical tours, first to Italy and France and in 1772
to Germany and Holland, which resulted in published diaries that are
significant descriptions of the music and musicians of the period. In
1776 he published his first volume of the General History of Music (two
other volumes followed in 1782 and 1789), which gained him prominence in
English society, as did his work as official chronicler of the Handel
Centenary Festival in 1785. Burney's Tours and the General History of
Music remain wellsprings of observation and insight into 18th-century
musical life and practice.
The History remains an impressive, if inconsistent, work of great value
even after more than 200 years of specialized scholarship. He wrote for a
specific audience and sought the help of his collaborators,
particularly Thomas Twinning (1735-1804) as much to assist him with the
literary and general interest aspects of his work as with its musical
content. By 1801 he had taken on additional work writing music articles
for Reese’s Encyclopedia. In 1806 he received a pension of £200 a year.
In 1810 he was appointed a Correspondant of the Institut de France
Classe des Beaux-Arts. During the final years of life Burney worked on
his memoirs, attempted to bring order to an immense correspondence and
spent time organizing his very extensive library. After his death, his
library was separated into three lots. The Miscellaneous Library and his
collection of music were sold at two separate auctions. His extensive
library of books on music was sold as he had wished, without being
separated, to the British Museum. In 1817 a monument to Burney was
erected in the North Choir Aisle of Westminster Abbey. Burney was known
during his lifetime and afterward as one of the first major historians
of music, though he also wrote on scientific matters such as astronomy.
Burney's compositions are competent and reflect his activities as a
performer, impresario and church musician. None has achieved lasting
fame, although the link to Rousseau's Le devin du village has attracted
attention to The Cunning Man. Late in life he described his own music as
negligible. His works include three operas, two odes, 12 canzonetts, 16
trio sonatas, 21 keyboard sonatas and other works, six violin duets,
and a number of songs, catches, and glees.
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