Charles Burney

Charles Burney ( born April 7, 1726 Shrewsbury, Shropshire, † April 12, 1814 in Chelsea ( London) ) was an English music historian, composer and organist.

Life

Burney's father was a portrait painter. The young Charles received his education first in Shrewsbury and then came to the Public School in Chester. There was Edmund Baker, organist of the Cathedral and pupil of John Blow, his music teacher. Returned to Shrewsbury, put the 15 -year-old Burney his music studies for 3 years with his half- brother, James Burney ( organist at St. Mary's Church ) continued, and was then 1744-1746 student of Thomas Arne in London. During this time he also worked as a violin and viola player in Handel's orchestra.

1745 Burney contributed music for Thomson's Alfred at, which was performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, appeared in 1748 with the 6 Sonatas for 2 Violins and Continuo his first works in print. 1749, he was appointed organist of St. Dionis Back - Church, Fenchurch Street, coupled with an annual salary of £ 30 In the same year he married Esther Sleepe, but died in 1761. In 1769 he married Elizabeth Allen, a widow with three children.

For health reasons, moved Burney in 1751 to King's Lynn in Norfolk, where he again as an organist, now with an annual salary of £ 100, lived for nine years. During this time matured his plan to write a basic history of music. 1759 listed his Ode for St Cecilia 's Day in Ranelagh Gardens; In 1760 he moved with his young family in good health back to London. His first eight years of eldest daughter Esther ( Hetty ) was admired as a gifted harpsichordist. The harpsichord concertos, the Burney published soon after his return to London, were well received. In 1766 he brought the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, a translation and adaptation of the operetta Le Devin du village of Jean -Jacques Rousseau under the title The Cunning Man to the performance.

The University of Oxford awarded Burney on June 23, 1769 the degree of Doctor of Music, with a Anthem ( Psalm 18 ) Burney came to the performance ( this work led 1773 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in Germany ). 1769 Burney published An Essay towards a History of Comets.

Despite his various professional activities Burney did not lose the plan for a History of Music from the eyes and left London in June 1770 equipped with numerous letters of recommendation, and traveled from Paris to Geneva, Turin, Milan, Padua, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Rome and Naples. In December 1771, he met with Denis Diderot in his apartment in the rue Taranne in Paris, probably he also met Anton Bemetzrieder, whose musical training workshop, the Leçons de clavecin, et Principes d'Harmonie in 1771, he admired. His descriptions were published in 1771 as The Present State of Music in France and Italy.

In July 1772 Burney traveled for further research again the European continent. 1773 this trip report was published under the title The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and United Provinces. Burney's first tour was translated into German by Ebeling, and printed in 1772 in Hamburg, the second trip in translation by Bode in 1773 appeared also in Hamburg. A Dutch translation of the second voyage was published in 1786. Dissertation on the Music of the Ancients from the first volume of Burney's History of Music was printed in German translation by Johann Joachim Eschenburg 1781 in Leipzig. Burney's travelogues, in which he, inter alia, reports of personal encounters with many important musicians such as Wolfgang and Leopold Mozart, Gluck and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, are also for modern music history is of great importance.

1776 appeared the first volume of his A General History of Music, followed by 1782, the second band. The volumes 3 and 4, the work was completed in 1789. Despite also critical voices, such as by Forkel in Germany ( the Burney's observance of the mentioned by itinerant musicians and minstrels music criticized ), was the History of Music received mostly approvingly, and is by Hawkins the most significant music history in the English language when they overtook today historically conditioned misperceptions contains.

1774 Burney published A Plan for a Music School. In 1779 he wrote a report on the young William Crotch, who was then attracted great attention as a musical prodigy for the Royal Society. In 1785 he published a report to commemorate George Frideric Handel with an excellent biographical representation. In 1796 he published Memoirs and Letters of Metastasio.

Towards the end of his life Burney was awarded £ 1,000 for his musical from 1802 written articles in Rees 's Cyclopaedia. 1783 Burney was appointed organist at the College in Chelsea, and moved from St. Martin 's Street, Leicester Square to get there. He was a member of the Institute Française, and from 1806 until his death he received a state pension of £ 300 He died at Chelsea College and was buried in the local cemetery. In Westminster Abbey a plaque to commemorate him.

Burney's famous portrait was painted by Reynolds in 1781 for Henry Thrales library. 1805 was followed by a bust of the English sculptor Joseph Nollekens. Burney was acquainted with many prominent artists and writers of his time, and wore himself temporarily with the idea of writing a biography of his friend Samuel Johnson.

Burney's eldest son James was an officer of the Royal Navy and died as a Rear Admiral in 1821; his second son Charles Burney was a scholar and clergyman, and his second daughter Frances ( Fanny ), a novelist, Madame D' Arblay later. Her diaries and letters contain numerous insights into the public and private life of her father and his friends and contemporaries. A Biography of Fanny Burney Burney appeared in 1832.

Writings

  • An Essay towards a History of the Principal Comets, London 1769, Becket & De Hondt, published anonymously.
  • The Present State of Music in France and Italy, London 1771, Becket, 2teA 1773, Becket, inter alia, Carl Burney 's music Doctors Diary of a musical journey through France and Italy, German by Christoph Daniel Ebeling, Hamburg 1772, Bode
  • Carl Burney 's music Doctors diary of his musical travels, 2nd and 3rd Bd, Johann Joachim Christoph Bode of German, Hamburg 1773
  • The complete work has been translated by W. le Met into Dutch, Groningen, 1786, and by Giossi into French, Genoa 1809-10,
  • Dr. Charles Burney's message from Georg Friedrich Handel's life circumstances, and the extent to London hired in May and June 1784 Gedächtnissfeyer, German of JJ Eschenburg, Berlin and Stettin 1785, Ms. Nicolai

Compositions

In addition to opera compositions following chamber and vocal music:

  • 6 Trio Sonatas for two violins and continuo (1748 )
  • 6 Duets for 2 violins or flutes ( 1754)
  • 6 Trio Sonatas for 2 Violins and Bass (1759 )
  • 6 concerts in 7 parts for 4 violins, tenor, cello and double bass ( 1760 )
  • 2 Lessons for Harpsichord ( 1761)
  • 2 Sonatas for Harpsichord or Piano, with accompaniment by violin and cello ( 1770 )
  • 6 Preludes, Fugues and Interludes for Organ ( to 1787)
  • XII. Canzonetti a due voci in Canone, poesia deli ' Abate Metastasio (1790)
  • 3 Cembalokonzerte
  • 6 Harpsichord Sonatas
  • 2 Sonatas for Piano, Violin and Cello
  • Anthems, vocal pieces, etc.
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