A General History of Music
From the Earliest Ages to the Present Period

Burney's most famous work, based on research during two European tours, providing valuable insight into musical tastes of the time.

Charles Burney (Author)

9781108016421, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2010

712 pages
29.7 x 21 x 3.6 cm, 1.68 kg

Charles Burney (1726–1814), was the foremost music historian of his day. The General History, his most famous work, was published in four volumes between 1776 and 1789 and is still of great value today. Burney wanted to write something which would appeal to and inform the musician and the general reader. Research for the History was undertaken during two European tours, in 1770 and 1772, consulting original sources and meeting the great musicians of the time. The resultant work is engaging and elegantly written, offering the reader a fascinating view not only of Burney's own musical preferences and enthusiasms, but also a reflection of contemporary fashionable taste. All four volumes contain generous musical examples, quotations from original sources and an index. The fourth volume, published 1789, is an account of the birth and development of opera and the contemporary music scene in England.

Essay on the euphony, or sweetness of languages, and their fitness for music
1. Of the invention of recitative, and establishment of the musical drama, or opera, in Italy
2. Rise and progress of the sacred musical drama, or oratorio
3. Of the opera buffa, or comic-opera, and intermezzi, or musical interludes, during the seventeenth century
4. Of cantatas, or narrative chamber music
5. Attempts at dramatic music in England, previous to the establishment of the Italian opera there
6. Origin of the Italian opera in England, and its progress there during the present century
7. Progress of the musical drama at Venice, during the present century
8. Progress of the musical drama at Naples, and account of the eminent composers and school of counterpoint in that city
9. Opera composers employed at Rome, and tracts published in Italy on the theory and practice of music, during the present century
10. Of the progress of music in Germany, during the present century
11. Of the music of France, during the present century
12. General state of music in England at our national theatres, public gardens, and concerts, during the present century
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Music [AV]