My Musical Life

This 1884 memoir of nineteenth-century musical performance includes Haweis' views on the philosophy and history of music.

H. R. Haweis (Author)

9781108038652, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 October 2011

720 pages, 7 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 4 cm, 0.9 kg

Hugh Reginald Haweis (1838–1901) was a clergyman and writer. Published in 1884, this memoir deals with one of his great interests: music. He was a proficient violinist, and his musical writings included books on church bell-ringing, violins, and the best-selling Music and Morals (also reissued in this series), which had reached its sixteenth edition by his death. As curate of St James, Westmoreland Street, he used musical events as a way of turning an empty church into a fashionable one. He acted as music critic for Truth and the Pall Mall Gazette, in addition to lecturing and writing on religious subjects. The book recounts a lifetime of making and enjoying music, and conveys Haweis' emotional response to music from an early age. It is a record of nineteenth-century musical performances and changing tastes, which also demonstrates Haweis' belief in the reforming influence of music on morals and society.

Prelude
Book I. Early Days: 1. Norwood and London. 1846–60
2. Brighton and the Isle of Wight. 1850–6
3. Cambridge. 1856–9
4. Italy. 1860
5. Bethnal Green and Westminster. 1861–4
Book II. By the Golden Sea: 1. Interlude on recurrent ideas
2. The rationale of music
3. Interlude of sense channels
4. Hearing music
Book III. Cremona: 1. Interlude of a night at the Royal Institution
2. Old violins
3. Interlude on a certain loan collection
4. A South Kensington dream
5. Interlude on the oblivion of great men
6. Stradivarius of Cremona - his house
7. Interlude on some old violin players
Book IV. The Music of the Future: 1. Interlude on the title of the fourth book
2. Wagner
3. Interlude on the last crown
4. Parsifal
5. Interlude on Bayreuth City
6. The Nibelung's Ring
7. Interlude on Tannhäuser and Lohengrin
8. Tannhäuser
9. Lohengrin
10. Interlude on phenomenal players
11. Liszt
Postlude.

Subject Areas: Music [AV]