McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
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H3A 0C9
Letter from Charles Burney, 26 March 1808
Item
2 leaves ; 22 x 18.5 cm
Charles Burney was an organist and music historian born on April 7, 1726, in Shrewsbury, England. He studied music and was first apprenticed as an assistant to his half-brother James, who worked at St. Mary's Church, Shrewsury, as an organist. In 1744, Charles became apprenticed to composer Thomas Arne and in 1746 was employed as a musician by Fulke Greville until his marriage to Esther Sleepe (approximately 1725-1762) in 1749. After his marriage, Burney worked as an organist and music instructor. Esther Burney died in 1762 and Charles Burney married Elizabeth Allen (1728-1796) in 1767, with whom he had two children. Burney recieved a DMus from Oxford University in 1769 after which he left on a musical tour of the European continent. As a music historian, he published numerous volumes throughout the 1770s and 1780s on European music. He suffered from ill health beginning in the 1790s and experienced a stroke that paralysed one hand in 1807. He died in 1814 in Chelsea.
Consists of autograph letter from Charles Burney to Lady Banks, dated 26 March 1808 and written from Chelsea College. The letter is written in brown ink and has remains of wax seal. The letter contains in particular lengthy discussion of the Italian Ariettes of Vincenzo Righini, printed in English in 1791 and muses upon how they managed to arrive in England, their merits, and the poetry of Dryden, Gray, and Pope. Also mentions the music of an "Italianized German of the name of Pfeiffer."
Purchased from Abebooks, November 2019.