Charles Burney

Charles Burney 1726-1814, English music historian, composer, and organist. His General History of Music (1776-89; 2d ed. 1935) was one of the first important music histories in English. He wrote The Present State of Music in France and Italy (1771) and The Present State of Music in Germany (1773). They were published together as Dr. Burney's Musical Tours in Europe (1959). The work describes European society, life, and customs as well as music and important musicians. His daughter, Fanny Burney , compiled his memoirs (1832).

Bibliography: See biographies by P. A. Scholes (1848) and R. H. Lonsdale (1965).

Burney, Charles (b Shrewsbury, 1726; d London, 1814). Eng. organist (London churches, King's Lynn, finally Chelsea Hospital); minor composer; author of History of Music (4 vols., 1776–89), of 2 books narrating his travel experiences in Fr., It., Ger., etc., also of a life of Metastasio. Friend of and greatly esteemed by Johnson, Garrick, Reynolds, Burke, and other leaders of politics, science, art, literature, and social life of his period. Haydn, on his two visits to London, spent much time with him. Father of the novelists Fanny and Sarah Harriet Burney, of the writer on South Sea exploration, Rear-Admiral James Burney (one of Cook's officers in his circumnavigation), and of the Gr. scholar, Charles Burney, jun.