The English music historian
Charles Burney (1726-1814) was the author of the first history of music ever published In the English language. Sophie Coulombeau has been reading it and his letters and diaries.
A General History of Music, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Period was published in late January 1776, dedicated to Queen Charlotte, with a power list of 897 subscribers who had effectively crowd-funded this first history of music written in English. Charles Burney, the author, was born 7 April 1726. An apprentice to Thomas Arne, he was a fan of the Italian opera fashionable at George III's court, and his writings advocated for the professional musicians of his time.
Sophie Coulombeau is a Senior Lecturer at the University of York and her Essay looks at the writings of this man of letters, whose compositions have recently been recorded for the first time by the baroque musical ensemble Apollo’s Cabinet.
Producer: Luke Mulhall
On radio
Broadcast
- Thu 12 Mar 202621:45BBC Radio 3
Death in Trieste
A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.
Watch: My Deaf World
Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.
Podcast
![]()
The Essay
Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.
