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Identity statement

Reference code(s)

GB0100 KCLCA Burney

Title

BURNEY, Charles (1726-1814)

Date(s)

1797-1798

Level of description

Collection (fonds)

Extent and medium of the unit of description (quantity, bulk, or size)

2 letters

Context

Name of creator(s)

Burney, Charles, 1726-1814, musician and author

Administrative / Biographical history

Born 1726 in Shrewsbury; educated at Chester free school; studied music under his half-brother, James Burney, 1742-1744, and the composer, Thomas Arne in London, 1744-1748; contributed music to The Masque of Alfred by James Thomson, 1745; published six sonatas for two violins and a bass, 1747; patronised by the MP and diplomat, Fulke Greville after meeting in 1747; appointed organist of St Dionis Backchurch, 1749; elected member of the Royal Society of Musicians, 1749; provided the music to Robin Hood by Moses Mendes, Drury Lane, 1750 and the pantomime of Queen Mab, 1750; following a serious illness took the post of organist at Lyme Regis, 1751-1760; returned to London, 1760; taught music and adapted Jean Rousseau's opera Le Devin de Village, produced as The Cunning Man , Drury Lane, 1766; took the degree of Mus. Doc., Oxford, 1769; also interested in astronomy, publishing An essay towards a history of the principal comets (London, 1769); toured France, Switzerland and Italy in 1770, and Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in 1772 in order to research A General History of Music, 4 vols (London, 1776-1789); elected a fellow of the Royal Society, 1773; began to collect material for his 'Memoirs' (unpublished, but partly incorporated by his daughter in his biography, published 1832), 1782-[1814]; appointed organist at Chelsea Hospital, 1783; member of the Literary Club, 1784; contributed criticisms to the Monthly Review , [1789]-1793; wrote Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Abate Metastasio, 3 vols (G G and J Robinson, London, 1796); collected material for a 'Dictionary of Music' (uncompleted), 1797-1802; wrote musical biographies for Rees' Encyclopaedia , 1801-[1807]; died 1814 in Chelsea.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Letters presented to King's College London by Professor Reginald Pepys Winnington-Ingram.

Content & structure

Scope and content

Two letters addressed to 'Mrs Chambers', 3 Nov 1797, 19 Jan 1798, concerned with works on composition.

System of arrangement

2 letters

Conditions of access & use

Conditions governing access

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Director of Archive Services, King's College London.

Language/scripts of material

English

Allied materials

Existence and location of originals

King's College London College Archives

Related units of description

Correspondence and papers, held at Yale University Libraries, Beinecke Library, USA; personal and family papers, c.1770-c.1850, held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections (ref: Egerton MSS 3690-3708); correspondence and music manuscripts, 1765-1801, held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections(ref: Microfilms M 440, 490-1); papers relating to his Dictionary of Music, 1797-1802, (ref: Add MSS 27651-86); extracts from various early musical writers with remarks and criticisms, held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections (ref: Location Register of English Literary MSS 18-19th cent 1995 Add MSS 11581-11591); part of autobiography, held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections (ref: Add MSS 48345); notebook, 1777, held at Manchester University, John Rylands Library (ref: Eng MS 648); journal of tour in France and Italy, 1770, held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections (ref: Add MS 35122); poems, held at Manchester University, John Rylands Library (ref: Location Register of English Literary MSS 18-19th cent 1995 English MS.545/1-16a); letters to Sir William Herschel, 1797-1799, held at the Royal Astronomical Society Library (ref: Location Register of English Literary MSS 18-19th cent 1995 English MSS 18-19th cent 1995 13.B.173-180); letters to 1st Earl of Lonsdale, 1804-1814, held at Cumbria Record Office, Carlisle, (ref: D/LONS); letters to Edmund Malone, 1802-1810, held at Oxford University, Bodleian Library, (ref: MS Malone 38); letters to Lord Sandwich, 1784-1785, held at the National Maritime Museum, (ref:MS 91/018); letters to Mrs Thrale etc, 1777-1810, held at Manchester University, John Rylands Library (ref: Eng MS 545); letters from Hester Lynch Thrale (copies), 1778-1784, held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections (ref: Location Register of English Literary MSS 18-19th cent 1995 M/440); correspondence with the Twining family, held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections (ref: Add MSS 39929-36); letters to Arthur Young, 1773-1808, held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections (ref: Location Register of English Literary MSS 18-19th cent 1995 Add MSS 35126-35130 passim); letters, 1799-1807, held at the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office (ref: WRO 9/35/115).

Publication note

The letters were published in the Journal of the Warburg and Courthauld Institutes, Vol 3 (1939-1940) in an article 'Two unknown letters of Charles Burney' by R Muller-Hartmann; daughter's biography 1832

Description control

Rules or conventions

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

This catalogue is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License. This catalogue may be updated from time to time in order to reflect additional material and/or new understandings of the material.

Date(s) of descriptions

March 2000