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• Personalities
• Classical
• Classical Era
• Theorist
• Writer

1726–1814 English music theorist and writer Burney was undoubtedly the most important English writer on music of his time. The theorist was born in Shrewsbury and brought up in Chester. There he met Arne, to whom he was apprenticed. Later he took posts as organist and worked in the London theatres. In the 1770s he made two long journeys through ...

• Personalities
• Classical Era
• Opera

at the Haymarket, London, in parts previously sung by women, including Goffredo in Handel’s Rinaldo. However, Bernacchi was not popular with English audiences; the writer Charles Burney thought his singing ‘artificial’. Bernucchi performed for the Elector of Bavaria in Munich between 1720 and 1735. During this period, he won a singing contest in 1727 with the ...

• Personalities
• Classical Era
• Opera

In 1741, he began writing operas for London, including Scipione in Cartagine (‘Scipio (Africanus) in Carthage’, 1742) and Sirbace (1743), which were regularly performed in subsequent years. Fanny Burney (1752–1840), the diarist and novelist, believed that, of all Italian composers, Galuppi had the most influence on English music. After returning to Venice in 1743, Galuppi ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Instrumentalist
• Late Baroque

In 1732 he published six concerti grossi of his own (op. 2) and in the following year his finest collection (op. 3), which in the opinion of music historian Charles Burney (1726–1814) ‘placed him at the head of all masters then living, in this species of composition’. A further set was issued in 1746 (op. 7). A staged pantomime called ...

• Personalities
• Classical Era
• Opera

, and created the title roles in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and Telemaco. In later years, Guadagni performed in Munich and Potsdam before retiring to Padua in 1776. Charles Burney was a great admirer of Guadagni, praising him as an actor ‘without equal’ on stage and as an ‘impassioned and exquisite’ singer. Introduction | Classical Era | Opera Personalities ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Classical Era
• Composer
• Theorist

,000 letters survive); J. C. Bach, Grétry, Jommelli and Mozart are among those who had lessons with him. He was revered as the ultimate arbiter on matters musical. Burney wrote that, ‘upon so short an acquaintance, I never liked any man more; and I felt as little reserve with him after a few hours’ conversation, as ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Classical Era
• Composer
• Singer

, especially in Naples, Venice and above all Vienna. Metastasio favoured him above all others who set his librettos; a graceful and polished melodist, he was called by Burney ‘the most natural, elegant, and judicious composer of vocal music, as well as the most voluminous’. In his late years he chiefly wrote sacred music. Recommended Recording: ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Classical Era
• Composer

, the most profound knowledge of composition.’ Haydn may even have been a little overawed at Mozart’s genius. In London, in the presence of the English music historian Burney, he remarked: ‘I have often been flattered by my friends that I have some genius; but he was much my superior.’ Haydn was grief-stricken at Mozart’s premature death ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Classical Era
• Composer

antiquarian and produced an important edition of English Cathedral Music (1760–73). Recommended Recording: Symphonies, English Concert (dir) Trevor Pinnock (Archiv) Introduction | Classical Era | Classical Personalities | Charles Burney | Classical Era | Classical ...

• Performance
• Classical
• Classical Era

Carl Theodor appointed Johann Stamitz (1717–57) leader of the orchestra in the 1740s and director in 1750. Stamitz assembled an orchestra of unprecedented skill, many of them composers; Charles Burney (1726–1814) called them ‘an army of generals, equally fit to plan a battle as to fight it’. They developed a new style of orchestration – arising directly out of ...

• Inside the Music
• Classical
• Classical Era

for an informed public began to flourish. There were historians, such as Padre Martini in Italy, La Borde in France, Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg in Germany and Charles Burney in England; there were lexi­cographers; and there were theorists, eager to codify compositional practices. There were also pedagogical writers, explaining performance techniques for the benefit of students and ...