Afternoon seminar

Charles Burney and 18th-century Musical Journeys

Annette Richards, UK/USA

Between 1770 and 1772 Charles Burney, the English music historian and musician, conducted two lengthy tours of Europe to gather materials for his great project to write a History of Music. His journeys took him to all the major, and many minor, musical centres on the Continent, where he inspected organs, explored libraries, attended the opera, and heard as much music as he possibly could. Burney met everyone on the contemporary musical scene, and recorded his observations in diaries that were quickly published as The Present State of Music in France and Italy (and, in a second volume, in the Netherlands and Germany).

This seminar explores the European musical landscape of the 18th century as it emerges from Burney’s travels, introducing this extraordinary resource for the musician and music scholar today. As we reflect on the idea of the musical journey, we will hear Burney’s words, as well as some of the music he listened to, touching, too, on the remarkable travel diaries of the organ builder Johann Andreas Silbermann, and ending with Burney’s famous encounter in Hamburg with C. P. E. Bach.

Annette Richards and Ulrika Davidsson

Road Trips: 18th-century musical travel

Edoardo Bellotti

Music on the slopes of Vesuvius: Burney in Naples

Paul Peeters

443 ¼ hours on the road: Johann Andreas Silbermann’s journey to Saxony in 1741

Joel Speerstra

Jan Ling, in the footsteps of Charles Burney

Joel Speerstra, Annette Richards, Ulrika Davidsson

Portraits, conversation, and the Silbermann clavichord: Burney in Hamburg