A System of Christian Doctrine

by David Cairns

Paperback

Published January 1, 1979

About the author

David Adam Cairns is a British journalist, non-fiction writer, and musician, widely regarded as a leading authority on Hector Berlioz. The son of neurosurgeon Sir Hugh Cairns, he co-founded the Chelsea Opera Group in 1950 with Stephen Gray, presenting Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Oxford under a young Colin Davis, with whom he later championed Berlioz’s works. Cairns served as classical programme coordinator for Philips Records (1967–1972), providing sleeve notes for Davis’s landmark Berlioz recordings. His English translation of Berlioz’s Mémoires was published in 1969. Cairns held prominent journalism roles, including music critic and arts editor for The Spectator and chief music critic of the Sunday Times (1983–1992), and contributed to the Evening Standard, Financial Times, and New Statesman. His two-volume biography of Berlioz—The Making of an Artist 1803–1832 (1989) and Servitude and Greatness 1832–1869 (1999)—received widespread acclaim and multiple awards. He founded the Thorington Players in 1983 and has written on composers including Mozart, emphasizing the emotional depth of their music. Cairns was appointed CBE (1997), elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (2001), and named Officier and later Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to French music.