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Dr. Charles Burney: A Literary Biography
"A beautifully organized work of scholarship, a book of exceptional learning and sympathy."-- Times Literary Supplement . "Rarely does one find a new biography which merits such wholehearted praise--for thorough research using large masses of new information, for skillful use of evidence, and for a smooth, entertaining style.... One of the outstanding literary lives of our period."-- Johnsonian Newsletter (Columbia University). Since his death in 1814, Charles Burney's long and remarkable career has usually been seen in the terms dictated by his idealizing daughter Fanny. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished material, this biography (first published in 1965) tells the story of Burney's determined climb from humble origins to celebrity as a musicologist and musical traveler, as a member of the Johnsonian circle, and as the head of an unusually talented family. This intimate study of one of the most engaging and energetic men of his age throws new light on his literary and musical
career and on his acquaintance with such luminaries as Handel, Garrick, Johnson, Rousseau, and Haydn.
career and on his acquaintance with such luminaries as Handel, Garrick, Johnson, Rousseau, and Haydn.
544 pages, Paperback
First published August 28, 1986
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January 3, 2022
I confess to having read only parts of this book, which I was dipping into in order to get more information about Dr. Burney’s interactions with his daughter Fanny, the novelist, at certain points in their lives. I probably read about a third of it, all told. So my comments should be taken with a grain of salt.
Although this is described as “a literary biography,” it didn’t seem to have a terribly consistent vision or strategy. Some lengthy passages were about Dr. Burney’s writings, it is true, but more covered moments of his social life and milieu. His biography was sketched in but too slight and patchy to satisfy my needs, and the author got rather bogged down at times in detailing his progress on some of Burney’s works, especially the History of Music and his disputes with friends and rivals. Discussion of this work in particular covered a lot of pages without ever getting deeply into its contents; the narrator seemed to be more interested in Burney’s process while writing than in what he wrote.
Burney is a difficult subject because much that is “known” about his life stems from an unreliable source, the so-called memoir compiled and edited by his daughter after his death. She had access to extensive family resources for her work but made an inappropriate use of them, by modern standards at least—she was more concerned with creating a pretty myth about her father’s life than with painting an accurate portrait. So a modern biographer is on shaky ground, as Lonsdale was well aware. That said, I wish Lonsdale had been able to do more original research for this book, such as visiting sites where Dr. Burney lived, especially Chelsea College, and describing his life there more fully.
Although this is described as “a literary biography,” it didn’t seem to have a terribly consistent vision or strategy. Some lengthy passages were about Dr. Burney’s writings, it is true, but more covered moments of his social life and milieu. His biography was sketched in but too slight and patchy to satisfy my needs, and the author got rather bogged down at times in detailing his progress on some of Burney’s works, especially the History of Music and his disputes with friends and rivals. Discussion of this work in particular covered a lot of pages without ever getting deeply into its contents; the narrator seemed to be more interested in Burney’s process while writing than in what he wrote.
Burney is a difficult subject because much that is “known” about his life stems from an unreliable source, the so-called memoir compiled and edited by his daughter after his death. She had access to extensive family resources for her work but made an inappropriate use of them, by modern standards at least—she was more concerned with creating a pretty myth about her father’s life than with painting an accurate portrait. So a modern biographer is on shaky ground, as Lonsdale was well aware. That said, I wish Lonsdale had been able to do more original research for this book, such as visiting sites where Dr. Burney lived, especially Chelsea College, and describing his life there more fully.
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