Overview

"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 Drawing on a wealth of unpublished material, this biography (first published in 1965) tells the story of Burney's determined climb from humble origins to celebrity as a musicologist and musical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.