Born, at Shrewsbury, 12 April 1726. Educated at Free School, Chester. To Shrewsbury, to study music, 1741 [?]. Articled as pupil to Dr. Arne, 1744; with him in London, 1744–47. Taken under patronage of Fulke Greville, 1747. Taught and composed music. Married Esther Sleepe, 1749. Organist of St. Dionis, Backchurch, 1749. Mem. of Roy. Soc. of Musicians, 3 Dec. 1749. Organist of Lynn Regis, 1751–60. Returned to London, 1760. Wife died, 1761. Married (privately) Mrs. Stephen Allen, 1767. Mus. Doc. degree, Oxford, June 1769. Travelled on Continent, 1770 and 1772. F.R.S., 1773. Organist of Chelsea Hospital, 1783. Mem. of Literary Club, 1784. Contrib. to “Monthly Review,” 1790–93. Second wife died, Oct. 1796. Contrib. to Rees’s “Encyclopædia,” 1800–05. Crown pension granted, 1806. Foreign Member of Institut de France, 1810. Died, at Chelsea, 12 April 1814; buried in churchyard of Chelsea Hospital. Works: “Essay toward the History of the principal Comets, etc.” (anon.), 1769; “The Present State of Music in France and Italy,” 1771; “The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Provinces,” 1773; “History of Music,” vol. i., 1776; vol. ii., 1782; vols. iii., iv., 1789; “Account of an Infant Musician,” 1779; “An Account of the Musical Performances … in 1784 in Commemoration of Handel,” 1785; “Memoir of the Life and Writings of Metastasio” (3 vols.), 1796. Life: by his daughter Frances, 1832.

Personal

  I never met with any person who had more decided talents for conversation, eminently seasoned with wit and humour, and these talents were so at command that he could exert them at will. He was remarkable for some sprightly story or witty bon mot just when he quitted a company, which seemed as much as to say, “There now, I have given you a dose which you may work upon in my absence.” His society was greatly sought after by all classes, from the first nobility to the mere homme de lettres. He dressed expensively, always kept his carriage, and yet died worth about 15,000l, leaving a most capital library of curious books. His second wife was my wife’s sister.

  Where the life has been as private as that of Dr. Burney, its history must necessarily be simple, and can have little further call upon the attention of the world, than that which may belong to a wish of tracing the progress of a nearly abandoned child, from a small village of Shropshire, to a man allowed throughout Europe to have risen to the head of his profession; and thence, setting his profession aside, to have been elevated to an intellectual rank in society, as a man of letters. “Though not first in the very line” with most of the eminent men of his day, Dr. Johnson and Mr. Burke, soaring above any contemporary mark, always, like senior wranglers excepted. And this height, to which, by means and resources all his own, he arose, the genius that impelled him to fame, the integrity that established his character, and the amiability that magnetized all hearts,—in the phrase of Dr. Johnson,—to go forth to meet him, were the only materials with which he worked his way.

  His mind, though not very powerful or capacious, was restlessly active; and, in the intervals of his professional pursuits, he had contrived to lay up much miscellaneous information. His attainments, the suavity of his temper, and the gentle simplicity of his manners, had obtained for him ready admission to the first literary circles.

  His place in social life was unique, being due to what Dr. Johnson implied to be an almost unique blending of a happy temper of mind, an affectionate disposition, gentle and attractive manners (having dignity in reserve should it be needed), with a very active and versatile intellect, and considerable acquirements. The charm of character and of manners, the “vivacity and readiness of wit,” which made him the man of the eighteenth century who gained and kept the greatest number of friends, can now be brought before us only by the warmth of the praise of those friends; and of the love (rising to enthusiasm) of his children, to which the diaries that follow bear continuous testimony.

General

  He [Johnson], gave much praise to his friend, Dr. Burney’s elegant and entertaining “Travels,” and told Mr. Seward that he had them in his eye, when writing his “Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.”

  Dr. Burney’s “History” is one continuous misrepresentation of English music and musicians, only rendered plausible by misquotation of every kind…. Burney carries his depreciation of English authors systematically throughout his work…. It is sufficient for my present purpose to say that Dr. Burney’s “History” is written throughout in this strain. What with mistake, and what with misrepresentation, it can but mislead the reader as to English music or musicians; and from the slight search I have made into his early Italian authorities, I doubt whether even that portion is very reliable.

  Between the two rival histories, the public decision was loud and immediate in favour of Dr. Burney. Time has modified this opinion, and brought the merits of each work to their fair and proper level—adjudging to Burney the palm of style, arrangement, and amusing narrative, and to Hawkins the credit of minuter accuracy and deeper research, more particularly in parts interesting to the antiquary and the literary world in general.

  The work was from the outset very successful, and was generally pronounced superior to the similar undertaking of Sir John Hawkins…. Both works are of the highest value, and form the foundation of nearly every English work on musical history which has appeared since; but Burney’s is disfigured by the undue prominence he gives to the fashionable music of his own day, and the lack of appreciation he displays toward the compositions of the English schools of the preceding centuries.

  No list of his musical compositions is known to exist. His daughter admits that they were out of date even in her own day. No list of his many articles in the “Monthly Review,” and the Cyclopædia of Abraham Rees, has ever been compiled; his “Tours” are less read than they might well be, and his “History of Music” has, in the very course and progress of Music, been superseded. The repute of his reputation survives.