Burney, DR CHARLES

Burney, DR CHARLES, musician and author, was born in 1726 at Shrewsbury, and having studied music there, at Chester, and under Dr Arne in London, he commenced giving lessons in music himself. After composing three pieces—Alfred, Robin Hood, and Queen Mab—for Drury Lane (1745–50), he settled as organist at Lynn, in Norfolk (1751–60), where he planned his work on the History of Music. In 1770–72 he travelled in France, Italy, Germany, and Austria, collecting materials for that work, which appeared in 4 vols. (1776–89). Beside minor works, and accounts of his two tours, Burney wrote a Life of Metastasio, and nearly all the musical articles in Rees's Cyclopaedia. In 1783 he became organist to Chelsea Hospital, where he died 12th April 1814. He knew intimately many of the most eminent men of the day, including Edmund Burke, Dr Johnson, Reynolds, and Garrick. See the Life (1832) by his famous daughter Fanny, Madame D'Arblay (q.v.).—His son, CHARLES BURNEY, D.D. (1757–1817), was a schoolmaster and classical critic. His fine library was purchased for the British Museum for £13,500.