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My blog was dormant for two months because I'm back in school, pursuing
a masters in music at Tufts, which has left me with little time to see
shows or even blog. My first major paper was on a historic music text
in one of Tufts' special collections,
A General History of Music
by Charles Burney. It was one of the first two comprehensive histories
of music published in England. Burney released his first volume in
January, 1776 but didn't finish the four-volume series until 1789. His
rival Sir John Hawkins released his history 10 months later in its
entirety. The rivalry was immediate and has persisted for 200 years.
Hawkins's strength was in his coverage of ancient music, but that's
about the only advantage he held. Burney's writing style was
accessible, and the clear structure of the work made it a useful
research tool, whereas Hawkins's style was detached and the work is so
disorganized that it is difficult to find a particular subject within
the text. While Hawkins intentionally excluded contemporary music,
viewing it as worthless, Burney embraced it; it is largely because of
his extensive coverage of his contemporaries that he is still cited
today. Besides being an antiquarian, Hawkins was also a curmudgeon,
while Burney's social skills allowed him to travel in more prestigious
circles than his middle class background might have limited him to. The
story has the makings of a great screenplay.
As I gingerly leafed through Burney's and Hawkins's books, it occurred
to me that I doubt I've ever touched anything that old other than a
building. And as I synthesized my research materials, I started to feel
kinship with Burney. I have immersed myself in the world of
contemporary music but struggle to make sense of music of the distant
past, and until now my knowledge of music history has been through
self-study and interaction with musicians. I'd like to think that my
writing is accessible, but I am humble enough to seriously doubt that
anyone will be quoting me 200 years from now.
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