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My blog was dormant for two months because I'm back in school, pursuinga masters in music at Tufts, which has left me with little time to seeshows or even blog. My first major paper was on a historic music textin one of Tufts' special collections, A General History of Musicby Charles Burney. It was one of the first two comprehensive historiesof music published in England. Burney released his first volume inJanuary, 1776 but didn't finish the four-volume series until 1789. Hisrival Sir John Hawkins released his history 10 months later in itsentirety. The rivalry was immediate and has persisted for 200 years.Hawkins's strength was in his coverage of ancient music, but that'sabout the only advantage he held. Burney's writing style wasaccessible, and the clear structure of the work made it a usefulresearch tool, whereas Hawkins's style was detached and the work is sodisorganized that it is difficult to find a particular subject withinthe text. While Hawkins intentionally excluded contemporary music,viewing it as worthless, Burney embraced it; it is largely because ofhis extensive coverage of his contemporaries that he is still citedtoday. Besides being an antiquarian, Hawkins was also a curmudgeon,while Burney's social skills allowed him to travel in more prestigiouscircles than his middle class background might have limited him to. Thestory has the makings of a great screenplay.
As I gingerly leafed through Burney's and Hawkins's books, it occurredto me that I doubt I've ever touched anything that old other than abuilding. And as I synthesized my research materials, I started to feelkinship with Burney. I have immersed myself in the world ofcontemporary music but struggle to make sense of music of the distantpast, and until now my knowledge of music history has been throughself-study and interaction with musicians. I'd like to think that mywriting is accessible, but I am humble enough to seriously doubt thatanyone will be quoting me 200 years from now.
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