Enlarge Image
BURNEY - PERIOD NOTE & PORTRAIT
Ensemble with Period Note about Burney and Fine Portrait.
n.d. Total size in mat: 20" h x 16" w. Total size of ALS: c. 7" h x 4.25" w. In very good condition. Note has a small tear at bottom. Additional manuscript note in pencil (Dr. Burney). Portrait in excellent condition (trimmed at bottom).A wonderful period note from an unknown correspondent about Dr. Charles Burney (1726-1814), the prominent English music historian, composer, and musician: Many thanks for the Musick, it is magnificent, and the King much pleased with it. Doctor Burney need never fear to send me any of his Compositions, as Musick, Poetry, or Prose, as I am sure he is always good, and chaste in his choice.
Matted with an original engraved 1784 portrait by Francesco Bartolezzi after the oil by Joshua Reynolds.
We believe this note to have been written to the Master of the King's Music, but it is not clear who held the position at the time because the note is undated.
Burney studied with Dr. Thomas Arne (composer of "Rule Britannia") and was the father of the writers Frances and Sarah Burney. His primary work was the four-volume History of Music, which was generally well received. The fourth volume covers the birth and development of opera and the musical scene in England in Burney's time.
ALS-16207$850