A History of Music, Volumes 2-4, is a collection of historical analyses written in the eighteenth century by Charles Burney. These writings detail how an eighteenth century musicologist would interpret and describe history.
One of the more interesting items in the Riemenschneider Bach Institute (RBI) is A History of Music Vols. 2-4 by Charles Burney. This collection was written and self-published by Burney. The RBI acquired these items from Hans Theodore David, a German-American musicologist. This multi-volume anthology provides an analysis of the progression of Western music starting in the Medieval period up to the author’s present time of the late eighteenth century. Volume I was published in 1776, Volume II in 1782, and Volumes III and IV in 1789. The anthology shows what an eighteenth-century musicologist would have thought was relevant to include in an historical text.