The Susan Burney Letters Project

About the Project: Project Rationale

The research context and value of the letters: Susan Burney was the musically most knowledgeable of Charles Burney's children.. As a gifted amateur pianist, regular visitor to the opera and concerts in London, and keen patron of private musical gatherings in the country, she provides a uniquely informed account of musical culture in London and the provinces during the late 18th century. Her letters from the period before her marriage include not only detailed critical appraisals of performances but also extended descriptions of rehearsals and informal gathering of musicians at her own and her father's home. Moreover, like her father, she cultivated close personal friendships with many musicians, including the castrato Gasparo Pacchierotti and the violinist Johann Peter Salomon. Her notes on musical activities outside the public sphere provide essential information on the links between amateur and professional musicians and between patrons and artists, which otherwise remain only scantily documented.

Her letters and letter-journals also supply vivid accounts of the family's social interactions with London's literati, artists, and members of the upper class, many of whom were amongst their close friends and acquaintances: among them Samuel Johnson, Joshua Reynolds, the Thrales, and Lord Mount-Edgcumbe. As a keen observer of cultural and political events, she also provides a valuable personal chronicle of some of the major political events of the period. Her letters include an especially gripping account of the Gordon Riots (when her father's property was directly threatened), and comments on the possibility of a Spanish and French invasion in 1779, the relief of Gibraltar in 1782, and the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

Susan Burney's letters and letter-journals provide valuable insights into the social status and occupations of an educated woman. They include much information on social etiquette, the rearing and education of children, and childhood illnesses. As such, she is an important chronicler of social and private life in late 18th-century England, and her letters and letter-journals are of interest and relevance to social historians and women's historians of the period.

Her letters and letter-journals also provide notable insights into the private and professional lives of other members of the Burney family, notably Susan's father Charles and her sister Frances. Their publication will thus complement existing and forthcoming editions of the letters and journals of Frances Burney and of the letters of Charles Burney, and will be of interest and relevance to those engaged in studies of the history of music in England and of English literature in the late eighteenth century English literature in the late eighteenth century, and in particular the works of Frances Burney.

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