The music articles in the Rees's Cyclopaedia were written by Charles Burney (1726–1814), with additional material by John Farey Sr (1766–1826), and John Farey Jr (1791–1851).The Cyclopædia was illustrated using 53 plates as well as a numerous examples of music typset within the articles.
The general musical articles list all those that are not biographical, which form a separate list. They were written mostly by Charles Burney. Others on the scientific basis of music were by John Farey Sr, and technical descriptions of some musical instruments were given by his son.
It had been Burney's intention to write a Dictionary of Music, but for various reasons he never did so.Lonsdale, Roger, "Dr Burney's 'Dictionary of Music" ',Musicology Australia, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 159–171, 1979 In 1801 when he was aged 75 he was offered the chance of writing music articles in Rees's Cyclopaedia, and this occupied him to around 1805 or '06. His fee was £1000. Burney's brief was to 'include definitions in all the languages of Europe where Music has been much cultivated, with its history, biography, Criticism and discussions'Quoted by Lonsdale, Roger, Dr Charles Burney: a Literary Biography, OUP 1965, pp 412
The articles contain an enormous amount of musical information, much of which being augmented versions of what he had already published in his earlier writings Mercer, Frank, ed. Charles Burney, A General History of Music, 2 vol. 1935, rep 1957 [Originally published in 4 volumes, 1776–1789]; and Scholes, P. A., Dr Burney's Musical Tours in Europe, 2 vol, OUP 1959, [France and Italy, and later Germany, 1+2 vol, 1771 and 1773]; as well as the Commemoration of Handel, 1785 and his Musical Memoirs of Metastasio, 1796 In addition, he took the opportunity to add new topics covering the years of the last quarter of the eighteenth century and much of the first decade of the nineteenth, in particular the London musical scene. In all he wrote 996 general articles. While the majority of the articles have some length, a good proportion are brief (3 or 4 lines or fewer), dictionary definitions, or cross references. Many of the former are terms derived from French and Italian. The encyclopaedic-length articles (as distinct from the dictionary-length articles) are usually longer than Burney's earlier published writings on the same topic.
Dr Percy Scholes cites a statement by Dr Rees from Preface to the Cyclopaedia that he had 'constantly interpolated his own additions to the articles of his specialists'. and quotes a passage from the article about Dance (Vol 11) describing 'in our own memory', Welsh church-goers being played out of church by a fiddle.Scholes, P. A.,The Puritans and Early Music in England and New England, OUP, 1934, p77
John Farey, sr was by profession a geologist, but was greatly interested music.Jamie Croy Kassler, The Science of Music in Britain, 1714–1830, Garland Publishing, Inc, New York & London, 1979, vol 1, pp 329–343 He was involved with the Choral Fund,Established in 1791 by Samuel Arnold to assist poor musicians. Farey was the first Secretary and Librarian. the Cecilian SocietyA group founded in 1785 which sang mainly oratorios. The newspapers of the period carried frequent advertisements of their performances. and the Surrey Chapel Society, and also sang in oratorios in Drury Lane Theatre. He was particularly interested in the mathematics of music and temperament, and wrote all the 215 scientific articles on these topics for Rees. Farey's investigations of temperament involved discussing (and criticising) the various schemes in use then. He described them in a series of letters to the Philosophical Magazine, and the Monthly Magazine as well as the American Journal of Science.See Kassler, above for details of these. He also contributed 25 articles to the Edinburgh Encyclopædia on this topic .For a list of the latter see the bibliography appended to Trever D. Ford and Hugh S. Torrens introduction ('John Farey (1766–1826) an unrecognised polymath') to the 1989 reprinting of the first volume of John Farey's General View of the Agriculture and Minerals of Derbyshire.
John Farey, jr was a prolific contributor to Rees's Cyclopaedia, not only as a writer but also as an artist of many of the plates.Woolrich, A. P., "John Farey, Jr., technical author and draughtsman: his contribution to Rees's Cyclopædia". Industrial Archaeology Review, 20, (1998), 49–68 AIA Abstracts 1998. For the four articles he wrote, he drew plates for two illustrating John Isaac Hawkins's Finger-keyed Viol, and two different patterns of pipe organ. The plates were keyed to the texts of the articles, and for this reason it was necessary for Farey to have produced both, since writing the texts describing the plates would have required technical knowledge which Burney would not have possessed.
Alphabetisation of articles: The work followed the common practice of conflating the letters I and J and U and V into single sequences. The topics included in this list therefore follow the sequence they appear in the original volumes.
Annotations: The articles are annotated to Mercer's edition of Burney's History (1935) and Scholes's edition of Burney's travels, Travels (1959). Where a page reference is given the text can be found there. Where a book is cited, but with no page, index entries were found, and Burney is presumed to have written his article using the information there. Where there is no annotation, the article must be unique to the Cyclopaedia.
Vol 1 A-Amarathides TopicSub-TopicColumnsContributor/NotesAbyssinian Music-1 lineBurney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed. Cross-referenced to Music AcademyAcademy, Musical0.6Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed. Accelerando-0.3Burney.Accent-1.0Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed.Acciacatura-0.3.Burney.Accompaniment-3.0Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed. Cross-referenced to Harmony, Chords, Thorough-Bass, Regle De L'octave, Figuring a base and RecitativeAcute-0.4Burney. cross-referenced to HarmonyAdagio-0.3Burney.Agente-0.1Burney. With example of notation.Agoge in Ancient Music-0.4Burney.AirAir, in music4.4Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed. Cross-referenced to Philodemus, Chant, Canto Fermo, Bells, Carillon, Changes, Melody, Song, Tune, Opera.A-la-mi-re-0.2Burney. With example of notation. Cross-referenced to Gamut and Guidonian ScaleAllegro-0.1Burney. Cros-referenced to Andante and PrestoAl Segno-0.1Burney.Alto & BassoAlto, high0.2Burney. With example of notation.
Vol 2 Amarantus-Arteriotomy TopicSub-TopicColumnsContributor/NotesAndante-0.1BurneyAnticipationAnticipation, in music1.5Burney. With example of notation. Cross-referenced to SuspensionAntiphonary-0.3Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed.Antiphony-0.9Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed.Appoggiatura-1.0Burney. With examples of notation. Cross-referenced to ReciativeAppreciation-1.6Burney. Cross-referenced to BruitArabicArabian music1.5Burney.AriaAria, in music0.4Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed .Arietta-0.2Burney.Armonica-2.8Burney.Arpeggio-0.3Burney.
Vol 3 Artery-Battersea TopicSub-TopicColumnsContributor/NotesAttacco-0.6Burney. With example of notation.Aubade-0.1Burney.Bacchanalia-0.3Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed.Bagpipe-0.5Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's edBalalaika-0.2Burney.Balet de la Royne-0.1Burney. See Burney's History, vol 2, p 224ff. of Mercer's ed.Ballad-0.8Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed.Ballet-2.0Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed . Cross-referenced to Dance and PantomimeBarBar, in music0.3Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed. With example of notation.Barbiton-0.5Burney.Barcarolla-0.6Burney.Bards-7.0Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed . Cross referenced to Scandinavia and Armorica.Barypycni-0.2Burney. Cross-referenced to Greek SystemBaseBase, in music0.7Burney. Cross-referenced to Counterpoint, Composition, Score, Common chords, and Thorough-BaseBaseBasse Fundamentale4.5Burney. With examples of notation. Cross-referenced to Terza SuonaBaseBase-Viol1.2Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed. Cross-referenced to Fantasia, Sonata, and ConcertoBasseBasse de Flute Traverse0.1Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed.BasseBasse Flute0.1Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed . Cross-referenced to FluteBasseBasse Tonique0.1Burney. Cross-referenced to Terza SuonaBasso Continuo-1.0Burney.BassoBasso Stretto0.1Burney. Cross-referenced to Ground, Ciacona and ChaconneBassoBASSO Cantate2 linesBurney.Bassoon-0.5Burney. With example of notation. Cross-referenced to Reed and BezozziBatillus-0.1Burney.Baton-0.1Burney. With example of notation. Cross-referenced to Breve, Time-Table and RestsBatterie-0.2Burney.
Vol 4 Battery-Bookbinding TopicSub-TopicColumnsContributor/NotesBattre le Mesure-0.5Burney. Cross-referenced to Rhythm, Greek Music, Time, Measure, Arsis & Thesis, Bar, Accent, and Battuta.Battuta-0.7Burney. With examples of notation. Cross-referenced to Time, Accent, Arsis and Measure.Beat in Music-0.2Burney. With example of notation.BeatsBeats, in music0.4Burney. Cross-referenced to Vibration, Temperament, and Tuning.Been-1.0Burney. With example of notation. An Indian fretted instrument like a guitar. Refers to plate.Bell-5.6Burney. Cross-referenced to Changes, Tintinnalogia, Carillons, and Ring.BindingBinding notes0.6Burney. With example of notation. Cross-referenced to Ligature and Syncopation.Bis-0.2Burney. With example of notation. Term meaning to perform twice.Biscroma-0.1Burney. With example of notation Cross-referenced to Timetable.Boblsatio-0.1Burney. Meaning to replace the musical terms ut, ne, mi, fa, sol, la by bo, ce, di, ga, la, ma, ni.Bon-0.2Burney. French and Italian (Bueno) term to express the accented parts of the bar
Vol 5 Book-keeping-Calvart TopicSub-TopicColumnsContributor/NotesBoutade-0.1Burney.BowBow, in music0.2Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed .BreveBreve, in music0.2Burney. Cross-referenced to Characters of music, Semibreve, Time-Table and Notation.BridgeBridge, in music3 linesBurney.Broderies-0.4Burney. Bruit-0.9Burney. French for Noise.Buadh-Vaill-0.3Burney. An Irish trumpet from antiquity.Buccina-0.6Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed.BugleBugle2 linesBurney.BurdenBurden or Burthen0.2Burney.C in music-0.5Burney. Cross-referenced to moods, prolation, time-table, hexachord, propriety and solmisationCacophony-2 linesBurney.Cadence-1.8Burney. With example of notation. Cross-referenced to close, modulation and Counterpoint.Cadenza-0.3Burney. With example of notation.CaesuraCaesura in vocal music0.5Burney. Cross-referenced to phrase, cadence and restCalascione-0.2Burney. See plates.CalculationCalculation, in music0.5Burney
Vol 6 Calvary-Castra TopicSub-TopicColumnsContributor/NotesCambro-British music-0.2Burney. See also article on Welsh music in Vol 39, Addendum,Campanologia-2 linesBurney.Canarie-0.3Burney. With example of notation.CanonCanon, in music3.1Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed. Cross referenced to Valentini, Michele, Rocco Rodio and BevinCantare-3.0Burney. Italian for to sing. Cross-referenced to Tenducci.Cantata-2.2Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed. Cross-referenced to CacciniCanticle-0.2Burney. after Roussseu.CantoCanto, in music0.1Burney.Canzonetta-2 linesBurney.Caoinan-1.3Burney. Cross-referenced to AntiphonyCapo-Tasto-0.1Burney.Capriccio-0.1Burney.Carillons-0.3Burney.Carillonneur-0.1Burney.Carnival-0.3Burney?Carola-0.3Burney. See Burney's History, Mercer's ed. Cross-referenced to BalladCastanets-0.4Burney. Translated from the Encyclopédie Méthodique
Vol 7 Castramentation-Chronology