Henry Fothergill Chorley was music critic of The Athenaeum for over
thirty years. This three-volume book, published in 1841, originated in a
journal written by Chorley while travelling in Europe. His aim was to
'illustrate the present state of theatrical, orchestral, and chamber
music abroad', focusing on aspects that would be least familiar to an
English readership. There are detailed accounts of Paris and Berlin,
with prominence given to opera, theatre, art galleries and monuments.
Chorley also describes visits to Brunswick, Leipzig, Dresden and
Nuremburg, and performances by artists including Mendelssohn and Liszt.
He intersperses anecdotes about transport, lodgings, landscapes and
local customs. Chorley's incisive and entertaining eyewitness accounts
will fascinate music-lovers and theatre historians, as well as others
interested in the performing arts or travel writing in the
nineteenth-century.
Volume 1 describes his visits to Paris and Brunswick, focusing on opera.
Volume 2 describes his visits to the Harz mountains and Berlin.
Volume 3 describes visits to Leipzig, Dresden, Nuremburg and Paris.
