Author: GARDINER (William):
Title: Music and Friends; or, Pleasant Recollections of a Dilettante. In Two [Three] Volumes.
Description: London: Longman, Orme, Brown, and Longman. Combe and Crossley, Leicester, 1838, 1853. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 3 volumes. Large 8vo, 220 x 136, pps. xii, 476; viii, [481] - 886, x; xv [xvi index], 282 [384 blank], including half-title in each volume, catalogue of author's works at end of volume 2, list of subscribers in volume 3, printed music included in pagination, later 19th century half green morocco, spines ornately gilt in compartments to a floral motif, with dates of volumes intricately included at foot of each spine, top edges gilt; extremities a bit worn, front hinge volume 1 very slightly cracked, but generally an attractive set. Gardiner (1770 - 1853) was one of England's more interesting "amateur" musicians, diarists, and chroniclers of musical matters in the first half of the 18th century. Musically precocious (in his 60th year he recognized a tune that he had first heard when he was one), he eschewed the life of a manufacturer of hosiery that his father had intended him for. He used the compositions of various composers to create one of his first publications, Sacred Melodies (1812 - 1838). The work covers not only music and musicians, but occasionally touches upon political topics, e. g.: "October, 1794, when spending an evening at Lincoln with my friend Henry Banks, the post brought the news of the acquittal of Thomas Hardy and Horne Took for high treason. Great disappointment was expressed by the whole company at this unexpected verdict, and the execrations against the jury were loud and long. I was shocked at their illiberal opinions and silly apprehensions; that evening, which began with merriment and music, ended in sour disappointment."

Keywords: music sociology prose


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