Author: [HOLMES (Edward)]:
Title: A Ramble among The Musicians of Germany. Giving some Account of the Operas of Munich, Desden, Berlin, &c. with remarks upon the Church Music, Singers, Performers, and Composers; and a Same of the Pleasures and Inconveniences that await the Lover of Art on a Similar Excursion. By a Musical Professor.
Description: London: Published by Hunt and Clarke..., 1828. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, 203 x 123 mms., pp. [vii][ viii - xii, 286 [4 - adverts], including half-title, edges, uncut, original linen cloth, sometime neatly rebacked in cloth with paper label and new endpapers, a very good copy. A friend of the poet John Keats, the music journalist Edward Holmes (?1797 - 1859) published his first book in 1828, after a tour of the continent, and, as ODNB records, it was a bit influenced by the works of Hazlitt and Charles and Mary Lamb, and was "an individual, entertaining, and sharply observed account of his travels, which included encounters with famous musicians, such as the singers Henriette Sontag and Luigi Lablache, as well as elderly members of the Prague orchestra who had played in the first performance of Don Giovanni." Curiously, Holmes makes no mention of Schubert at all in his book; perhaps he was distracted by his travelling companion, or chaperone, Mary Novello (Mrs. Vincent Novello), his London landlady and friend, and the wife of his musical mentor.

Keywords: music travel prose


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