The Author
Image source: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/.
Henry Fothergill Chorley (1808-1872) was a respected and feared British literary, art, and music journalist and critic who wrote for the Athenaeum in London from 1830 until 1868. Chorley was full of personality; he has been described as eccentric and outspoken and had a passion for music that was evident in every word he wrote. A piece in the Boston journal Every Saturday: A Journal of Choice Reading, published in 1873, described Chorley as "an honest, and for the most part a competent critic, in a style of criticism a little out of fashion in the present day." (p. 654) After reading Chorley's biography, Raymond Walker (2003) writes
Throughout the biography a dawning comes to the reader of how odd this character was in reality. A redhead with ruddy complexion to match, he dressed gaily in bright colours (an obvious dandy) and continued to dress this way long after the fashion had ceased. His mannerisms of rapid eye blinks when he spoke, quaint pecking gestures and high staccato voice brought ridicule and a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that he might be that missing link between chimpanzee and cockatoo. One gleans the impression that Chorley was frequently invited to parties because he could be witty in conversation. But in later years he would also get himself incapably drunk and was often likely to disgrace himself. Coupled with the venom he spat at others he became ostracised, lost friends and ended up a lonely bachelor. (1)
Throughout the biography a dawning comes to the reader of how odd this character was in reality. A redhead with ruddy complexion to match, he dressed gaily in bright colours (an obvious dandy) and continued to dress this way long after the fashion had ceased. His mannerisms of rapid eye blinks when he spoke, quaint pecking gestures and high staccato voice brought ridicule and a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that he might be that missing link between chimpanzee and cockatoo. One gleans the impression that Chorley was frequently invited to parties because he could be witty in conversation. But in later years he would also get himself incapably drunk and was often likely to disgrace himself. Coupled with the venom he spat at others he became ostracised, lost friends and ended up a lonely bachelor. (1)
The Subject
Chorley was a colorful character, both literally and figuratively, and his personality shone in his reviews. Chorley was not known to mince words or spare feelings-- he wrote passionately and honestly. In 1841 Chorley published Music and Manners in France and Germany. In Modern German Music, Chorley revisits many of the topics he discussed in Music and Manners in France and Germany, but "views them from the other side of the Year of Revolution, 1848, which, he argues, changed the cultural as well as the political atmosphere of the German states significantly and permanently." (Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 1) Of Modern German Music, Cambridge University Press writes that "Lively descriptions of German cities, their culture and especially their music festivals are accompanied by extended essays on Spohr, Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn, but Chorley is by no means an uncritical observer, and his comments on the rise of nationalism and militarism in the German states after 1848 now seem prophetic." (2013, p.1)
More about Chorley:
- Bledsoe, R. (1998). Henry Fothergill Chorley: Victorian Journalist. Brookfield, Vermont: Ashgate.
- Chorley, H.F. (1874). Personal Reminiscences. New York: Scribner, Armstrong, and Co.