Roger North

Memoirs of Musick Roger North

Roger North (1653-1734) was a successful lawyer and skilled amateur musician who became Attorney General to James II. After the 1688 Revolution he retired from public life and devoted his time to writing on a wide range of topics. Memoirs of Musick originally formed the final section of North's 1728 treatise on music theory, The Musicall Grammarian. It covers aspects of music history (or 'historico-critcall scrapps' as North calls them) from Ancient Greece to Corelli, and includes a substantial account of John Jenkins, who taught North the viol. Charles Burney quoted from the Memoirs in his General History of Music (1776-1789), but this 1846 edition by the musicologist Edward Rimbault was the first time they appeared in print. The book includes an introduction on the manuscript of the Memoirs (now in Hereford Cathedral Library), a short biography of North and extensive explanatory notes to the text.