Burneys Gallery1- Amateurs of Tye-Wig Music

Amateurs of Tye-Wig Music

Edward Francis Burney (1760–1848) 
Amateurs of Tye-Wig Music
ca. 1800–1815
Pen and ink and watercolor

This elaborate satire makes fun of the proponents of Ancient, or “Tye-Wig” music. The gentlemen playing instruments wear out-of-date tye-wigs and clothing that had been in fashion during the first half of the eighteenth century, signaling their allegiance to composers such as Corelli, whose music they are performing, and above all Handel, whose bust appears in a niche on the wall behind them. The works of “modern” composers — Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn — have been thrust into the fire, and are lampooned in satirical prints scattered on the floor. Burney’s composition is dense with musical in-jokes and allusions. Much of the humor, however, derives from the chaos created by the musicians, whose sheet music reveals them to be playing from different pieces and in different keys. In one case the music is placed upside down on a music stand. Adding to the cacophony are animals, children, and a servant who has just upset the fire-irons. 

The picture may make reference to the rivalry between the artist’s uncle, Dr. Charles Burney, and Sir John Hawkins, both of whom published their histories of music in 1776. Hawkins championed traditional forms in his history, claiming that “music was in its greatest perfection in Europe from about the middle of the sixteenth to the beginning of the seventeenth century, when, with a variety of treble-instruments, a vicious taste was introduced, and harmony received its mortal wound.” Burney, on the other hand, believed in progress, refinement, and the innate superiority of contemporary music, an opinion which may be reflected in his nephew’s graphic tributes to the works of Mozart and Beethoven. 

YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART, PAUL MELLON COLLECTION 

B1975.3.155