John Abraham Fisher's A Comparative View of the English, French and Italian Schools: A British musician tours Europe

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, travel in Europe passed from the ranks of the adventurer and explorer to that of the ordinary person.In particular, travel to continental Europe became popular with the British.Both the speed at which travel could be undertaken and the relative safety of such travel had improved to the point that, by the end of the eighteenth century, entire families could travel from Britain to parts of the continent without undue fear.For some, such visits abroad were voyages of discovery; for others, they were the means by which to give children an education that would be impossible or too expensive to obtain back at home.)It would be unwise, however, to consider such travel as mirroring our modern luxury holidays.Certainly, by comparison with the standards of today, the amenities were few and the hardships remained trying.Even as late as the 1770s, the trials of continental travel were very real.In 1770, Charles Burney made a tour of Europe, hoping to collect materials for a projected general history of music.In 1771, he published an interim work, The Present State of Music in France and Italy, which gives the reader a vivid picture of the vicissitudes of some of the inns at which coaches stopped, complete with anterooms which appeared like pig sties, and bedrooms that were infested with bugs and vermin.Thieves and highwaymen were always a present threat.Despite such inconveniences, the British continued to travel, and to write of their experiences.In 1935, Edward Cox published an annotated bibliography of such travelogues published in Britain prior to 1801. 2 His list runs to 401 pages.Obviously, the British felt obliged not only to travel, but also to record their experiences while doing so.The result was both a record of foreign travel, and in the cases of authors such as Boswell and Dafoe, literature of considerable importance.Such literature proved to be informative and educational for those who were either not inclined to travel or who, for various reasons, could not leave Britain.This interest in matters European also extended into the realm of music, and there was much interest in Britain in foreign musical styles and performance practices.In part, this can be attributed to the presence of many foreign musicians who were actively working in England, particularly in London.In 1764, the most important concert series in London was begun by two Germans, Carl Friedrich Abel (I 732-87) and Johann Christian Bach (I735-82).3The London musical establishments provided employment for both German and Italian composers and virtuosi. 4ln particular, many of the Italian musicians achieved fame and fortune in the opera houses.Although attacked in some quarters, Italian opera still domi-

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