My Musical Life

Hugh Reginald Haweis (1838–1901) was a clergyman and writer. Published in 1884, this memoir deals with one of his great interests: music. He was a proficient violinist, and his musical writings included books on church bell-ringing, violins, and the best-selling Music and Morals (also reissued in this series), which had reached its sixteenth edition by his death. As curate of St James, Westmoreland Street, he used musical events as a way of turning an empty church into a fashionable one. He acted as music critic for Truth and the Pall Mall Gazette, in addition to lecturing and writing on religious subjects. The book recounts a lifetime of making and enjoying music, and conveys Haweis' emotional response to music from an early age. It is a record of nineteenth-century musical performances and changing tastes, which also demonstrates Haweis' belief in the reforming influence of music on morals and society.