Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments (1753—1762)—This treatise was the most important works concerning performance practice on the keyboard instruments written during the eighteenth century. Emanuel Bach, a great performer and a composer in his own right, provides even now a wealth of information to music historians anxious to understand the music of the later Baroque.

Charles Burney, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Abate Metastasio—Pietro Metastasio, (1698–1782) was one of the greatest librettists of the eighteenth century. He composed the words for more than 25 operas as well as for a huge number of other sacred and secular works. Burney's edition helped to spread knowledge of the poet's achievements throughout Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia. Since then, more than 400 different composers have set Metastasio's texts to music.

Charles Burney, Musical Tours in Europe (1771–1773)—The...