Thirty Years' Musical Recollections, first published in 1862, is a year-by-year commentary in two volumes on the European operas, ballets, singers and dancers popular in London from 1830 to 1859. It's author was music critic of The Athaneum for over thirty years, and also wrote book reviews, novels, plays and poems. Starting with his reminiscences of the opera season in 1830, Chorley covers early London performances of works by Rossini, Bellini Donizetti and Verdi, the opening of the Royal Italian Opera, and appearances by famous singers including Maria Malibran, Giambattista Rubini, Madame Grisi, Madame Pasta, Madame Persiani, Rachel Felix, Signor Mario, Signor Ronconi, Madame Pauline Viardot and Mademoiselle Jenny Lind. He also discusses the fabric of theatres and changing trends in public taste. The book is at once a valuable source book and an entertaining eyewitness account of the lively musical scene in mid-nineteenth-century London.