First published 1999, Howard Irving details Croch's lecturing career and examines the influences of figures such a Charles Burney and Sir Joshua Reynolds on his approach to the ancient-modern debate. Irving also makes available for the first time in a modern edition Crotch's 1818 lecture series. These texts help to fill a gap in our knowledge of the development of musical classics, as they span a period of years that were crucial to the history of canon formation.