Cyril "Charles" Leonard Elwell Cudworth (30 October 1908 – 26 December 1977) was a British musicologist, librarian, and librettist.

Born inCambridge as the second son of David Cudworth, Cudworth was known as “Charles”. Encouraged in his musical studies byEdward J. Dent, he becameAssistant Librarian of the Music Section atCambridge University Library from 1943 to 1946. Three years later, he was appointedLibrarian of thePendlebury Library of Music later becomingCurator in 1957 and holding this post until he retired. In 1958, he was awarded anHonorary MA degree by theUniversity Cambridge. He was also a founder Member of theInternational Association of Music Libraries.^[1][2][3]

Cudworth's musicological interests focussed on eighteenth centuryEnglish music and he was an authority on the Englishsymphony, keyboardconcerto andHandel. He established that ‘Purcell's Trumpet Voluntary’ was byJeremiah Clarke.^[4] He was also a contributor to theEncyclopaedia Britannica and theNew Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. In addition, he was also interested inlocal history,architecture,poetry and waslibrettist for several works by his friendPatrick Hadley.^[5][2][3]

• Cudworth, C. (1935), "The Dutch influence in East Anglia",Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society,37
• Cudworth, C. (1939), "Dutch gables in East Anglia",Architectural Review,85
• Cudworth, C. (1951), "The English symphonists of the eighteenth century",Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association,78:31–51,doi:10.1093/jrma/78.1.31
• Cudworth, C. (1953), "Baroque, rococo, galant, classic",Monthly Musical Record,83:172–5
• Cudworth, C. (1953), "The English Organ Concerto",The Score,8:51–60
• Cudworth, C. (1953), "Some New Facts about the Trumpet Voluntary",Musical Times,94 (1327):401–3,doi:10.2307/933069,JSTOR 933069
• Cudworth, C. (1956), "'Baptist's Vein': French Orchestral Music and its Influence from 1650 to 1750",Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association,83:29–47,doi:10.1093/jrma/83.1.29
• Cudworth, C. (1972),Handel, London{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

• 1908 births
• 1977 deaths
• British librarians
• British librettists
• People from Cambridge
• Music librarians
• 20th-century British musicologists
• Handel scholars

• Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB
• CS1 maint: location missing publisher
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles with hCards