Thomas Linley the Younger (7 May 1756 – 5 August 1778), also known as Thomas Linley Jr was the eldest son of the composer Thomas Linley and his wife Mary Johnson. He was considered one of the most precocious composers and performers known in England. A highly talented violinist, he started his performance career at the age of seven in Bath, and often appeared alongside his musical siblings. Linley was described as the most promising of all native English composers between Henry Purcell and Edward Elgar, combining prodigious talent with a delightful personality. He was sometimes referred to as the "English Mozart". His early promise was cut short when he drowned in a boating accident, aged just 22 years.
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Early life
Outside London, Bath was the most fashionable city in late 18th-century England, and in Bath, the Linleys were the most influential musical family. Originally from Gloucestershire and from a modest background (Linley's grandfather was a carpenter/builder whose business flourished thanks to Bath's urban development), the Linleys quickly became prominent among the community of musicians providing entertainment to the wealthy tenants of the elegant city. Charles Burney famously described them as "a Nest of Nightingales".
Thomas Linley was born into this family on 7 May 1756. Linley's father, Thomas Linley the Elder, who worked as a music and singing teacher, would take over the management of the musical performances at the Assembly rooms in Bath in 1766 and would become musical director of the New Bath Assembly Rooms in 1771. He put his children, whose musical education he supervised, to work. In 1762, Linley and his sister Elizabeth Ann were selling tickets to concerts and soon after, as early as 1763, they were performing in front of full houses with their other siblings. Anything earned by the children was commandeered by Linley the elder and the talented youngsters became a major source of income, allowing the family to raise their social standing.
Linley's sisters, Elizabeth Ann (born 1754), Mary (born 1758) and Maria (born 1763), were accomplished singers and actresses. His brother Samuel (born 1760) was a talented oboist before becoming a sailor. His youngest brother, William (born 1771), would also be a musician and later a composer.
The abilities of Linley Jr were apparent from a very young age, and he played a violin concerto at a concert in Bristol on 29 July 1763 at the age of only 7. The Bath Journal thus advertised it on 25 July 1763:
For the Benefit of Mr. Linley. At Loggan's Room at the Hot Wells on the 29th Inſt. Will be perform'd A Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Music. The Vocal Parts by Mr. Linley, Mr. Higgins and Maſter Linley. The Firſt Violin by Mr Richards of Bath. End of the Iſt Act a Concerto on the Violin by Maſter Linley, a child of ſeven years old. End of the 2nd Act an Elegy of Jackson's by Mr. and Maſter Linley and Mr. Higgins
The youngster started to compose soon after. William Boyce, Master of the King's Musick at the time, took him under his wing and Linley studied with him from 1763 to 1768.
From then on, their father always asking for higher fees for them, the siblings appeared further afield, notably in charity concerts and oratorios, including in London.
In 1767, Linley appeared at Covent Garden, along with his sister Elizabeth, in Thomas Hull's The Fairy Favour, a masque written for the entertainment of the four-year-old Prince of Wales, in which Linley sang the part of Puck, danced a hornpipe and played the violin. He must have made quite an impression, as the Lloyds Evening Post of 3 February 1767 said of his performance that "[not] enough [could] be said of the little boy [whose] singing, playing on the violin, and dancing [...were] all beyond expectation, and discover extraordinary abilities in one, who must be considered a child".
In May 1768, the famous portrait painter Thomas Gainsborough reported in a letter to William Jackson that "Tommy Linley [was] bound for Italy at the first opportunity".
Journey to Italy
Between 1768 and 1771, Linley journeyed to Italy to further study the violin and composition with Pietro Nardini in Florence. The Tenor Michael Kelly recounts in his Reminiscenses how 10 years later, when he met Nardini, the latter "spoke with great affection of his favourite scholar, Thomas Linley, who, he said, possessed powerful abilities".
In Florence, Linley met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in April 1770 and Charles Burney in September of the same year. Burney later wrote, "The Tommasino, as he is called, and the little Mozart, are talked of all over Italy as the most promising geniuses of this age." Linley and Mozart, both of them 14-year-old teenagers, formed a close friendship making and playing music together, so much so that, as is explained by Robert Gutman, their separation when Mozart left for Rome was a difficult moment for them both, with "a melancholy Thomas follow[ing] the Mozarts' coach as they departed […]" They would never meet again.
About Linley, "der kleine Tomaso", Leopold Mozart writes in one of his letters to his daughter Anna Maria, that he is "ein allerliebster Knab [...] welcher wunderschön spielt" (a very dear boy [...] who plays beautifully). He thus details the whole episode between Linley and Mozart:
According to the Mozart-Linley-Kraus 250th Anniversary Festival press release, Linley kept a letter he received from Mozart for the rest of his life.
Career as a musician and composer
Upon his return from Italy in 1771, Linley was recognised as one of the best violin virtuosos in Britain and became a leading figure in London's musical life. The Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette declared him "one of the moſt capital players on the violin in this kingdom" in a review of a concert on 10 September 1774 in Winchester. The composer Matthew Cooke, whose Short Account of the late Mr. Thomas Linley Junior, preserved inside the covers of a score of one of Linley's works, is one of the scarce first-hand sources of biographical information about Linley, states that "[his] industry and perseverance made him indefatigable. [and he] was one of the most eminent Violin Performers of the age."
In 1773, one of Linley's cantatas, In Yonder Grove, was performed at his benefit concert at the Haymarket by his sister Elizabeth and his brother Samuel. The same year he became a leader at Drury Lane theatre. There, he played concertos between the acts of operas and oratorios. 1773 also saw his first large scale work, the ode Let God Arise, composed for the Three Choir Festival in Worcester. The piece would be reprised at the same festival in Gloucester in 1775 with additional arias, some of which were probably composed for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini. In Jackson's Oxford Journal of 26 August 1775 an advertisement for that prestigious event shows that Linley, who had only just turned 19, was reckoned to have his rightful place among the greatest names, his anthem sitting in the program between Handel's Coronation Anthem and Giardini's new oratorio:
GLOCESTER MUSIC MEETING.
THE Meeting of the Three Choirs of Gloceſter, Worceſter and Hereford, for the Benefit of the Widows and Orphans of the poor Clergy of the three dioceſes, will be held at Gloceſter, on Wedneſday the 13th day of September, and the two following days.
At the Cathedral, on Wedneſday morning, a Sermon will be preached by the Hon. and Right Reverend the Lord Biſhop of Landaff [sic.]: A TE DEUM and JUBILATE adapted to muſic of the moſt eminent Italian compoſers; an ANTHEM by Dr. Boyce; and Mr. Handel's CORONATION ANTHEM will be performed.- In the evening, at the Booth-hall, the Oratorio of ISRAEL IN EGYPT, and between the two parts of the Oratorio a MISCELLANEOUS ACT, conſiſting of SONGS, by Signior [sic.] Rauzzini and Miſs Linley, and Inſtrumental Pieces by Meſſrs Giardini, Fiſcher, and Croſdill.
Musical style
A significant number of Linley's compositions have been lost, including many in the Drury Lane Fire of 1809. However, according to Gwilym Beechey (author of the article on Linley in the New Grove Dictionary and editor of some of his music), the works that survived attest to "his fluent and congenial melody, his contrapuntal facility, and his imaginative orchestration."
Linley's music is both typical of works by English composers of his time and remarkably idiosyncratic for a composer who died at such a young age. As with other English composers of the second half of the 18th century, the influence of Handel is evident in his choral works (for instance in Let God Arise), however his choral writing has its own inventiveness and artistry. Linley's writing is as fluent in choral-like choruses as in elaborate fugues or evocative tableaux. He was only about 15 years old when he composed the skilful double-fugue Wonderful Art Thou. Musician Peter Holman, who worked on the Hyperion recordings of Linley's music, writes that, in The Song of Moses, "[Linley's music] has a grandeur and sweep that makes its subsequent neglect hard to understand."
His vocal writing and the orchestration of his vocal music, though rooted in the influence of Johann Christian Bach's galant style and Arne's later music as well as the Italian operatic music still very much en vogue at the time, has been described as creative and fresh. His orchestral cantatas, in the style of those composed by Arne and others for the pleasure gardens of Vauxhall, feature refined obligato instrumental parts that either intertwine with the singers' voice (such as the oboe in the airs 'Fly, Damon, to yon secret grove' and 'If thy too-cruel bow be bent') or colour the piece with poetic evocations (the french horn in the air 'Wrapt close from harm' in the cantata Ye Nymphs of Albion's Beauty-blooming Isle).
The vocal and orchestral writing in his stage works also display qualities found in music composed by more mature composers; his ability to intensify the protagonists' characterisations is remarkable. The music to The Duenna, though written in haste, was reckoned to have not only saved that comic opera from shallowness, but been the main reason for its success. However, Johnson, Byron and Hazlitt regarded Sheridan's text as among the finest comedies, and Prokofiev and Roberto Gerhard also set it to music.
The Music to The Duenna or The Double Elopement
The birth of the comic opera The Duenna in 1775 was not an easy one, despite both Sheridan's and the Covent Garden director's enthusiasm; almost 50 years had passed since the success of The Beggar's Opera, and comic operas had lost their popularity. But Sheridan's play The Rivals, created in January 1775, had been such a great success that they thought a new comedy by the same author, to which would be added musical interludes, could not fail.
It seems that Sheridan had originally planned for his father-in-law, Thomas Linley Sr, to write the music. However the composer did not seem to share his enthusiasm. Firstly, he doubted the possible success of a comic opera. Secondly, to Linley Sr's frustration, Sheridan was only giving him isolated songs to set to music, judiciously keeping him in the dark about the play's subject by witholding the whole libretto from the composer, undoubtedly because of the resemblance it bore to Sheridan's own elopement with the composer's daughter Elizabeth. Finally, Linley Sr was hoping to "take over [...] the Lenten Oratorio seasons at the Drury Lane Theatre" and therefore may have been reluctant to take on a project at the Drury Lane's direct rival, Covent Garden.
With the date of the premiere approaching and not much work completed, Linley Sr resolved to ask his son for help with composing the music. Linley Jr became the chief contributor to The Duenna's music, composing about a third of the total. On top of which he arranged and edited the folk songs selected by Sheridan and Elizabeth and the additional arias by other composers, his father's input representing a bit more than a quarter of the whole opera. Despite the haste in which they were composed, Linley Jr's songs were not just beautiful but played a paramount role in the success of The Duenna by deepening the characterisation of the protagonists of the play.
Linley Sr eventually agreed to go to London to assist with the rehearsals, but he "insisted for the Linley name not to be associated with the opera". Composer Andrew Edwards suggests that, though pasticcios of the kind were common practice, Linley Sr may have "disapprov[ed] of the way the music had been [...] put together", however the subject of the play – as mentioned above – might also have played its part.
Works
Death
Linley was a guest of the Duke of Ancaster with his sister Mary and "his Companion Mr. Olivarez, Italian Master" – maybe the Spanish violin virtuoso and composer Juan Oliver y Astorga – at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire, where he drowned in a boating accident "just three months after his 22nd birthday".
The press reported the circumstances of his death as follows:
Drewry's Derby Mercury, Friday 14 August 1778:On the 5th Inſtant a melancholy Accident happened at Grimſthorpe in Lincolnſhire, the Seat of his Grace the Duke Ancaſter:- Mr. Thomas Linley, eldeſt Son of Mr. Linley, one of the Proprietors of Drury-lane Theatre, Mr. Olivarez, an Italian Maſter, and another Perſon, agreed to go on the Lake in his Grace's Park, in a Sailing Boat, which Mr. Linley ſaid he could manage very well; but no ſooner had they ſailed into the Middle, than a ſudden Squall of Wind ſprung up, and overſet the Boat; however, they all hung by the Maſt and Rigging for ſome Time, till Mr. Linley ſaid, he found it was in vain to wait for Aſſiſtance, and therefore, though he had his Boots and Great Coat on, he was determined to ſwim to Shore, for that purpoſe he quitted his Hold, but had not ſwam above 100 Yards before he ſank to the Bottom, and was unfortunately drowned. Her Grace of Ancaſter ſaw the Whole from her Dreſſing-Room Window, and immediately diſpatched ſeveral Servants off to take another Boat to their Aſſiſtance, which unfortunately came only Time enough to save Mr. Olivarez.- Mr Linley remained under Water near 40 Minutes, ſo that every Effort made uſe of to resſtore him to Life proved ineffectual. – This Accident has deprived the Profeſſion to which he belonged of one of its Principal Ornaments, and Society of a very accompliſhed and valuable Member.
Jackson's Oxford Journal, Saturday 15 August 1778:On Wedneſday the 5th Inſtant, Mr. Thomas Linley, eldeſt Son of Mr. Linley, one of the Proprietors of Drury-lane Theatre, fell out of a Boat into a Lake belonging to his Grace the Duke Ancaſter, at Grimſthorpe in Lincolnſhire, and was unfortunately drowned. The Circumſtances of his Death are thus related by a Perſon just arrived from Grimſthorpe: Mr. Linley and Mr. Olivarez, Italian Maſter, and another Perſon, agreed to go on the Lake in a Sailing Boat, which Mr. Linley ſaid he could manage; but no ſooner had they ſailed into the Middle of the Lake, than a ſudden Gale of Wind ſprang up, and overſet the Boat; however, they all hung by the Maſt and Rigging for ſome Time, till Mr. Linley ſaid he found it was in vain to wait for Aſsiſtance, and therefore, though he had his Boots and Great Coat on, was determined to ſwim to Shore, for which Purpoſe he quitted his Hold, but had not ſwam above a hundred Yards before he ſunk. Her Grace the Ducheſs of Ancaſter ſaw the whole from her Dreſsing-room Window, and immediately ordered ſeveral Servants to take another Boat, and go to their Aſsiſtance, but they unfortunately only came early enough to take up Mr. Olivarez, his Companion, not being able to find the Body of Mr. Linley for more than forty Minutes.— Miſs M. Linley came up to Town with the melancholy Tidings of the Diſaster, and now lies dangerously ill at the Duke of Ancaſter's in Berkeley-ſquare; Mrs Sheridan is likewiſe inconfortable [sic.] for the Loſs of ſo valuable a Brother; and Yeſterday Mr. Linley his father whoſe Sufferings on the Occaſion no Language can expreſs, went down to pay the laſt Tribute to a beloved Son.
Discography
Despite its remarkable quality and idiosyncrasies, the music of Thomas Linley Jr is not widely known.
There are however a few commercial recordings in existence, most of them published by the independent British classical label Hyperion and its subsidiary label Helios.
A Lyric Ode on the Fairies, Aerial Beings and Witches of Shakespeare, The Parley of Instruments, Paul Nicholson (Helios, CDA66613, 2005)
Cantatas & Theatre Music (Music for The Tempest, Overture to The Duenna and the three cantatas: In Yonder Grove, Ye Nymphs of Albion's beauty-blooming isle and Daughter of Heav'n fair art though) Julia Gooding, The Parley of Instruments, Paul Nicholson (Helios, CDA66767, 2006)
The Song of Moses & Let God arise, The Parley of Instruments, Peter Holman (Helios, CDA67038, 2008)
The song "To heal the wound a bee had made" is available on Enchanting Harmonist – A soirée with the Linleys of Bath, Rufus Müller, Invocation (Hyperion, CDA66698, 1993)
A Violin Sonata in A major is available on English 18th-century Violin Sonatas, The Locatelli Trio (Hyperion, CDA66583, 1992)
His only surviving violin concerto (Violin Concerto in F major) is available on English Classical Violin Concertos, Elizabeth Wallfisch, The Parley of Instruments, Peter Holman (Helios, CDH55260, 2008)
Another recording of Linley's Violin Concerto in F major is available on the label Oehms Classics:
Mozart in Italien, Mirjam Contzen, Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, Reinhard Goebel (Oehms Classics, OC 753, 2010)