English Composer. The son of a harpsichordist, composer and singing teacher, Thomas Linley Sr. He was playing violin concertos at the age of seven and was an experienced composer before he went to Italy to study with Nardini (where he met Mozart, his exact contemporary). He returned to England in 1771 and quickly became a leading figure in London's musical life, helped by his father's appointments as leader of the Drury Lane orchestra and musical director of the theatre. He wrote some remarkable music over the next few years, including a large-scale orchestral anthem for the Three Choirs Festival, the oratorio The Song of Moses, the Lyric Ode on the Fairies, Aerial Beings and Witches of Shakespeare and music for Sheridan's play The Duenna. His death in a boating accident at the age of twenty-two came as a considerable shock to English musicians. Linley's early death was a tragedy for English music, as Mozart recognised. He told Michael Kelly in 1784 that 'Linley was a true genius' who 'had he lived, would have been one of the greatest ornaments of the musical world'.
English Composer. The son of a harpsichordist, composer and singing teacher, Thomas Linley Sr. He was playing violin concertos at the age of seven and was an experienced composer before he went to Italy to study with Nardini (where he met Mozart, his exact contemporary). He returned to England in 1771 and quickly became a leading figure in London's musical life, helped by his father's appointments as leader of the Drury Lane orchestra and musical director of the theatre. He wrote some remarkable music over the next few years, including a large-scale orchestral anthem for the Three Choirs Festival, the oratorio The Song of Moses, the Lyric Ode on the Fairies, Aerial Beings and Witches of Shakespeare and music for Sheridan's play The Duenna. His death in a boating accident at the age of twenty-two came as a considerable shock to English musicians. Linley's early death was a tragedy for English music, as Mozart recognised. He told Michael Kelly in 1784 that 'Linley was a true genius' who 'had he lived, would have been one of the greatest ornaments of the musical world'.
Bio by: julia&keld
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