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.
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".Charles Burney: An Eighteenth-century Musical Tour in France and Italy, p. 184; ed. by P. A. Scholes; Oxford University Press, 1959
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".Kelly, Michael. Reminiscences of Michael Kelly of the King's Theatre and Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Including a Period of Nearly Half a Century with Original Anecdotes of Many Distinguished Persons, Political, Literary, and Musical, Volume 1. London: Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street (1826). p. 106.
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:
English translationGermanOriginal textBefore closing, I must tell you of a charming little occurrence. In Florence we found a young Englishman who is a pupil of the famous violinist Nardini. This boy, who plays beautifully and is of Wolfgang's size and age, came to the house of the learned poetess Sgra. Corilla, where we had come on the recommendation of Herr Laugier. These two boys performed in alternation during the whole evening, constantly embracing each other. The next day, the little Englishman, a very dear boy, had his violin brought to us and played the whole afternoon; Wolfgang accompanied him on the violin. The day after, we dined with Msr. Gavard, the Grand Duke's financial administrator, and these two boys played in alternation the whole afternoon, not as boys, but as men! Little Thomas accompanied us home and cried the most bitter tears because we were leaving the next day.
But when he learned that our departure had been fixed for midday, he came at 9 o'clock in the morning and gave Wolfgang, amidst many embraces, the following piece of poetry, which Sgra. Corilla had had to write for him just the previous evening, and then accompanied our coach as far as the city gate. I wished that you had seen this scene.Bevor ich schlüsse, muß ich dir eine artige Begebenheit schreiben. In Florenz fanden wir einen jungen Engelländer, welcher ein Schüler des Berühmten Violinisten Nardini ist. dieser knab, welcher wunderschön spielt, in des Wolfg: Grösse und alter ist, kam in das Hauß der gelehrten Poetin Sgra Corilla, wo wir uns aus recommendation des Mr: Laugier befanden. diese 2 knaben producierten sich wechselweise den ganzen abend unter beständigen umarmungen. den anderen tag Ließ der kleine Engelländer, ein allerliebster Knab, seine Violin zu uns bringen, und spielte den ganzen nachmittag, der Wolfg. accompagnierte ihm auf der Violin. den tag darauf speisten wir beÿ Mr: Gavard dem Administratore der Grossherzogl: Finanzen, und diese 2 knaben spielten den ganzen nachmittag wechselsweise, nicht als knaben, sondern als männer! der kleine Tomaso begleitete uns nach Hause, und weinte die bittersten Thrännen, weil wir den tag Darauf abreiseten.
da er aber vernahm, daß unsere Abreise erst auf den Mittag vestgestellt seye, so kamm er morgens um 9 uhr, und gab dem Wolfg: unter vielen Umarmungen folgende Poesie, die die Sgra Corilla den Abend vorhero ihm noch machen muste, und dann begleitete er unsern wagen bis zum Stattthore. Ich wünschte, daß du diese Scene gesehen hättest.Bevor ich schlüsse, muß ich dir eine artige Begebenheit schreibς. In Florenz fandς wir einς jungς Engelländς, welcher ein Schüler des Berühmtς Violinisten Nardini ist. dieser knab, welcher wunderschön spielt, in des Wolfgς: Grösse und alter ist, kam in das Hauß der gelehrtς Poetin Sgra Corilla, wo wir uns aus recomendation des Mr: Laugier befandς. diese 2 knabς produciertς sich wechselweise den ganzς abend unter beständigen umarmungς. den andςς tag Ließ der kleine Engelländς, ein allerliebster Knab, seine Violin zu uns bringς, und spielte den ganzς nachmittag, der Wolfgς. accompagnierte ihm auf dς Violin. den tag darauf speistς wir beÿ Mr: Gavard dem Administratore der Grossherzogl: Finanzen, und diese 2 knabς spieltς den ganzς nachmittag wechselsweise, nicht als knabς, sondς als mäner! der kleine Tomaso begleitete uns nach Hause, und weinte die bitterstς Thränς, weil wir den tag Darauf abreisetς.
da er aber vernahm, daß unsere Abreise erst auf den Mittag vestge= stellt seye, so kam er morgens um 9 uhr, und gab dem Wolfgς: unter vielς Umarmungς folgende Poesie, die die Sgra Corilla den Abend vorhero ihm noch machς muste, und dan begleitete er unsern wagς bis zum Stattthore. Ich wünschte, daß du diese Scene gesehς hättest.
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.