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(b London, England, March 20, 1774; d London, England, Feb 17, 1856). English tenor and composer. He made his debut as a boy soprano at Covent Garden in 1787. He sang in Europe after his voice broke, returning to England at the turn of the century, where he established a reputation as one of the country’s leading tenors. He traveled to the United States in the autumn of 1840 and, at the age of 68, “surpassed all expectations” with the “pathos, sublimity, power, and wonderful execution” of his voice. He appeared first in concert, with a selection of tenor and baritone airs from opera and oratorio mixed with popular ballads. His American operatic debut, at the Park Theatre in New York, was in Stephen Storace’s The Siege of Belgrade, and he went on to re-create many of his famous roles, in Charles Horn’s The Devil’s Bridge, Thomas Dibdin’s The Cabinet, and Weber’s Der Freischütz. At one point he astonished audiences and critics by appearing in seven demanding roles in less than two weeks....

Member of Coleman family (opera)

(b London, bap. April 27, 1622; d Greenwich, Aug 29, 1669). English tenor and composer, son of Charles Coleman. He taught music during the Commonwealth and wrote songs, including one for Shirley’s The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses. In 1656 he sang in ...

Member of Corri family

(b Edinburgh, ?1784; d Baltimore, Feb 19, 1832). Italian composer, tenor, pianist, and teacher, son of Domenico Corri, and possibly twin brother of Montague Philip Corri. As P. Antony Corri he was well established as a composer in London from about 1802 to 1816, when many of his piano pieces and songs were published. His L’anima di musica (1810) is the most extensive piano tutor of its period, and ran to several editions. He was a founder of the London Philharmonic Society and the Royal Academy of Music in 1813, and was director of the Professional Society in 1816. He was expelled from the Philharmonic in December 1816 (due to a scandal probably involving his wife) and emigrated to the USA, where he settled in Baltimore by autumn 1817. There he was christened Arthur Clifton on 31 December 1817 and remarried the following day. He served as organist of the First Presbyterian Church (...

Member of Lanier family

(d ?London, before April 5, 1650). English tenor and composer. He served as musician for the lutes and voices in the King’s Musick from 1625 until the court broke up in the 1640s, although he continued to receive occasional payments up to 1650. Almost certainly he was the John Lanier described as one of the courtier Endymion Porter’s servants in ...

Member of Robinson family (ii)

(b Dublin, c1799; d Dublin, Oct 21, 1872). Irish tenor, organist, and composer. His father Francis was an administrator and baritone, who in 1810 founded the Sons of Handel, a large-scale concert-giving society. Francis James Robinson was a chorister in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and assistant organist from 1816 to 1841. He was also organist at St Patrick’s Cathedral there (1828–9) and a tenor vicar-choral at Christ Church from 1833 until his death and at St Patrick’s from 1843. In June 1834 he sang an important role at the Musical Festival in Westminster Abbey. He composed church music and songs, and was given an honorary MusD at Dublin in 1852. His brother William (b Dublin, c1805) was a bass, and sang in the choirs of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Christ Church and Trinity College; another brother, John (...

(b Albion, NY, Oct 23, 1928; d Ashland, OR, Aug 12, 2000). American composer and tenor. Born into a musical family, he toured as a youth, appearing both as a pianist and a boy soprano. After attending the Eastman Preparatory School (1941–4), he was a pupil of Vivian Major and William Willett at SUNY, Fredonia (BM 1950), then of Wolfgang Niederste-Schee while on a tour of military duty in Frankfurt (1950–2). During this period he gave organ and piano recitals, and was a clarinetist in the 4th Division Infantry Band. At the Eastman School (MM 1954, DMus 1958) he studied with wayne Barlow , bernard Rogers , and howard Hanson . After holding several teaching positions he was a member of the music faculty of San Francisco State University (1959–80) and a visiting professor at the University of Hawaii (1970–1). He was active for many years as a concert tenor....

Member of Spangler family

(b Vienna, Oct 31, 1757; d Vienna, Dec 7, 1811). Austrian tenor and composer, son of Johann Michael Spangler. He was a tenor with the Hofkapelle from 21 December 1781 until his death, and in 1783 also sang in the music ensembles of the Universitätskirche, the Maria Schnee chapel of the Minoritenkirche, the chapels at the Trattnerhof and Kölner Hof, and St Ivo Church (he was released from the last four in this year when their music programmes were discontinued). In ...

(Joseph)

Member of Spangler family

(b Vienna, March 22, 1752; d Vienna, Nov 2, 1802). Austrian tenor and composer, son of Johann Michael Spangler. He began his career as a tenor and Choralist at the Michaelerkirche. By 1783 he had become tenor at three Viennese churches – the chapels at the Kölner Hof (where Carl Friberth was regens chori), the Savoy Ritterakademie and the Minoritenkirche (in that year, by command of Joseph II, the music programmes of the first two were discontinued and their personnel released). The next year he became an Assessor in the Tonkünstler-Sozietät, to which he had belonged since 1777, and in 1784–5 he was accepted into the masonic lodge ‘Zur wahren Eintracht’, of which Haydn was also a member. From 1793 he was a tenor in the Hofkapelle, and the following year he succeeded his father as regens chori at the Michaelerkirche. He was made archivist of the Hofkapelle in ...