Alto/Mezzo (Voice)

[Fanny]

Member of Corri family

(b Edinburgh, 1795/1801; d after 1833). Italian mezzo-soprano, daughter of Natale Corri. She was first taught singing by her father, but was soon taken to London and sent for lessons first to Braham, then to Angelica Catalani, with whom she toured the Continent in 1815–16. She made a promising début as the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the King’s Theatre on 17 January 1818, singing regularly there and at Philharmonic Society concerts until 1821, when she left with her father and sisters Rosalie and Angelina for the Continent. She sang first in Munich, then in Italy, where she married the bass Giuseppe Paltoni and made her home. She sang at La Scala, Milan, in 1828–9 and undertook successful tours of Spain (1827) and Germany (1830). Her last recorded appearance was in a performance of Bellini’s ...

[Mrs Dorman]

Member of Young family

(d London, April 12, 1773). English contralto, sister of Isabella Young (ii). She went to Dublin with the Arnes in 1755, singing Grideline in his Rosamond at the Smock Alley Theatre. She returned to England with Arne in 1756, and was a shepherdess in his ...

[Hester][Mrs Jones]

Member of Young family

(b London, Feb 14, 1717; d London, bur. June 6, 1795). English contralto, sister of Cecilia Young. She appeared in concerts from 1736 and created the role of Mauxalinda in Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley. She had other Lampe roles, played Lucy in John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera for many years and in 1744 sang Juno and Ino in the première of Handel’s Semele. It is sometimes stated that she went to Ireland with the Arnes in 1755, but in fact she sang at Covent Garden throughout the 1755–6 season and in every year after that until her retirement in 1776. She married the music seller and publisher Charles Jones on 8 April 1762; by December 1785, a few years after his death, impoverished and seriously ill, she was being cared for with ‘unremitting Tenderness’ by her sister Mrs Lampe.

For Bibliography see Young family...

[Mrs Scott]

Member of Young family

(d London, Aug 17, 1791). English mezzo-soprano, niece of Cecilia Young. She studied with the bass Gustavus Waltz, first appearing in a concert with him on 18 March 1751, and sang in Arne’s Alfred, Rosamond and Eliza in 1754. She became a distinguished concert and oratorio singer in London and the provincial festivals. She sang for Handel in the last few years of the composer’s life and was Counsel (Truth) in the first performance of The Triumph of Time and Truth in March 1757. She was a soloist in the Messiah performances at the Foundling Hospital on a number of occasions. After appearing at Drury Lane as Titania in J.C. Smith’s opera The Fairies (February 1755), she performed there regularly until 1777, singing between the acts, in musical interludes and afterpieces. She created roles in George Rush’s English operas The Royal Shepherd...