Thomas Linley

Thomas Linley (1756-1778), British composer and violinist. Born in Bath, England, Thomas Linley was named after his father, also a composer. Like his brothers and sisters, he was trained as a professional musician. (His eldest sister, Elizabeth Ann, later eloped with the playwright Richard Sheridan.) After early studies with his father, Linley studied with the composer William Boyce from 1763 to 1768. Linley was a precocious performer and composer, and although it is not known who first taught him the violin, there are records of him giving public concerts in the 1760s, including a concerto performance in Bristol in 1763. In 1768 he went to Italy, where he studied violin with Nardini in Florence, and where he met both Mozart (his exact contemporary) and Charles Burney. After his return to England, he followed a career as a composer in Bath.

In 1776 he and his family moved to London. Linley was leader of the orchestra at the Drury Lane Theatre, a post he occupied from 1773 to the end of his life, performing regularly as a soloist. During the 1770s his work as a composer became increasingly noted and, although little of his music survives today, he is known to have composed over 20 violin concertos, in addition to much incidental music, oratorios, and opera. His ability to work with large forces is shown by his opera The Duenna written with his father in 1775, and his anthem Let God Arise, written for the 1773 Three Choirs Festival at Worcester. Linley died in a boating accident while on holiday in Lincolnshire, and was greatly mourned by his contemporaries; his precocious talent as both composer and performer led many to compare him to Mozart.