Linley, Thomas (1733–1795)

English singing master and composer. He studied with Thomas Chilcot, the organist of Bath Abbey, and with Domenico Paradies in London, and settled in Bath as a singing teacher and concert promoter. From 1774 he managed the oratorios at the Drury Lane Theatre in London jointly with John Stanley and from 1786 with Samuel Arnold. Richard Brinsley Sheridan became his son-in-law in 1773, and he and his son, also Thomas, wrote music for Sheridan's play The Duenna in 1775. In 1776 he moved to London and bought David Garrick's share in the Drury Lane Theatre, where he managed the music and wrote music for various pieces.

Works Stage opera The Royal Merchant (1767); music for Sheridan's The Duenna (1781) and The School for Scandal (the song ‘Here's to the Maiden’), The Carnival of Venice (1781), The Gentle Shepherd, Robinson Crusoe (pantomime by Sheridan, after Defoe), The Triumph of Mirth, The Spanish Rivals (1784), The Strangers at Home (1785), Love in the East (1788), and other plays; adaptations from Grétry: Zelmire and Azor and Richard Cœur-de-Lion; accompaniments for The Beggar's Opera; music for Sheridan's monody on the death of Garrick.

Other six elegies for three voices; 12 ballads; cantatas, madrigals.

Linley, Thomas (1756–1778)

English violinist and composer, son and pupil of Thomas Linley. He was also a pupil of William Boyce, later of Pietro Nardini in Florence, Italy, where he struck up a friendship with the young Mozart in 1770. On his return to England he played in his father's concerts, and collaborated with him in the composition of The Duenna in 1775. He was drowned in a boating accident.

Works Stage opera The Cadi of Bagdad (1778); music for Shakespeare's The Tempest (1777) and Sheridan's The Duenna (with his father).

Other oratorio The Song of Moses (1777); Ode on the Witches and Fairies of Shakespeare; anthem ‘Let God Arise’; violin concerto, several elegies.