Elizabeth Ann Linley
An English Nightingale
“There was a brilliancy, a spirit, and a mellifluous sweetness in the tone of her voice, which instantly penetrated the hearts of her hearers, as much as her angelic looks delighted their eyes. Her shake was perfect, her intonation truth itself, and the agility of her throat equal to any difficulty and rapidity that was pleasing. ”
This very polite assessment of Elizabeth Linley Sheridan’s musicianship hardly creates an image appropriate to the adventuresome, out of the ordinary, somewhat tragic and scandalous life lead by the daughter of musicians, the wife of the finest 18th-century English comic play write, Sheridan, and one of the great beauties and voices of her time.
From the age of 12, Elizabeth Linley was abused by her father, taking advantage of her fine voice and beauty to amass wealth. Not unlike Leopold Mozart and his son, Linley overworked his daughter to the point of illness.
As she matured, and as her image became well known through the portraits of Gainsborough and others, men flocked to her door, threatening to break it down, and worse, threatening to rape her. Her elopement to France with the brilliant young Sheridan was to be expected, even desired. But soon after, her reputation shattered, she was diagnosed with the tuberculosis that would end her life at 36.
During this youthful period, she became renowned for her performances of arias from the oratorios of Handel as well as Acis and Galatea. Compared to birds singing, she sang arias that evoked nightingales and larks. Her repertory expanded with the music of her father and brother as well as other composers of Bath and London.
Her life as her marriage were tempestuous. The Sheridan-Linley couple was a bad fit and they both eased their disappointment with multiple affairs and children born from other men and women. Elizabeth’s pregnancy exacerbated her frail health and she died too young. Yet, her extraordinary beauty, intelligence, and general allure continued a reputation beyond her life span.
As stormy a life as she lead, as on the edge of respectability as she lived, the English scene around her was one of stability and easy pleasures. And the theater was taking on a respectability it had not known before with the idolization of Garrick and Sarah Siddons, two idols of the stage who displayed a life of middle-class respectability unknown to Shakespeare and Nell Gwynn!
The musical world around Ms. Linley was one of elegant, beautiful, luscious music and Four Nations’ program (from Handel to Haydn) hopes to bring you into her world without the sadness that lay behind her exquisite voice.