Elizabeth Clendining born Elizabeth Arnold (1767 – 16 July 1799) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

singer in Ireland and England.

Life

Clendining was baptised in

Stourton with Gasper Stourton with Gasper is a civil parish in the southwest of the English county of Wiltshire. Its main settlement is the village of Stourton, along with the hamlets of Bonham and Gasper. The village is about northwest of the small town of Mere, ...

in 1767. Her father was a trained choral singer. In 1773 the family moved to Dublin where her father was to sing in Dublin Cathedral. He died in 1775. By 1785 she was a singer being paid 60 guineas to perform at the Rotunda Summer concerts. The year she married a surgeon names William Clendining. She retired from the stage and they had a daughter. She returned to performing when her husband was sent to the debtors' prison. In 1791 went to stay in London with the English singer

Elizabeth Billington Elizabeth Billington (27 December 1765, in London25 August 1818, in Venice) was a British opera singer. Life She was born on 27 December 1765 in Litchfield Street, Soho, London. She was the daughter of Carl Weichsel, a native of Freiberg, in ...

who she had met in Dublin. Clendinning had only a few pounds, her husband was in prison and she had a small family. She tried and failed to find work in London, but she had a contact in Bath. She had met the flautist

Andrew Ashe Andrew Ashe (–1838) was a Northern Irish flautist who became director of the Bath concerts. Life Ashe was native of Lisburn and born in about 1758. He was educated in music at Woolwich. "On account of reverses of fortune, his parents were abo ...

at the Dublin Rotunda concerts and he now directed the Bath concerts. He introduced her to

Venanzio Rauzzini Venanzio Rauzzini (19 December 1746 – 8 April 1810) was an Italian castrato, composer, pianist, singing teacher and concert impresario. He is said to have first studied singing under a member of the Sistine Chapel Choir. He was a cantante sopr ...

who gave her singing lessons. Rauzzini tried her out at a benefit concert for Ashe and she was then engaged by the "Catch Club" in Bath. Her benefit there in 1792 raised enough money to pay off her husband's debts. He left prison in Dublin and took a job as a ship's surgeon and died in 1793 at Portsmouth. In 1792

William Shield William Shield (5 March 1748 – 25 January 1829) was an English composer, violinist and viola, violist. His music earned the respect of Haydn and Beethoven. Life and musical career Shield was born in Swalwell near Gateshead, County Durham, th ...

created a part for her in his work "Hartford Bridge". She appeared in the role of Clara and this was her debut at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

and her debut on the stage. It went well and she had to give an encore when she completed her first song. In 1797 she returned from Ireland where she had been singing with

Charles Incledon Charles Benjamin Incledon (pronounced 'Ingledon') (1763–11 February 1826, Worcester) was a Cornish tenor singer, who became one of the foremost English singers of his time, especially in the singing of English theatre music and ballads in which ...

to perform again at Covent Garden. She was ill and this was her last season at Covent Garden. She appeared in "Bantry Bay" in the March. In August 17?? she was appearing in her own benefit performance in Brighton before the Countess of Jersey. The benefit raised £80. Clendining died in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1799.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clendining, Elizabeth 1768 births 1799 deaths People from Wiltshire 18th-century British women singers