Elizabeth Young (173? in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

– 12 April 1773 in London) was an English

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typica ...

and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. She was part of a well-known English family of musicians that included several professional

singers Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...

s during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.Biography of Isabella Young (Scott) on Operissimo.com; accessed 13 January 2008

Biography

Elizabeth Young was born in the 1730s. Her father, Charles Young, was a clerk at the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...

. She was the middle child of three daughters and her older sister

Isabella Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...

was a successful mezzo-soprano and her younger sister

Polly Polly is a given name, most often feminine, which originated as a variant of Molly (name), Molly (a diminutive of Mary (name), Mary). Polly may also be a short form of names such as Polina (given name), Polina, Polona (given name), Polona, Paula (g ...

was a celebrated soprano, composer and

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

player. Both her grandfather,

Charles Young Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

, and her great uncle, Anthony Young were notable organists and composers. She also had three famous aunts who were all notable singers. Her Aunt Cecilia (1712–1789), was one of the greatest English sopranos of the eighteenth century and the wife of composer

Thomas Arne Thomas Augustine Arne (; 12 March 17105 March 1778) was an English composer. He is best known for his patriotic song " Rule, Britannia!" and the song "A-Hunting We Will Go", the latter composed for a 1777 production of '' The Beggar's Opera'', wh ...

. Her Aunt Isabella was also a successful soprano and the wife of composer

John Frederick Lampe John Frederick Lampe (born Johann Friedrich Lampe; probably 1703 – 25 July 1751) was a musician and composer. Life Lampe was born in Saxony, Germany but came to England in 1724 and played the bassoon in opera houses. In 1730, he was hired by ...

and her

Aunt Esther Esther Winfield Anderson, known and feared as Aunt Esther, is a fictional character from the television series ''Sanford and Son''. She was played by actress LaWanda Page, an acquaintance of series star Redd Foxx. Page was Foxx's first and only ...

was a well known

and wife to Charles Jones, a successful music publisher in England during the eighteenth century.Olive Baldwin, Thelma Wilson: "Cecilia Young", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 09, 2009)
(subscription access)
/ref> In 1755 Elizabeth traveled to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

with Uncle Thomas and Aunt Cecilia Arne to sing the role of Grideline in Thomas's

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

''Rosamond'' at the

Smock Alley Theatre Since the 17th century, there have been numerous theatres in Dublin with the name Smock Alley. The current Smock Alley Theatre () is a 21st-century theatre in Dublin, converted from a 19th-century church building, incorporating structural mat ...

. The trip proved to be somewhat ill-fated as Thomas and Cecilia's marital difficulties came to a head on this trip, with the end result being that Thomas left his wife. Elizabeth did not stick to blood lines and decided to return to England with her uncle in 1756. The following December she appeared as a shepherdess in her uncle's opera ''

Eliza ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program created from 1964 to 1966 at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory by Joseph Weizenbaum. Created to demonstrate the superficiality of communication between humans and machines, ...

''.Olive Baldwin, Thelma Wilson: "Elizabeth Young", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 9, 2009)
(subscription access)
/ref> In 1758, Elizabeth Young joined the company of players at the

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...

where she first appeared as Lucy in ''

The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...

''. The performance was deceptively billed as "her first appearance on any stage", probably for marketing reasons. She sang regularly at Drury Lane until 1772 and in some seasons at Finch’s Grotto, a

pleasure garden A pleasure garden is a park or garden that is open to the public for recreation and entertainment. Pleasure gardens differ from other public gardens by serving as venues for entertainment, variously featuring such attractions as concert halls ...

in South London. Her lower voice meant she was often given

breeches role A breeches role (also pants role or trouser role, or Hosenrolle) is one in which an actress appears in male clothing. Breeches, tight-fitting knee-length pants, were the standard male garment at the time these roles were introduced. The theatric ...

s or older women’s parts. Most notably, she created the role of Agenor in the world premiere of George Rush’s ''The Royal Shepherd'' (1764) and portrayed Ursula in the world premiere of

Charles Dibdin Charles Dibdin (before 4 March 1745 – 25 July 1814) was an English composer, musician, dramatist, novelist, singer and actor. With over 600 songs to his name, for many of which he wrote both the lyrics and the music and performed them himself, ...

’s ''The Padlock'' (1768). She married the violinist Ridley Dorman in 1762.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Elizabeth 1730s births 1773 deaths 18th-century British women opera singers English contraltos

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

Operatic contraltos