Young

Young, family of English singers:

(1)Cecilia Young, soprano; b. London (baptized), Feb. 7,1712; d. there, Oct. 6,1789. She was a student of Geminiani. On March 4, 1730, she made her first public appearance at a benefit concert at London’s Drury Lane Theatre. In 1732-33 she began singing in English operas by Lampe and Smith, and in 1735 Handel engaged her for the premieres of his Ariodante and Alcina. In 1737 she married Thomas Augustine Arne, and subsequently sang in his works in London. In 1742 she and her husband visited Dublin, where she sang in the first performances of his oratorio The Death of Abel on Feb. 18, 1744. They returned to Dublin in 1755, being accompanied by Arne’s gifted student, Charlotte Brent. By then Young and Arne’s marriage had become tempestuous, and Arne and Brent returned to London, leaving his wife in the company of her young niece, Polly Young. In 1762 Young and her niece returned to London. Young and her husband were reconciled shortly before his death in 1778.

(2)Isabella Young, soprano, sister of the preceding; b. London, date unknown; d. there, 1795. After singing minor roles at London’s Drury Lane Theatre in 1733-34, she appeared in concerts. On May 10, 1737, she created the role of Margery in John Frederick Lampe’s The Dragon ofWantley in London, and soon became his wife. Thereafter she appeared in all of his operas. In 1748 they went to Dublin, where Young sang at the Smock Alley Theatre. In 1750 they proceeded to Edinburgh. After her husband’s death in 1751, she returned to London and sang at Covent Garden.

(3)Esther Young, contralto, sister of the two preceding; b. London, Feb. 14, 1717; d. there (buried), June 6, 1795. She began her career as a concert singer in 1736. On May 10,1737, she created the role of Mauxalinda in Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley in London, and subsequently sang in other operas by him. In 1744 she sang Juno and Ino in the first performance of Handel’s Semele in London. She appeared frequently at Covent Garden until 1776. Her best known role was Lucy in The Beggar’s Opera.

(4)Isabella Young, mezzo-soprano, niece of (1) Cecilia Young; b. probably in London, date unknown; d. there, Aug. 17, 1791. She was a student of Waltz. In March 1751 she made her debut in a concert with Waltz in London. Arne engaged her to sing in his operas in 1754. From 1755 to 1777 she appeared frequently at London’s Drury Lane Theater. She also sang in Handel’s works from 1756 until his death in 1759. Young was best known as a concert and oratorio artist.

(5)Elizabeth Young, contralto, sister of the preceding; b. probably in London, date unknown; d. there, April 12,1773. She sang in Arne’s works in Dublin and in London in 1756. In 1758 she appeared as Lucy in The Beggar’s Opera in London. She sang frequently at London’s Drury Lane Theatre until 1772.

(6)Polly Young, soprano, sister of the two preceding; b. London, c. 1749; d. there, Sept. 20,1799. She was taken to Dublin as a child by the Arnes, and began singing in public when she was 6. After appearing as both an actress and a singer, she returned to London and sang at Covent Garden from 1762 to 1764. She appeared in minor roles at the King’s Theatre from 1764 until her marriage to François-Hippolyte Barthélémon in 1766. Thereafter they appeared in concerts in London, Ireland, and on the Continent.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire