Elizabeth Weichsell (1765-1818)
- Lessons (I & II) for the Harpsichord from 'Three lessons [D,
Es, A] for the harpsichord or piano forte ... by Elizabeth Weichsell, a
child eight years of age. [London, Welcker]' (1773)
Performers: Pau NG on Sibelius with samples of a German harpsichord
(18th Century)
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English singer and composer. Daughter of the singer Frederika Wierman
(c.1745-1786) and the oboist Carl Weichsell, she received early music
lessons from her parents. She made her debut as a child in 1775 and
studied under Johann Christian Bach and Johann Friedrich Schroeter. On
13 October 1783 she was married under her mother's maiden name, Wierman,
at Lambeth Church to James Billington, a double-bass player in the
Drury Lane orchestra, from whom she had had lessons in singing.
Immediately after their marriage the Billingtons went to Dublin, where
she made her first appearance on the stage in the part of 'Eurydice'. In
1785 she settled in Paris where she received lessons from the Antonio
Sacchini, whose last pupil she was. She returned to London for the
season of 1786-87, and continued to sing there, at Covent Garden, the
Concerts of Ancient Music, the so-called Oratorios, and the Handel
Commemorations, until the end of 1793. In 1792 there appeared an
anonymous publication, which professed to contain her private
correspondence with her mother. This work was of so disgraceful and
scurrilous a description that Mrs. Billington was forced to take legal
proceedings against the publishers. An answer to the 'Memoirs' appeared
in due course ; but it seems probable that the scandal induced Mrs.
Billington to abandon her profession and retire to the Continent.
Accompanied by her brother and her husband, she left England early in
1794, and travelled by way of Germany to Italy. At Naples she was
induced by Sir William Hamilton, the English ambassador, to sing in
private before the royal family.
This led to her singing at the San Carlo, where she appeared in a new
opera, 'Inez di Castro,' written expressly for her by Francesco Bianchi,
on 30 May 1794. Her singing created an extraordinary impression, but
her triumph was cut short by the sudden death of her husband, which took
place the day after her first appearance, as he was preparing to
accompany his wife to the theatre, after dining with the Bishop of
Winchester. She stayed at Naples sixteen months, and then sang at
Florence, Leghorn, Milan, Venice, and Trieste. In 1797, when singing at
Venice, she was prostrated with a severe illness for six weeks. At Milan
she was received with much favour by the Joséphine de Beauharnais, and
here she met a young Frenchman, M. Felissent, to whom she was married in
1799. After her second marriage she went to live at St. Artien, an
estate she had bought between Venice and Treviso; but her life was
rendered so insupportable by the ill-treatment she received from her
husband that in 1801 she left him and returned to England. Felissent,
who, it was said, had been publicly flogged as an impostor at Milan,
followed her to London, but he was arrested and expelled the country as
an alien. Her return to London caused a great stir in the musical world.
From this time until her retirement in 1811 she continued to sing in
Italian opera. After her retirement she lived in princely style at a
villa at Fulham. In 1817 she returned with her husband to Italy and
there were rumours that he was responsible for her death. As a composer,
she wrote a few songs and two sets of keyboard pieces. Her brother
Charles Weichsell (1767-1850) was a violinist and composer, mainly
active in Dublin and London.
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