A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Vaughan, Thomas

by William Henry Husk

VAUGHAN, Thomas, born in Norwich in 1782, was a chorister of the cathedral there under Dr. Beckwith. In June 1799 he was elected a lay-clerk of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. On May 28, 1803, he was admitted a gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and about the same time obtained the appointments of vicar-choral of St. Paul's and lay-vicar of Westminster Abbey. In March 1806 he resigned his place at Windsor and in the same year married Miss Tennant, who had appeared as a soprano singer about 1797, and from 1800 had sung at the Concert of Ancient Music and the provincial festivals, and for some years occupied a good position. Becoming estranged from her husband she appeared on the stage at Drury Lane (as Mrs. Tennant) in secondary parts, and eventually subsided into a chorus-singer at minor theatres. In 1813 Vaughan was chosen to succeed Samuel Harrison as principal tenor at the Concert of Ancient Music and the provincial festivals, which position he occupied for more than a quarter of a century. His voice was a genuine tenor, the deficiency of natural power in which was concealed by purity of tone, great distinctness of pronunciation, and faultlessness of intonation. Harrison's style was chaste, refined, and unaffectedly sublime. He [App. p.808 "Vaughan"] sang the tenor part in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on its production by the Philharmonic Society, London, March 21, 1826 [App. p.807 "1825"]. He died at Birmingham, Jan. 9, 1843, and was buried Jan. 17, in the west cloister of Westminster Abbey.

[ W. H. H. ]