Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reinhold, Thomas
REINHOLD, THOMAS (1690?–1751), singer, reputed to be the son of the archbishop of Dresden, was born in Dresden about 1690. He early showed an aptitude for music, which his family apparently discouraged. But he secretly left Dresden to follow Handel, a friend of his reputed father, to London. There, through Handel's good offices, he came under the protection of Frederick, prince of Wales, who ultimately stood sponsor to his eldest son (see below). In 1731 Reinhold, described as Reynholds, was singing at the Haymarket Theatre. He sang in the first performance of Handel's ‘Arminio’ at Covent Garden on 12 Jan. 1737, and created principal parts in many of Handel's operas and oratorios (Grove, Dict. of Music and Musicians, iii. 103). Reinhold was one of the founders, in 1738, of the Royal Society of Musicians. When vocal music was added to the other attractions of Vauxhall Gardens in 1745, Reinhold was one of the first singers engaged. He died in Chapel Street, Soho, in 1751, and on 20 May Garrick lent his theatre for a benefit performance for his widow and children (cf. London Daily Advertiser).
His son, Charles Frederick Reinhold (1737–1815), bass singer, was born in London in 1737, and became a chorister at St. Paul's and the Chapel Royal. He was brought up by the Royal Society of Musicians, and made his first appearance on the stage as Oberon in Christopher Smith's opera ‘The Fairies’ in 1755. Four years later he began a long career as singer at Marylebone Gardens. He seems to have been an actor as well as a singer, for he appeared at the gardens on 30 Oct. 1769, as Giles in the ‘Maid of the Mill.’ He also sang at many of the Lent oratorios in 1784 and subsequent years, and in 1784 he was one of the principal basses at the Handel commemoration in Westminster Abbey. In the previous year he had been appointed organist of St. George-the-Martyr, Bloomsbury. He retired from public life in 1797, and died in Somers Town on 29 Sept. 1815. He is described as an admirable singer, but a parsimonious man.
[Musical Times, 1877, p. 273; Parke's Musical Memoirs, vol. i. passim, but pp. 249–50 especially; Burney's Hist. of Music, iv. 401; Oulton's Continuation of Victor and Oulton's Histories of the Theatres of London and Dublin. ]