Opera Scotland

Charles Horn Suggest updates

Charles Edward Horn.

Born London, 21 June 1786.

Died Boston, Mass., 21 October 1849.

English singer, conductor and composer.

Charles Horn had a notably diverse career, composing operas himself and singing in others. The range of his voice permitted him to sing both tenor and baritone roles.

He studied first with his father, Karl Friedrich Horn.

Later Horn studied with Venanzio Rauzzini (1746-1810), a famous castrato singer and composer, and a former colleague of Mozart.

Rauzzini, who spent his retirement in Bath, had created a leading role in Mozart's Lucio Silla (Milan 1772). Rauzzini also gave the first performance there of Mozart's famous motet 'Exsultate, jubilate'.

Later career

From 1809 Charles Horn sang at the London Lyceum and at Covent Garden, and later composed a series of ballad operas.