Elizabeth Billington (1765 or 1768 in London – 25 August 1818 in Venice) was a British opera singer born in London, her father being a German[1] clarinetist named Carl Friedrich Weichsel (d. 1811), and her mother Fredericka Weichsel née Weirman (d. 1786), a popular singer. Her brother, Charles Weichsel (c. 1768–1850), was a talented violinist.
A pupil of her father, Johann Christian Bach and Johann Samuel Schroeter (also spelled Schröter), she was considered as a child prodigy. At nine, on 10 March 1774, she played in a concert at the Haymarket Theatre with her brother, aged six. Although this is probable but not proven, she was also reported to have published two sets of sonatas before she was twelve. She made her debuts as a concert singer in Oxford, at the age of fourteen. On 13 October 1783 she married James Billington (1756–1794), a double-bass player.[2]
She had a voice of unusual compass, and as Rosetta in Love in a Village she had a great success at Covent Garden in 1786, being engaged for the season at a salary of 1000, a large sum in those days. Her position as a singer in London was now assured. In 1794 she and her husband went to Italy, and Mrs Billington appeared at Naples (where she was the heroine of a new opera, Inez di Castro, written for her by F. Bianchi), at Florence, at Venice and at Milan. Her husband died suddenly during the tour, and in 1799 she married a Frenchman named Felissent, whom, however, she left in 1801.[3]
Returning to England, she appeared alternately at Covent Garden and Drury Lane, her professional income during 1801 amounting to between 10,000 and 15,000. Henceforward she sang in Italian opera until the end of 1810, when ill health forced her to abandon her profession. In 1817 she was reconciled to her husband, and went with him to live near Venice, where she died on 25 August 1818.[4]
Haydn said of her, that Sir Joshua Reynolds should rather have painted the angels listening to Mrs Billington singing, than have depicted, as he did, Mrs Billington listening to the angels.