George Biggin et al. in London, England - 15 December, 1799
from Letter from Thomas Moore to his mother, Anastasia Moore, 19 December 1799, pages 98–99:
I dined with Mr. Biggin on Sunday. […] He is a man of very easy fortune, and quite a virtuoso: he is a great chemist, mechanic, musician, and he has undertaken to eradicate my bilious complaint. A charming woman made the third at a very elegant dinner. She is the most exquisite performer I ever heard on the piano; and he has a beautiful organ, which she plays in the grandest cathedral style. They have lately been at Brussels, and collected all the newest music on the Continent. I never had such a banquet.
Thomas Moore, Letter from Thomas Moore to his mother, Anastasia Moore, 19 December 1799. In Lord John Russell (ed.), Memoirs, Journal and Correspondence of Thomas Moore, volume 1 (London, 1853), p. 98–99. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1558369578816 accessed: 25 November, 2024
Listeners
Listening to
hide composers| unspecified piano and organ music | performed by an unnamed woman |
Experience Information
| Date/Time | 15 December, 1799 |
| Medium | live |
| Listening Environment | in the company of others, in private, indoors |
Notes
Mr Biggin with whom Thomas Moore dined can be identified as George Biggin (d. 1803) from a previous letter from Moore to his mother, in which he says of Mr Biggin that ‘it is from him the coffee biggins take their name, and from them he has taken his money’ (Dec. 14, 1799). George Biggin was credited with having invented the coffee biggin. As a young man he assisted Vincenzo Lunardi with his first balloon flights in London in 1785. In 1788 he inherited the Cosgrove estate in Northamptonshire. He took a great interest in science, the arts and literature. In 1802 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society for his work in chemistry.