Ayrton, William
Ayrton, William
Ayrton, William, English writer, editor, and composer, son of Edmund Ayrton; b. London, Feb. 24, 1777; d. there, March 8, 1858. He pursued his career in London, where he helped to found the Phil. Soc. in 1813. He was both a music and literary critic for the Morning Chronicle (1813–26) and the Examiner (1837–51). In 1817 and 1821 he was impresario of the Italian opera at the King’s Theatre in Haymarket. In 1823 he founded the Harmonicon, a monthly music journal he ed. until 1833. He also ed. The Sacred Minstrelsy (London, 1834), The Musical Library (London, 1834–37), and The Madrigalian Feast (London, 1838). Ayrton married Samuel Arnold’s daughter Marianne in 1803. In 1807 he was elected a Fellow of the Soc. of Antiquaries and in 1837 he became a Fellow of the Royal Soc.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire