A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Sunderland, Mrs.

SUNDERLAND, Mrs., whose maiden name was Sykes, was born at Brighouse, Yorkshire, in 1819. It was as a member of the Halifax Choral Society that her voice first attracted attention, and she was taken in hand first by Luke Settle, a blacksmith of Brighouse, and then by Dan Sugden of Halifax, both renowned local musicians. Under their training she became a very prominent member of the old-fashioned quartet choirs, which then existed in Yorkshire churches. Her first appearance as a solo singer was on Feb. 19, 1838, at a concert given in the Exchange Rooms, Bradford. She at once became a local celebrity, was styled the 'Yorkshire Queen of Song,' and for more than a quarter of a century was the leading vocalist in the North of England. She was physically robust, and her voice was a high soprano of great force and volume, which she managed with much expression. Her repertoire was chiefly composed of the principal songs in the Messiah, Judas, and the Creation; but she had also some secular songs, mostly of a popular kind. Her first appearance in London was in the Messiah at Exeter Hall, Nov. 2, 1849, and she continued to sing first soprano for the Sacred Harmonic Society and other bodies in the Messiah, Creation, Elijah, etc., until 1856. The directors of the Antient Concerts esteemed her voice and expression so much that they offered to send her abroad for further tuition. Indeed had her early training equalled the quality of her voice and her natural feeling, there can be little doubt that she would have risen to very great general eminence. Her last appearance in public was in the Messiah, at Huddersfield, June 3, 1864. Mrs. Sunderland married at the age of 19, and now lives at Calder View, Brighouse.

[ G. ]