Willoughby Weiss

[4] In 1846 he appeared at Drury Lane opposite Anna Bishop in the premiere of Lewis Henry Lavenu's opera Loretta:A Tale of Seville, as Don Juanito.

In that year Weiss was in Jarrett's company at Drury Lane, with Reeves, Agnes Büry, Mme Rudersdorff, Louisa Pyne and others, in a season including Lucia, Fra Diavolo, La sonnambula, Il Seraglio and Masaniello.

[8] The fellow-Liverpudlian Charles Santley, who often sang with him (and refers to his 'well-merited position as the leading (English) basso of his time'), called him 'a fine, handsome fellow, about six foot two in height, slim in his youth.'

[9] Santley and Weiss gave famous performances of Handel's duet 'The Lord is a Man of War' from Israel in Egypt, perhaps first at the opening of Leeds Town Hall by Queen Victoria in 1858.

[10] In the centennial Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace in 1859 he was the bass soloist, with Mmes Novello, Sainton-Dolby, Sims Reeves and Giovanni Belletti, in the Messiah, Israel in Egypt and Judas Maccabaeus.