Myer Lyon
Myer Lyon (c. 1750 – 1796), better known on stage as Michael Leoni, was a chazzan at the Great Synagogue in London and a celebrated tenor opera singer in London and Dublin. He is best remembered for the Yigdal melody later known as "Leoni" which Thomas Olivers adapted for the hymn "The God of Abraham Praise".
Early life and synagogue career
Lyon was likely born in Frankfurt am Main, and came to London as a boy. By 1767 he was appointed a meshorrer (choirboy) at the Great Synagogue with a salary of 40 pounds per year. His voice quickly drew attention well beyond the Jewish community, and synagogue services on Friday nights began attracting non-Jewish listeners.
In 1772 the synagogue reduced his stipend amid financial constraints, which may have accelerated his move toward the public stage. Despite his growing operatic career, he continued to sing in synagogue for years and is reported to have avoided Friday performances in the theater so as not to conflict with synagogue duties.
Operatic career in London and Dublin
Lyon appeared on the London stage under the Italianate name Michael Leoni. He sang at Drury Lane and Covent Garden, with notable successes in Thomas Arne's Artaxerxes (1775) and Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Duenna. Contemporary accounts noted his unusually sweet tenor voice and wide range. A rumor that he was dismissed from the synagogue for appearing in Handel's Messiah circulated later but remains unsubstantiated.
From 1781 to 1784 he performed frequently in Dublin, and he may have officiated during High Holidays at the Marlborough Green synagogue. In 1783 he partnered with the composer Tommaso Giordani to open an English opera house on Capel Street. The venture failed within months, and Lyon returned to performance rather than management.
Lyon was also a mentor and uncle of the celebrated singer John Braham, who followed him into a prominent stage career.
The "Leoni" melody
Lyon's most enduring legacy is the melody for the closing hymn Yigdal during the Sabbath evening service in the Great Synagogue. In 1770 the Methodist minister Thomas Olivers heard Lyon sing it, asked for the tune, and wrote the Christian hymn "The God of Abraham Praise" to match it. The hymn quickly became popular in English-speaking churches, and the tune has since been known in hymnals as "Leoni." Whether Lyon composed the melody or transmitted an older tune remains debated, but the association has been fixed in both Jewish and Christian tradition.
Later years and Jamaica
After his final London stage appearances in the late 1780s, Lyon moved to Kingston, Jamaica to serve as chazzan of the Ashkenazi congregation, reportedly the first fully qualified cantor to hold that post in the English colonies. A gravestone in Kingston records his death as November 1796.
Legacy
Lyon's dual career made him one of the most visible Jewish musicians in late 18th-century Britain. His association with the "Leoni" tune ensured lasting influence in synagogue song as well as English hymnody, and his career helped bridge the worlds of cantorial music and the English operatic stage.