Editing Thomas Ball (artist) (section)

===Musician===
Ball was an accomplished musician from his teenage years, working as a paid singer in Boston churches.<ref>Ball, ''Threescore'', 69–70, 237</ref> He performed as an unpaid soloist with the [[Handel and Haydn Society]] beginning in 1846 and with that organization, sang the title role in the first United States performance of Mendelssohn's ''[[Elijah (oratorio)|Elijah]]'',<ref name=johnson>H. Earle Johnson, ''Hallelujah, Amen!: The Story of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston'' (Boston: Bruce Humphries, 1965), 64–6</ref><ref name=nytobit /> and the baritone solos in Rossini's ''Moses in Egypt''. On a visit to Boston years later, he performed the baritone role in Boston's first performance of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]] with the [[Germania Orchestra]] on April 2, 1853.<ref>Johnson, ''Hallelujah'', 75</ref><ref>Ball, ''Threescore'', 154</ref>