Of German parentage, born in London in 1786, Charles Edward Horn was taught music by his father and by the famous castrato Rauzzini, embarking on a career as a singer and composer. He is chiefly known as the composer of Cherry Ripe, a song inserted into an opera in London in 1826 and one that gave rise to accusations of plagiarism, finally settled in his favour in court, because of alleged similarity to a song by Mozart’s English pupil Attwood.