Samuel Arnold (composer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samuel Arnold (1740 - October 22, 1802) was an English composer and organist.

Arnold was born in London (his mother is said to have been Princess Amelia: his father was Thomas Arnold), and began writing music for the theatre in about 1764. A few years later he became director of music at the Marylebone Gardens, for which much of his popular music was written. In 1777 he went to work for George Colman the Elder at the Little Theatre, Haymarket. In 1783 he became organist at the Chapel Royal, and in 1793 he became organist at Westminster Abbey, where he was eventually buried.

Arnold's best-known works include:

• The Maid of the Mill (1765)
• The Prodigal Son (1773)
• The Castle of Andalusia (1782)
• Turk and No Turk (1785)
• Inkle and Yarico (1787)

He is also known for producing the first collected edition of the works of Georg Frideric Handel between 1787 and 1797, published in 180 parts. This was the most comprehensive collection of Handel's music prior to the appearance of the Händel-Gesellschaft edition in the next century.^[1]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Winton Dean, The New Grove Handel. NY: Norton, 1982, p. 116. ISBN 0393300862; "Composers: Samuel Arnold (1740 - 1802)" article at naxos.com.

Cultural offices
Preceded by Benjamin Cooke	Organist and Master of the Choristers of Westminster Abbey 1793–1802	Succeeded by Robert Cooke