Thomas Arne

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Thomas Augustine Arne

Thomas Augustine Arne (March 12, 1710 – March 5, 1778) was an English composer.

Best known for the patriotic "Rule, Britannia!", Arne was born in the Covent Garden area of London; his father and grandfather were upholsterers. He was educated at Eton College. A chance meeting with composer Michael Christian Festing would become key as Festing would pursuade the elder Arne to allow his son to pursue a career in music. Arne's sister, Susannah Maria Arne, was a famous contralto, who performed in some of his works, including his first opera, Rosamund. They and their brother Richard would often perform Arne's works together. Between 1733 and 1776, Arne wrote music for about 90 stage works, including plays, masques, pantomimes, and opera. Many of his dramatic scores are now lost, probably in the disastrous fire at Covent Garden in 1808.^[1]

Arne was a Freemason^[2] and active in the organisation which has long been centred around the Covent Garden area of London, of which Arne was a native.

On 15 March 1737 [1], Arne married singer Cecilia Young, whose sister, Isabella was the wife of John Frederick Lampe. Arne's operas and masques became very popular, and he received the patronage of Frederick, Prince of Wales, at whose country home, Cliveden, the Masque of Alfred, featuring "Rule Britannia", was debuted.

In 1741 Arne filed a complaint in Chancery pertaining to a breach of musical copyright and claimed that some of his theatrical songs had been printed and sold by Henry Roberts and John Johnson, the London booksellers and music distributors. The matter was settled out of court. Thomas Arne subsequently wrote:
"As Mr. Arne has His Majesty's royal Patent for the sole printing and publishing of his works, he humbly hopes no Gentlemen or Ladies will give any Encouragement to pirated copies, written or printed, such persons who deliver them acting in open contempt of His Majesty's Authority and greatly injuring the Author in his Property. And as Mr. Arne can offend no honest Shopkeeper in maintaining his Right; he gives the Public Notice, that whosoever shall offer to write or print any of his works shall be prosecuted according to law."^{[cite this quote]}
Arne was certainly one of the very first composers to have appealed to the law over copyright issues. ^[3]

In 1750, after an argument with David Garrick, Susannah left Drury Lane for Covent Garden Theatre, and Thomas followed. In 1755, he separated from Cecilia, who, he alleged, was mentally ill. He began a relationship with one of his pupils, Charlotte Brent, a soprano and former child prodigy. Brent performed in several of Arne's works including the role of Sally in his 1760 opera Thomas and Sally and Mandane in his 1762 opera Artaxerxes. Thomas and Sally was the first English comic opera to be sung throughout (it contained no dialogue).^[4] Artaxerxes was one of the most successful and influential English operas of the eighteenth century and is the only known attempt to write an Italianate, Metastasian opera seria, in the English language.^[5] Eventually Brent and Arne went their separate ways and Brent married a violinist. In 1777, shortly before his death, Arne and his wife were reconciled. They had one son, Michael Arne. Thomas Arne is buried at St Paul's, Covent Garden, London.