Arne

Arne, Thomas Augustine, a celebrated English musician, born in 1710. He went to Eton, where his taste for music was repressed, and he was articled to a solicitor on leaving school. Nevertheless he contrived in his leisure to acquire such a knowledge of the art that in 1732 his father gave way and allowed him to take his own course. His first work, an opera entitled Rosamond, was composed for the appearance of his sister, afterwards Mrs. Cibber, and during upwards of forty years he produced a succession of pieces in every style, from songs for Vauxhall to sonatas and oratorios, such as Abel and Judith. His operas were highly popular, and Artaxerxes, the first attempt to apply Italian methods to English compositions, held the stage for eighty years. His fame rests on none of his more ambitious efforts, but on the air of Rule Britannia, introduced into the Masque of Alfred, on his setting of the Shakespearian lyrics, Where the Bee Sucks, Blow, Blow, thou Wintry Wind, etc., and on his sweet and tuneful glees. He died in 1778.