Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/118

 Arne he occupied until his death. In 1745 Mrs. Arne was engaged at Vauxhall Gardens, while Arne was also commissioned to write songs for the concerts held at the same place. For Vauxhall, Marylebone, and Ranelagh he for many years wrote an immense number of detached songs and duets, many of which, though now forgotten, are well worth revival. In 1746 he wrote songs for a performance of 'The Tempest' at Drury Lane, amongst which is the charming setting of 'Where the Bee sucks,' which, after 'Rule Britanria,' is probably now the best remembered of his compositions. Two years later, on the death of Thomson, Mallet determined to remodel 'Alfred;' in its altered form it was produced at Drury Lane in Feb. 1751, on which occasion three additional stanzas were added to 'Rule Britannia;' these extra verses were said to have been written by Bolingbroke a few days before his death (, Memoirs of Garrick, London, 1808). About this time Mrs. Arne left off singing in public, her place being henceforth taken by the numerous pupils whom Arne brought before the public. As a teacher he enjoyed a great and deserved reputation, one secret of his success being the great importance he attached to the clear enunciation of the words in singing. His most distinguished pupil was Miss Brent, for whom he composed a number of bravura airs, which, being generally written for the display of her remarkable powers of execution, are of less value than the refined and delicate songs he wrote at an earlier period for his wife. For these occasional songs and airs he received twenty guineas for every collection of eight or nine compositions (Add. MS. 28959). On 12 March 1755, he produced his first oratorio, 'Abel;' but neither this nor a svibsequent work, 'Judith' (produced at the chapel of the Lock Hospital, Pimlico, on 29 Feb. 1764) achieved any success, mainly, it is said, owing to the inadequacy of the forces at his disposal for the performances. On 6 July 1759, the university of Oxford conferred upon Arne the degree of doctor of music. The relations of Arne with Garrick at this period seem to have become rather strained. Garrick was no musician, and Arne, whose talent was beginning to suffer from overproduction, had written one or two works for Drury Lane (then under Garrick's management) which had been decided failures. It is therefore not surprising to find that in 1760 Arne transferred his services to the rival house of Covent Garden, where, on 28 Nov. 1760, his 'Thomas and Sally' was played with Beard, Mattocks, and Miss Brent in the chief parts. Arne's next venture was a bold one, but, as the result proved, perfectly successful. Determined to give Miss Brent an exceptional opportunity for the display of her powers, he translated the Abbate Metastasio's 'Artaserse,' setting it to music in the florid and artificial style of the Italian opera of the day. The opera was produced at Covent Garden on 2 Feb. 1762, the parts of Mandane, Arbaces, Artabanes, Artaxerxes, Rimenes and Semira being respectively filled by Miss Brent, Tenducci, Beard, Peretti, Mattocks, and Miss Thomas. The work was immediately successful, and long kept the stage, yet Arne, when it was printed, only received from the publisher the trifling sum of sixty guineas for the copyright. 'Artaxerxes' was followed by several works of no great importance, the chief of which were 'Love in a Village,' a successful pasticcia produced in 1762; and a setting, to the original Italian words, of Metastasio's 'Olimpiade,' a work which was produced at the Haymarket in 1764, but was only performed twice. In 1765 Arne was for a short time a member of the Madrigal Society (Records of the Madrigal Soc). In 1769 Garrick, with whom Arne, though never on very good terms, seems to have always kept up some sort of intercourse, commissioned the composer to write music for the ode performed at the Shakespeare jubilee at Stratford-on-Avon. For this setting of Garrick's verses Arne received 63l., and in addition to this a performance of his oratorio 'Judith' at the parish church was somewhat incongruously included in the programme of the festivities in honour of Shakespeare. Arne now remained on tolerably good terms with the managers of both houses, and the record of the rest of his life consists of little more than a chronicle of the production of numerous light operas and incidental music written for different plays. During these years (from 1769 until 1778) he composed and wrote music for the following works: 'The Ladies' Frolic,' 'The Cooper,' 'May Day,' 'The Rose' (said to have been written by 'an Oxford student,' but generally attributed to Arne), 'The Fairy Prince,' 'The Contest of Beauty and Virtue,' 'Phœbe at Court,' 'The Trip to Portsmouth,' and Mason's tragedies of 'Elfrida' and 'Caractacus.' The latter work was published in 1775, with a preface and introduction in which Arne shows a curious insight into the relationship between dramatic poetry and music. He expresses opinions on the subject, the truth of which, though couched in the stilted language of the period, is only beginning to be recognised at the present day. The overture