Opera Scotland

Thomas Arne Suggest updates

Thomas Augustine Arne

Born London, c 12 March 1710 (baptised 28 May).

Died London, 5 March 1778.

English composer.

Arne's most successful operatic works were probably two short ballad operas, Thomas and Sally (1760) and Love in a Village (1762).  Between these he composed a full-length English opera in the Italian style, Artaxerxes.  Among his many stage works he also composed a patriotic masque, Alfred, which contains perhaps his most famous song, 'Rule Britannia!'

Stage works performed in Scotland are shown in bold:

01   Rosamond (London 1733) (Addison)

02   Comus (London 1738) (Dalton, after Milton)

03   Alfred (private Cliveden 1740; public London 1745) (Thomson & Mullet)

04   The Judgment of Paris (London 1742) (Congreve)

05   Thomas and Sally, or The Sailor's Return (London 1761) (Bickerstaffe)

06   Artaxerxes (London 1762) (Metastasio, trans Arne)

07   Love in a Village (London 1762) (Bickerstaffe)

08   The Guardian Outwitted (London 1764) ()

09   The Fairy Prince (London 1771) ()

10   The Cooper (London 1772) (Arne)

11   Olimpiade (lost) (Metastasio)

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