The Theatre Career of Thomas Arne by Todd Gilman

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Theatre Career of Thomas Arne by Todd Gilman David J. Golby Todd Gilman. The Theatre Career of Thomas Arne. Newark: Delaware, 2013. Pp. xix + 623. $120. As I sit writing, I am some 20 kilometers from Cliveden, the English country house where the premier of Arne’s Alfred took place. This masque features his most famous composition by far: the song “Rule, Britannia.” The open-air, landscaped amphitheatre where the song was first performed is still in evidence, but it is very easily missed among the more spectacular and ostentatious sights of the estate. This is perhaps entirely appropriate, as the originator of this tune has also slipped almost entirely from view over the years, while the euphuistic jingoism of the creation itself retains prominence in the British consciousness. And even if it reaches a global audience of many millions every year at the Last Night of the Proms, it is possible that the people who could name its composer are a tiny fraction of those [End Page 109] who could whistle its first few bars. British Prime Minister David Cameron was famously castigated for mistaking Arne for Elgar as the composer of this celebrated ode when interviewed by David Letterman on U.S. television (2012). While it is easy to scoff at Cameron’s ignorance, I wonder how many British musicians would have given the correct answer. Arne is surely in need of a twenty-first-century champion, and Mr. Gilman assumes this role. His book is highly readable. Arne’s reputation has been paid an enormous disservice, and Mr. Gilman is well placed to tackle the question of his neglect head-on. In the “Polemical Introduction,” he asks if he has been the victim of “Handel-mania” and conventions of taste among the social elite and learned who have judged his music mainly on the basis of contemporary aesthetic prejudices rather than on intrinsic worth—prejudices promulgated in subsequent centuries up to the present day. Is Arne’s reputation and standing still the victim of his being perceived among contemporaries and others as “Handel-lite,” his “beautiful” music considered in British critical circles as inferior to Handel’s “sublime” offerings? This perception of gravitas and seriousness in an artist, whether composer or performer, is crucially important in the confirmation of relative merit and longevity. Critics were particularly receptive to the “sublime” in the (often sacred) work of foreign musicians. Unlike the Handel-obsessed majority, as represented by composers such as William Boyce, Arne was forward-looking, experimented with the galant style, and most often put himself at the mercy of the notoriously fickle middle-class theater and pleasure garden audiences—not the first or last native musician to suffer the consequences of showing much greater ambition as an artist than the play-it-safe norm, risking the almost inevitable unfavorable comparisons with the nonnative elite. Despite this “glass ceiling,” Arne accomplished a great deal and enjoyed commercial success, particularly for his stage music. His gift for melody, the cultivation of a highly influential vocal style, and his combination of “English” grace, elegance, and simplicity with “Celtic mellifluousness” were rewarded with great successes during his career. Charles Burney, his articled apprentice from 1744, is crucial in assessing Arne’s reputation among his contemporaries to the present day, and persistently supports Arne’s “light” style and preeminent position among native composers. Working chronologically, the minutiae of Arne’s life and dealings with the theatrical world reveal gems, including his connections with Drury Lane, Vauxhall Gardens, and the long-term and fluctuating collaborations between Arne and Garrick (it is clear that Arne’s respect for Garrick was not reciprocated, and relations between them were often strained). The machinations of the life of a successful native composer and the shenanigans, intrigue, infidelities, business dealings, and politics (including the “calamitous” Licensing Act of 1737), that went on behind the scenes give this story life. The rich tapestry of personal and professional allegiances, including the coming together of musical families through business, marriage or both, all enrich the drama. The circumstances surrounding the composition and performance of Arne’s most celebrated piece, “Rule, Britannia,” are a case in point...