Samuel Arnold (10 August 1740 – 22 October 1802) was an
English composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and def ...
and
organist.
Arnold was born in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
(his mother is said to have been
Princess Amelia; his father was Thomas Arnold). He began writing
music
Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
for the
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
in about the year 1764. A few years later, he became the director of music at
Marylebone Gardens, for which he wrote much of his
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
. In 1777, he worked for
George Colman the Elder at the Little Theatre,
Haymarket. In 1783, he became
organist at the
Chapel Royal and in 1793 he became the organist at
Westminster Abbey, where he was eventually buried. He also wrote the earliest version of
Humpty Dumpty. He was a close friend and associate of
Haydn.
Works
Arnold's best-known works include:
*''The Maid of the Mill'' (1765)
*''
Abimelech'' (1768)
*''The Prodigal Son'' (1773)
*Incidental music for ''
Macbeth
''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
'' (1778)
*''
The Baron Kinkvervankotsdorsprakingatchdern'' (1781)
*''The Castle of Andalusia'' (1782)
*''Two to One'' (1784), libretto
George Colman. Includes the song "Pensive I Mourn".
*''Turk and No Turk'' (1785)
* ''
Inkle and Yarico'' (1787)
* ''Juvenile Amusements'' (1797)
He is also known for producing the first collected edition of the works of
George Frideric Handel between 1787 and 1797, published in 180 parts. This was the most comprehensive collection of Handel's music prior to the appearance of the ''
Händel-Gesellschaft'' edition in the next century.
[Winton Dean, ''The New Grove Handel''. NY: Norton, 1982, p. 116. ]
"Composers: Samuel Arnold (1740 – 1802)" article
at naxos.com.
Bibliography
*
References
External links
*
*
1740 births
1802 deaths
18th-century English male musicians
18th-century English composers
18th-century English keyboardists
19th-century English composers
19th-century English organists
English Classical-period composers
English opera composers
English classical organists
English male opera composers
Composers from London
Samuel
Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...
Members of the Academy of Ancient Music
Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey
Burials at Westminster Abbey
19th-century English male musicians
English male classical organists
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