The Solo English Cantatas And Italian Odes Of Thomas A Arne

This study examines Thomas Arne’s solo cantatas and Italian odes from musical, literary and social perspectives. Arne composed these works between 1740 and 1774. As such, they provide a means of evaluating the evolving aspects of his musical style throughout his compositional career. The Italian odes have been little-studied, but provide an important gloss on Charles Burney’s comments on Arne’s inability to set the Italian language. Study of the cantata texts that Arne set reveals that they are often pastiches which make use of the words of William Congreve, Alexander Pope, Christopher Smart and others. The resulting process of adaptation and recombination re-contextualizes the borrowed material, resulting in differing emphases and changed meanings. Arne was restricted in his career opportunities because of his Catholic faith. The cantata genre provided Arne with an important creative outlet in the hedonistic atmosphere of the concerts of London’s pleasure gardens.

"This compendium reflects the latest international research into the many and various uses of music in relation to Shakespeare's plays and poems, the contributors' lines of enquiry extending from the Bard's own time to the present day. The coverage is global in its scope, and includes studies of Shakespeare-related music in countries as diverse as China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, and the Soviet Union, as well as the more familiar Anglophone musical and theatrical traditions of the UK and USA. The range of genres surveyed by the book's team of distinguished authors embraces music for theatre, opera, ballet, musicals, the concert hall, and film, in addition to Shakespeare's ongoing afterlives in folk music, jazz, and popular music. The authors take a range of diverse approaches: some investigate the evidence for performative practices in the Early Modern and later eras, while others offer detailed analyses of representative case studies, situating these firmly in their cultural contexts, or reflecting on the political and sociological ramifications of the music. As a whole, the volume provides a wide-ranging compendium of cutting-edge scholarship engaging with an extraordinarily rich body of music without parallel in the history of the global arts"--

This book highlights the experiences of castrato singers in Britain during the long eighteenth-century. These singers stood apart from traditional cultural and sexual norms of the period by nature of their altered bodies. The work investigates the fears surrounding the possibility of Catholic influence in the nation, and the ability of sensual Italian operatic music to feminize the male population and weaken the country’s leaders. The castrato as a possible romantic rival to “normal” men is also discussed, while the contributions of the castrati to cultural leadership in the areas of teaching, concert direction and social influence are examined. This book will appeal to music historians and those interested in cultural and gender studies.

This book concerns the life and theatrical career of the great native-born English composer and musician of the eighteenth century, Thomas Augustine Arne (1710-1778), best known today as the composer of "Rule, Britannia." It will appeal to those interested in the mid-to-late eighteenth-century London and Dublin theatre, opera, and music scenes.

Catalog furnishes information about the solo secular cantata (and cantata-like works) in eighteenth-century Britain in a format of use to scholars, teacher, and performers. This repertory has much to commend for both study and performance. Confined to the eighteenth century, it provides valuable insights into this period of British musical life. Includes a body of attractive and useful music.