Songs of ALL TIME

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 35, 10 February 1939, Page 9

Songs of ALL TIME

THAT the crack-brained idea of the existence of the philosopher’ s stone should still be in someone’s calculations as late as the 18th century seems incredible to us to-day. Yet Michael Arne, composer of songs and operas, and son of the great Doctor Arne, of *fRule, Britannia?’ fame, had this bee i in his bonnet. Michael Arne (1741-86) made an early stage debut as a boy. vocalist in Thomas Otiway’s tragedy, ‘‘The Orphan,’’ and this connection with the theatre lasted the whole of his life. He was a composer of many songs and pieces for the harpsichord, on which instrument he played very well, On one occasion Michael Arne went over to Dublin to produce Garrick’s "Cymon" at the Crow Street Theatre, and fancying himself a great alchem‘st, actually took a house at Richmond, near Dublin. Within these walls, neglecting all his music pupils, he gave himself up o a scientific search for gold. The consequences were ruin and a "sponging house," or detention place for debt. Arne was under a contract to supply an opera for Covent Garden. The father of Michael Kelly, the Singer, knowing him, sent him a piano and supplied him with wine. While in "durance vile" Michael Arne composed some beautiful music. In return for the elder Kelly’s kindness Arn. gay Kelly junior a lesson every day, and, after his release, continued to be particularly attentive to him. Not only in Dublin, but in London, in order to follow his quest, he built a large laboratory at Chelsea, where his expectations were not realised. He had the good sense to return to music, and he afterwards composed for Covent Garden, Vauxhall and Ranelagh. Vicissitudes and hardships as well as successes were Arne’s portion and he carried on his musical work abroad as well as in England. He had the distinction of conducting tie first performance in Germany of Handel’s "Messiah." That was in 1772. His chief work was a musical setting of "Tristram Shandy." Always In Debt The first Mrs. Arn: supported her husband for years by singing at Vauxhall Gardens, and Dr. Burney says of him: "He was always in debt, and oft- in prison: he sung his first wife to death, and starved the second, leaving her in absolute beggary." While Michael Arne’s music was not as complex as his father’s, it did succeed in b-ing pleasing. His song, "The Lass With the Delicate Air," so frequently wrongly credited to his father, Dr. Arne, proves his ability to compose a lasting gem of English song. The words of the last verse of Arne’s immortal song are:A thousand times o’er I’ve repeated my suit, And still the tormentor affects to be mute; Then tell me, ye. swains, who have conquered the fair, How to win the dear lass with the delicate air. 4YA listeners will hear a choral arrangement of Michael Arne’s song, "The Lass With the Delicate Air," sung by the Dunedin Glee Singers, on Monday, February 13.