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Thomas Augustine Arne (d. 1778), the most fertile of the series, was born in London in 1710. From 1733 he wrote numerous operas, masques and other dramatic works, of which Artaxerxes (1762) is counted the best, though the masque Comus (1738), the oratorio Abel (1743) and some lighter pieces were very successful. In his oratorio Judith (1761) women-singers were used in the chorus for the first time. He was essentially a song-writer, but he cultivated all styles up to the Italian recitative and the florid aria. His settings of some of Shakespeare's songs are classic.
The English colonies in America, being in constant communication
with the mother-country, naturally copied many
features of its social life. Thus English ballad-operas and
similar half-musical entertainments began to be given in a few
American cities certainly from 1735, if not earlier, and became
fairly frequent after 1750.
The first ballad-opera drafted in America was The Disappointment (1767), the libretto (by Andrew Barton) involving the use of 18 popular airs. The projected performance of this at Philadelphia was given up because its satire was too personal. By whom the songs were to be arranged is not known. (See also sec. 164.)
