Marriage on a Sour Note

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The best-known picture of composer Thomas Arne shows him scowling as he plays the harpsichord. The scowl apparently was an expression Arne wore often. He was one of the finest composers in 18th century England. His “Ode in Honor of Great Britain”—better known as “Rule Britannia”—is one of the world’s noblest anthems, but Thomas Arne himself was far less noble than his music, as his dealings with his wife demonstrate.

Cecilia Young was a capable soprano. She married Arne in 1736, despite her father’s objections. For many years, Cecilia Arne traveled and performed with her husband and both enjoyed considerable popularity. Accounts of her singing suggest that Mrs. Arne’s performances contributed a good deal to the success of her husband’s music. But as the years went by, illness limited her performing more and more. Arne was not one to stand by in sickness and in health. In 1756 he left her.

Although the composer had permanent positions with two major London theaters, he resisted supporting the wife he had left behind. In 1770 Mrs. Arne sent her husband a lawyer a letter threatening legal proceedings, saying that what money he had sent her “fell greatly short of supplying her with common necessaries, and that even that small sum was in arrears.”

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Arne replied that setbacks had left him with little money to spare, adding that any further annoyance might prompt him to cut off his support completely.

About then Arne began falling out with some of his best friends—Charles Burney the music historian and David Garrick the actor. His work became second rate.

Then, in 1777, after more than twenty years of separation, husband and wife were reconciled when Arne agreed to see Cecilia again for the sake of his ten-year-old grand niece. Although it was happy, the reconciliation was short-lived because within a year, Thomas Arne died.