Arne

(a ˙ rn), Thomas Augustine, English composer, born at London 1710, died 1778. His first opera, Fair Rosamond , was performed in 1733 at Lincoln's-Inn Fields, and was received with great applause. Then followed a version of Fielding's Tom Thumb , altered into The Opera of Operas , a musical burlesque. His style in the Comus (1738) is still more original and cultivated. To him we owe the national air Rule, Britannia , originally given in a popular piece called the Masque of Alfred . After having composed two oratorios and several operas he received the degree of Doctor of Music at Oxford. He composed, also, music for several of the songs in Shakespeare's dramas, and various pieces of instrumental music.