ARNOLD, Samuel (1740-1802) - Overture (III) in F (c.1781)

Samuel Arnold (1740-1802) - Overture (III) in F (c.1781)

Performers: Tοrοntο Camerata; Kevin Mallοn (conductor)

Painting: English School (18th Century) - Portrait of Samuel Arnold, half-length, in the robes of a Doctor of Music

Further info: Samuel Arnold (1740-1802) - Overture (VI) in D (c.1781)

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Samuel Arnold

(London, 10 August 1740 - London, 22 October 1802)

English composer, conductor, organist and editor. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, a commoner, and, according to some sources, the Princess Amelia. He received his education as a Child of the Chapel Royal (c.1750 to August 1758) and on leaving became known as an organist, conductor and teacher, and composed prolifically. He began writing music for the theatre in about the year 1764. A few years later, he became the director of music at Marylebone Gardens, for which he wrote much of his popular music. In 1777, he worked for George Colman the Elder at the Little Theatre, Haymarket. In 1783, he became organist at the Chapel Royal and in 1793 he became the organist at Westminster Abbey, where he was eventually buried. He also wrote the earliest version of Humpty Dumpty. He was a close friend and associate of Haydn. His compositions include sonatas, symphonies, and oratorios, as well as ballad operas, farces, and pantomimes. His Cathedral Music (1790), a collection of service music, was an important supplement to William Boyce’s Cathedral Music.