Sacred Music
Compared to his most important English contemporaries, William Boyce and John Stanley, Arne's output of sacred music was incredibly small. The major reason for his lack of contribution to this area was due to his Roman Catholic faith, which was at odds with the Church of England during his lifetime.
| Completion | Title | Genre | Other details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1744 | The Death of Abel | oratorio | Words after Metastasio, lost except for Hymn of Eve (printed 1756) |
| 1744 | Judith | oratorio | Words by I. Bickerstaff based on the Book of Judith, printed score without recits and choruses (1761), and a complete score at the British Library |
| unknown | Mass in F | mass | Written for a performance at Lulworth Castle in Dorset. The music is either lost or potentially the same as that of an anonymous composer. Written for three voices and organ sometime before 1770. |
| unknown | Mass in G | mass | Written for a performance at Lulworth Castle in Dorset. Written for four voices and organ sometime before 1770. Score still exists as does a revised version for fewer voices. |
| 1770 | Libera me | dirge | Written for the funeral of Francis Pemberton on 28 June 1770. Contains SSATB chorus, organ, soprano, tenor, and baritone soloists. Music exists and was printed by Oxford Publishing in 1950. |
| Unknown | O salutaris hostia | motet | Copy of the music exists at the British Library in London. Written sometime between 1771–1776. |
| 1777 | 1 song in Samuel Arnold’s The Prodigal Son | oratorio | Published in The Syren (1777). |
Read more about this topic: List Of Compositions By Thomas Arne
Famous quotes containing the words sacred and/or music:
“Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,
And did my Sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred Head
For such a worm as I?”
—Isaac Watts (1674–1748)
“I fear I agree with your friend in not liking all sermons. Some of them, one has to confess, are rubbish: but then I release my attention from the preacher, and go ahead in any line of thought he may have started: and his after-eloquence acts as a kind of accompaniment—like music while one is reading poetry, which often, to me, adds to the effect.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)