Michael Arne

[5] After 1745 Michael spent the majority of his childhood in the care of his aunt and celebrated actress Susannah Maria Cibber due to his mother's frequent illnesses and his father's busy career.

[3] He began his musical career as a singer appearing in Francesco Onofrio Manfredini’s concert on 20 February 1750.

[6] Michael's obvious lack of enthusiasm for singing prevailed and he focused primarily on music composition and organ and harpsichord performance after the summer of 1750.

Arne also showed an early talent as a composer, and his first collection of vocal art songs entitled The Floweret was published in 1750.

The collection included the Scottish-style song "The Highland Laddie", which became popular and as late as 1775 was adapted by Thomas Linley the elder in The Duenna.

He wrote several successful operas, a significant amount of incidental music for plays, and published several song collections.

In 1764 he collaborated with Jonathan Battishill in setting Richard Rolt’s Almena, which was a theatrical flop but praised for its fine music.

The previous year he had met soprano Elizabeth Wright after hearing her perform at Ranelagh Gardens.

Arne's wife sang in several more of his stage works as well as other productions in leading roles at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane throughout the 1760s.

These financial problems caused a considerable amount of stress and tension in his marriage, and Arne ended up in debtor's prison in early 1769.

Elizabeth died on 1 May 1769 while he was in prison, and Charles Burney blamed Arne for his wife's early death due to the overwork and stress he had subjected her to.

[3] While in Ireland, Arne began to pursue alchemy once more and he took a house at Clontarf in the hopes of discovering the philosopher's stone.

Like his father, Arne wrote in the popular galante style of the day and utilized both rudiments of English folk music and Italian opera in his compositions.

[3] Arne wrote close to two hundred vocal songs during his career, the majority of which were written for performance at London's pleasure gardens.

Portrait of Arne by Johan Zoffany
Susanna Maria Cibber (née Arne) (1714 – 1766) was the greatest dramatic actress of the eighteenth-century London stage and was the highest-paid actress in England during her lifetime. On the day of her death Covent Garden and Drury Lane closed their doors as a tribute to her memory. [ 1 ]
The interior of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane , where Michael Arne primarily worked from 1756 to 1767
A drawing of the Royal Opera House , Covent Garden , where Michael Arne primarily worked from 1777 until his death. This drawing was made shortly before the theatre burned down in 1808. Many of Arne's compositions dating from his time there, along with a large amount composed by his father, were destroyed in this fire and are now lost. [ 3 ]