The Sentimentalist Features of Thomas Augustine Arne's Opera “Thomas and Sally”

Abstract

The article is devoted to the comic opera “Thomas and Sally” (1760) by of English composer
Thomas Augustine Arne (1710–1778), examined from the perspective of sentimentalist tendencies
in the 18th century arts of music and the theatre. The creation by Arne and librettist Isaac Bickerstaff
of a comic opera on a rural plot corresponds to one of the main trends in the development of English
art in the mid-18th century – expression of new ideas in a form accessible to the broadest audience.
In terms of its content, “Thomas and Sally” pertains to the context of numerous works belonging
to the genre spheres of “tearful” comedy and “middle-class” drama, devoted to the theme of the
triumph of virtue, which is crucial to British educational literature. The task of disclosing this
topic stipulates the musical language of the protagonists, as well as the inclusion of a parenthetical
Scottish aria in the opera. An analysis of the opera’s arias and ensembles reveals that Sally’s vocal
part, notwithstanding the protagonist’s low social status, contains strongly marked features of
arioso virtuosity, similar to the Squire’s vocal part. On the other hand, Dorcas’ and Thomas’ vocal
parts tend towards vernacular song-dance prototypes of genre and style. The authors of the article
have also recreated the most complete plan of the opera’s compositional structure based on the
material of two published editions from the 18th century.

Keywords: Thomas Arne, “Thomas and Sally,” 18th century opera, English musical theatre, the
pastoral, sentimentalism.