Thomas Augustine Arne (1710-1788)
Organ Concerto No. 5 in G minor
Organ Concerto No. 6 in B flat
Organ Concerto No. 2 in G
Organ Concerto No. 4 in B flat
Organ Concerto No. 1 in C
Andrzej Mikołaj Szadejko (organ)
Goldberg Baroque Ensemble
rec. 2023, St John’s Centre, Gdańsk, Poland
Reviewed as a stereo 16/44 download from MDG
Gdańsk Organ Landscape Volume 2
MDG 902 2317-6 SACD [68]

Thomas Augustine Arne suffers from his greatest success: he is almost exclusively known for his song Rule Britannia. It was originally the final number of his masque Alfred, performed in 1740. Although some of his works have been recorded, including the concertos which are the subject of the disc under review, he is not given that much attention, and he shares that fate with other English composers from the mid-18th century. This may largely be due to the fact that Handel was for about four decades the towering figure in English music life, and still is in today’s performance practice.

He was born as Thomas Arne, but in his childhood he adopted Augustine as his middle name, apparently to show his allegiance to the Catholic faith of his mother. He was sent to Eton, where his predilection for music soon came to the fore, as he practised the recorder and the spinet, and studied composition. He took violin lessons from the German immigrant Michael Christian Festing. After his studies in Eton, he worked as an apprentice to a London attorney, but soon said goodbye to his job and devoted himself to music. He developed into a leading figure in the music theatre, where he could rely on the assistance of his wife Celia Young, one of the best singers at the time, and his sister, who was considered the greatest tragedienne. His success came to a halt in the 1750s, due to the stiff competition between the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres. When his marriage got into trouble and he and his wife separated, Arne published several collections of music in order to raise money to support his wife. In the next decades, his career went up and down; he saw some successes, but also failures. He died in 1778, not 1788, as the present disc says.

The authors of the article on Arne in New Grove write, “For most of his life, Arne was essentially a theatre composer, and dominated the various genres of English theatre music.” The theatre was his love, but there were also other reasons that he largely confined himself to writing theatre music. Being a Catholic, writing liturgical music for the Anglican church was no option. This prevented him from composing music for official occasions of state and monarchy as well. He also seems to have had little interest in instrumental music. “[His] symphonies or overtures mostly derive from stage works, and his keyboard concertos, like Handel’s, also seem to have been mainly a by-product of his work in the theatre.”

The mention of Handel in this respect makes much sense, because he was the first in England to compose organ concertos. These were rooted in the Corellian concerto grosso rather than the Vivaldian solo concerto. Notably, that they mostly comprised more than three movements. The number of these could vary, and so could the connection between organ and orchestra. That also goes for the six concertos by Arne.

The frontispiece of the present disc raises questions. First, it is a bit of a mystery why the year 1751 is added to the title; this suggests that they were written or published in that year, which is incorrect. Arne had planned to publish them by subscription, but for unknown reasons that did not happen. They were published in 1793, fifteen years after his death, thanks to his son Michael. These six concertos may well have been written over a longer period of time. This could explain the differences in style and construction. Second, the description of these concertos as ‘organ concertos’ is incorrect. They are better called ‘keyboard concertos’. The title-page says Six favourite Concertos for the Organ, Harpsichord or Piano-Forte with Instrumental Parts for Public and Private Concerts. In 1991 Paul Nicholson and the Parley of Instruments, directed by Peter Holman, recorded the entire set for Hyperion, and Nicholson used the three instruments mentioned on the title-page. The indications of piano and forte suggest the use of two a two-manual harpsichord or a fortepiano. The mention of private concerts also indicates that the organ is just one of the options: chamber organs were common in England, but obviously these did not have more than one manual.

As I already indicated, the concertos are different in construction. The scoring is largely the same: keyboard, two oboes, bassoon, strings and basso continuo. The Concerto No. 1 is the exception: at the end of the last movement, about 45 seconds before the end, all of a sudden two horns, two trumpets and timpani enter. Peter Holman, in his liner-notes to the Hyperion recording, states: “[Their] parts were printed in the edition on an extra sheet, and may have been added to the concerto for an occasion when brass players were present for one of Arne’s major choral works.” This concerto has four movements, all for keyboard and orchestra. The version in the printed edition seems to be a later reworking of an earlier version of a somewhat different complexion. There is a transcription for harpsichord solo, in which the first movement is a full-blown French overture, followed by a fugal allegro. In the printed version, the overture has been cut short, as the entire second section has been removed. The allegro is now in third place, preceded by a longer andante.

The Concerto No. 2 has five movements: only in the first and last the orchestra is involved. The movements in between are for keyboard solo, just as we know them from Handel’s organ concertos. The Concerto No. 6 has a similar construction: it consists of four movements, with the two inner movements for keyboard solo. The Concerto No. 4 is a different case: it has three movements, and all of them are for keyboard and orchestra. The Concerto No. 5 has four movements. It opens with a French overture, in which the keyboard has no solo. The third movement is an adagio for keyboard solo.

The reader may have noticed that the Concerto No. 3 has been omitted. The Hyperion disc shows that this is the longest of the six, and that may be the reason that it was not included (although a disc of 85 minutes is hardly a problem). It is one of the disappointments of this production. The other is the lack of information about Arne and his concertos in the booklet. For this review, I have made use of Peter Holman’s notes in the booklet to the Hyperion disc. It seems that this lack of information is due to the focus of this recording, which is not so much the music but rather the organ.

Andrzej Mikołaj Szadejko writes at length about the instrument on display here. It was originally built in 1761 by Johann Friedrich Rhode in St John’s Church in  Gdańsk, which today is a concert venue (St John’s Centre). Strictly speaking it is not a historical organ, as in 1912 a pneumatic organ was built inside the historical case. From 2017 to 2019 the Rhode organ was reconstructed. It is undoubtedly a fine instrument, and it is easy to understand that Szadejko wanted to show its qualities in a recording. However, the choice of Arne’s keyboard concertos is questionable from a historical and stylistic point of view. The organ may be a choir organ, with its two manuals and pedal it may well be larger than most English organs in Arne’s time, and also differ in sound from them. If an organ is used, an instrument closer to the ones that Handel used for his organ concertos would be more appropriate.

Setting aside these considerations, a recording of Arne’s concertos is welcome, as he is an underrated composer. These concertos are excellent stuff, and Szadejko makes that crystal clear with his interpretation. He is an outstanding organist, and delivers imaginative interpretations. He effectively explores the possibilities of the organ. The orchestra does a fine job, and overall the balance between organ and orchestra is satisfying.

These concertos may not be intended as organ concertos per se, but organ lovers will be very happy with these performances on such a splendid instrument.

Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen

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