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The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson

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The Fairy Prince | Introduction

In the summer of 1771 ten nobles were invested with the order of the Garter; among them were King George III’s eldest sons, George (1762–1830), the Prince of Wales (1762–1830; later George IV), and Frederic, the duke of York and Bishop of Osnabruck (1763–1827). The spectacular ceremony at Windsor Castle captured the public’s imagination and directly inspired two large-scale theatrical entertainments, one in each of the rival patent playhouses. At Drury Lane, David Garrick (1717–79) devised an elaborate entertainment based on Gilbert West’s dramatic poem The Institution of the Garter (1742). With music by Charles Dibdin (1745–1814), The Institution of the Garter, or Arthur’s Roundtable Restored premiered on 28 October; the lavish production and patriotic theme drew substantial crowds. Two weeks later, The Fairy Prince opened in the Covent Garden Theatre; the libretto was compiled by George Colman, the elder (1732–94), who enlisted Thomas Augustine Arne (1710–79) to compose the music. Seeking a similarly patriotic and elaborate conceit, Colman turned to one of the finest Jacobean court masques, Ben Jonson’s Oberon (1611).

The Composer and Librettist

Today best-remembered as the composer of ‘Rule Britannica’, Thomas Augustine Arne was the finest English theatre composer of the eighteenth century. Born in London on 12 March 1710, his father and grandfather were upholsterers and undertakers, and office-holders in the London Company of Upholders (for a full biography, see Grove Music Online; ODNB). As a boy Arne was sent to Eton, where he discovered a talent for music. In 1726 he became apprenticed to a London attorney, but soon abandoned the position in favour of music. Arne’s first recorded theatrical work was the opera Rosamond (1733), composed for his sister, Susanna, who starred as the heroine. The next year Susanna married the actor and playwright Theophilus Cibber, whose company was in residence at Drury Lane; Arne became house composer at the theatre and remained there for next few years. In 1737 he married the soprano Cecilia Young, the finest English female singer of the day.

Between 1733 and 1776, Arne wrote music for about 90 stage works, including plays, masques, pantomimes, and opera. Admittedly his career is marked by inconsistency and ill-judgement, though his contemporary reputation was hindered somewhat by his Catholicism, which also prevented him from holding a court post. At the height of his success, Arne decided to try his luck in Dublin, spending the 1742–3 and 1743–4 seasons there. Arne continued to work at Drury Lane but after enduring several flops towards the end of the 1740s, he was increasingly overlooked by the recently appointed manager, David Garrick. When Susanna Cibber defected to Covent Garden at the start of the 1750–1 season Arne decided to follow; however, he enjoyed little more success there than he had lately at Drury Lane. He spent the 1755–6 season in Dublin with his wife and a small retinue, which included his pupil Charlotte Brent. By the end of the season Arne returned to London with Brent, now his mistress, leaving his wife in Dublin. Arne enjoyed a good deal of success with Brent at Covent Garden, including the path-breaking English opera seria, Artaxerxes (1762). However, by the winter of 1764 his fortunes were once again in reverse; his comic opera The Guardian Out-Witted was a flop, as was the opera seria L’olimpiade (1765). Things worsened in 1766: his sister died, and Charlotte married the violinist Thomas Pinto. By the late 1760s Arne was in little demand in either Covent Garden or Drury Lane. He nevertheless composed some fine works in the last decade of his life, including The Fairy Prince (1771) which ranks among his best works. Arne and his wife reconciled in October 1777; the reunion was short-lived, however. Arne became seriously ill by the end of the year and on 5 March 1778 succumbed to a ‘spasmodic complaint’. Ten days later, he was buried in the churchyard of St Paul’s, Covent Garden.

George Colman became manager of Convent Garden in 1767, succeeding John Beard. Baptized in Florence in April 1732, Colman’s father was envoy to the court of the grand duke of Tuscany (for a full account, see ODNB); upon his death little over a year later, Colman’s mother returned to England with her infant son, who was raised under the guardianship of the Earl of Bath, William Pulteney, the husband of Colman’s maternal aunt. Like Arne, Colman too was intended for the law, but not long after passing the bar he abandoned the law in favour of a literary career. After befriending David Garrick in the late 1750s, Colman became an established writer in London and enjoyed some success and critical acclaim. With Beard’s retirement in 1767 the Covent Garden patent became available for £60,000. Colman was invited to join a syndicate of four, raising the £15,000 required in part from his inheritance from the death of his mother earlier that year. Colman’s Covent Garden tenure saw the appointment in 1771 of Arne as musical director. Over the next couple of years, the pair collaborated on several works, including The Fairy Prince. The stress of management led Colman to have a seizure shortly after the premiere of The Fairy Prince; he sold his share in the patent at the end of the 1774 season.

Colman, like David Garrick, was well versed in drama of the previous century. Garrick was, of course, the one of the most renowned Shakespearean actors of the day; he also owned a substantial collection of Jonson’s quartos, which Peter Whalley (1722–91) consulted in preparing his 1756 edition of The Works, and he successfully revived several Jonson plays during his tenure as manager of Drury Lane (1746–76): he even incorporated the song ‘Have you seen but a bright lily grow’ from The Devil Is an Ass into his 1755 operatic version of The Tempest, with music by J. C. Smith. During Colman’s tenure as the manager of Covent Garden he staged several of his own adaptations of Shakespeare; he also he published adaptations of Jonson’s Epicene and Volpone. Indeed, in several performances of The Fairy Prince, the mainpiece consisted of adaptations of Every Man In His Humour and Volpone (see Appendix A). While Garrick was drawn to the obvious patriotism of West’s dramatic poem, Colman seems to have plundered Whalley’s edition: the potential analogy of the much-admired Stuart prince with his Hanoverian counterpart, Prince Frederic, offered in Oberon was too good to pass. Colman supplemented the Jonsonian passages with ‘a few passages of Shakespeare, and a Chorus of the late Gilbert West, Esq. The final Chorus is from Dryden’ (Source B, Advertisement, p. [ii]). Given the dates of the respective premieres, it has long been asserted that the idea to stage a theatrical representation of the investiture of the garter was first had by Garrick (Noyes, 1936; Fiske, 1986). However, the draft playbooks which survive in the Larpent Collection in the Huntington Library, California (Larpent Plays LA 326, 327) suggest that Colman’s script was entered for the censor’s scrutiny first, on 20 September: Garrick’s is dated 3 October. By whatever means, Garrick managed to steal the thunder of Covent Garden, for a short while at least.

The Music

The dramatic deficiencies of The Fairy Prince were balanced by the high quality of the music. As the late Roger Fiske observed, Colman ‘was fortunate in arousing Arne’s interest; Dibdin . . . had no gift for the choral writing the subject demanded, whereas Arne, as usual at Covent Garden, was in his best form’ (Fiske, 1986, 360). With his estranged wife demanding maintenance, Arne’s interest in the project was undoubtedly motivated in part by monetary concerns. But it should also be understood in terms of an interest in old texts, which can be seen throughout Arne’s career; indeed, he achieved his first major success with his setting of Milton’s Comus (1738; Herbage, 1951MB 3), a work revised as an afterpiece by Colman in October 1772.

Arne’s music for The Fairy Prince was well received by audiences and critics, generally considered as a return to the form that had brought him success with Comus; one example will serve for several:

The overture is spirited and pleasing; the recitative accompaniments of the dialogue naturally and intelligently expressed; the songs and duets discover taste and invention; and the choruses are grand and harmonious. The echo song, in particular, is pleasingly executed; and the catch, by the Satyrs, very happily conceived . . . . [The managers] are entitled to some praise, for giving encouragement to so distinguished a genius (General Evening Post, 14–16 November 1771).

The overture is a forward-looking piece in the modern three-movement form; its galant style suggests that Arne was familiar with the symphonies of J. C. Bach or C. F. Abel. The quality of the overture was consistently noted by contemporary reviewers: it was once again heard by theatre audiences in 1777, in a new performance of the Bickerstaff/Dibdin pastiche comic opera Lionel and Clarissa. Throughout the work Arne’s natural melodic gift can be clearly heard. Of particular note is the duetto and chorus ‘Now all the air shall ring’ (18 (Music 17 Full score   , Music 17 MIDI   , Music 18 Full score   , Music 18 MIDI   )) that closes Part 1, the chorus of which betrays a debt to Handel. Elsewhere Arne’s absorption of the Italianate style is in evidence, particularly in several of the duets. Many of the songs were printed on three staves in the vocal score, which preserves more of the instrumental detail than one usually finds in such sources; the scoring shows Arne moving with the times, especially with the prominence given to woodwind instruments (e.g. No. 18 (Music 17 Full score   , Music 17 MIDI   , Music 18 Full score   , Music 18 MIDI   )).

The Cast

The cast of The Fairy Prince included well-known singers and actors, as well as new-comers to the London stage. Several were Arne’s pupils. In the 1760s and 70s much of Arne’s income came from his singing pupils, whom he constantly promoted so that he could profit from their earnings while they were his apprentices. At this time, solo singers on the English stage were mostly sopranos and tenors. Tenors, and indeed baritones, appear to have sung all of their high notes (usually from d' or e') falsetto; falsetto only began to fall out of fashion in the 1790s (see Fiske, 1986, 270-2).
The First Satyr was played by George Mattocks (1734/5–1804), who was employed at Covent Garden between 1757 and 1784; there he had several speaking parts, performed incidental music, and created the tenor young-lead roles in a number of English operas and afterpieces (ODNB), including Arne’s Thomas and Sally (1760) and Love in a Village (1762). Although an uninspiring actor, Mattocks earned some reputation as a vocalist (Highfield, 1973–93, 10. x. 142–7BDA, x. 142-7). He mostly sang falsetto, and would have done so for much of his numbers in The Fairy Prince (most are in a high treble range; No. 5 (Full score   , MIDI   ) requires a''). As one of the main characters in Part 1, Mattocks had a two solo airs, Nos. 3 (Full score   , MIDI   ) and 5 (Full score   , MIDI   ); in the latter an off-stage Echo was heard. His manuscript performing part survives (Source B).
The roles of the Echo and the Second Satyr were taken by Charles Clementine Dubellamy, the stage-name of John Evans (Highfield, 1973–93, 4. iv. 478–81BDA, iv. 478-81). After making his debut c. 1765, Dubellamy was hired by John Beard, then manager of Covent Garden, for the 1766–7 season. Handsome and a talented singer, Dubellamy was retained for the next season. He was back at Covent Garden in the early 1770s, before emigrating to America; he died in New York on 6 August 1793. Like Mattocks, Dubellamy seems to have had more talent as a singer than as an actor: reviews throughout his career note the merits of his singing voice, while highlighting his lack of deportment and his habit of cocking up his thumbs when singing (gesticulation whilst singing was frowned upon). Mattock’s duet with Dubellamy (No. 5 (Full score   , MIDI   )) generally received specific praise in reviews, though one critic described it as ‘the bleat of a sheep’ echoing ‘the bellowing of a bull’ (The London Evening Post, 14–16 November 1771).
Silenus was played by Frederick Charles Reinhold (1741–1815), the son of Handel’s favourite bass singer Henry Theodore Reinhold, and a close friend of Arne. Frederick made his stage debut in 1752, and spent much of the 1760s performing in the provinces (ODNB; Highfield, 1973–93, 12. xii. 306–9BDA, xii. 306-9). He was back in London by 1769 and was employed at Covent Garden until 1784. Reinhold was a talented and versatile singer; he excelled in comedic and parodic roles, and regularly received praise from critics. His only solo air in The Fairy Prince (6a (Full score   , MIDI   )) requires a wide range of a-f©'': the upper octaves were presumably sung falsetto.
The Sylvan was played by the Irishman Robert Owenson (1744–1812). Reputedly one of Arne’s pupils (Highfield, 1973–93, 11 xi. .127–30BDA, xi. 127-30), the composer apparently described Owenson as having ‘one of the finest baritone voices he had ever heard, particularly susceptible of that quality of intonation then so much admired and now so out of fashion, the falsetto’ (his daughter, Lady Morgan; quoted in Fiske, 1986, 270). Nevertheless, he did not have a singing role in The Fairy Prince, and had in fact been panned by critics in his stage debut only a couple of weeks earlier.
The other minor roles of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Satyrs were played by Messrs Phillips, Baker and Fox, respectively: Phillips and Fox were omitted from the final performance of the run. Edward Phillips (fl. 1768? –1810?) made his debut in Thomas and Sally at Foote’s summer theatre in the Haymarket on 21 May 1770, where he was described as a ‘scholar of Dr Arne’s’; he joined the Covent Garden company in the autumn of 1771 and performed there until the following June. His articles were not renewed and he seems to have ended his career in the provinces (Highfield, 1973–93, 11. xi. 284–5BDA, xi. 284-5). Thomas Baker (fl. 1745–85?) is first heard of at Covent Garden in the 1749–50 season, and was ever-present there in the winters until the end of the 1781–2 season. Evidently a capable actor-singer, he was often in demand as a (tenor) singer in entr’acte and choruses; he was also a singing teacher of some repute (Highfield, 1973–93, 1. i. 229–30BDA, i. 229-30). Joseph Fox (d. 1791) made his first London stage appearance in 1758 at Covent Garden, appearing there regularly from 1768 to 1780 (Highfield, 1973–93, 5. v. 379–80BDA, v. 379-80). Only the first four Satyrs had singing roles; like Owenson, the Fifth Satyr (Fox) is called for only in recitatives, though he presumably also joined in the choruses.
The roles of the principal fairies were taken by two children. Oberon was played by Master Wood (fl. 1771–3), the ‘son of the Organist of St. Giles’s in the fields’ according to R. J. S. Stevens (Argent, 1992, 9Stevens, 1992, 9); nothing else is known, although he may have been the child of the same name who sang in Ambarvalia in September 1773 at Marylebone Gardens (Highfield, 1973–93, 16. xvi. 229BDA, xvi. 229). Titania was played by Miss Brown, later the celebrated Mrs Ann Cargill (c. 1759–84), who was apprenticed to the aforementioned Thomas Baker (Highfield, 1973–93, 3 iii. .64–72BDA, iii. 64-72; ODNB). The fairies had a solo air each (Nos. 21 (Full score   , MIDI   ), 24 (Full score   , MIDI   )), as well as sharing two duettos (Nos. 22 (Full score   , MIDI   ), 29 (Full score   , MIDI   )): both children received consistently positive reviews. Miss Brown was particularly popular and went on to be in demand throughout the season. Indeed, she was regularly billed with reference to her role in The Fairy Prince as ‘the young Lady who has been received with so much Applause’ (Public Advertiser, Friday, 20 December 1771; an advert for her role as Sally in Man and Wife). The children are named in the printed vocal score (Source A) and in several reviews but not in the word-book (Source D), which simply notes that The Fairy Prince was the children’s ‘first Appearance on any Stage’; this was erroneous for Brown at least, who had made her debut on 8 November 1771 in Samuel Arnold’s The Maid of the Mill (Covent Garden).
The Wood-nymphs were played by Mrs Baker and ‘A Gentlewoman’, Mrs Woodman. Elizabeth Baker (née Miller; fl. 1761–92) was the wife of Thomas Baker. She made her stage debut in 1761 at Covent Garden, receiving positive reviews noting the ‘sweetness of her voice’; in the following two seasons she appeared repeatedly (acting and singing) as pert young women in opera, farces and pastorals (Highfield, 1973–93, 1. i. 231–2BDA, i. 231-2). The identity of Mrs Woodman (fl. 1755–89?) is confused and confusing, as many details of her biography overlap with those of a Mrs Woodham (see Highfield, 1973–93, 14 xiv. 134–5BDA, xiv. 134-5; ODNB). However (contradicting the current ODNB entry), a brief newspaper article identifies Woodman as the Miss Spencer, who accompanied Arne to Dublin as one of his pupils, ‘where she performed some time under the same of Miss Spencer, but left the stage in consequence of her marriage with an eminent merchant of the city of Dublin’ (General Evening Post, 14–16 November 1771). Spencer is listed as a singer in Dublin’s Smock-Alley Theatre for the 1756–7 season (Walsh, 1973, 86; Boydell, 1988, 273). In addition to the duetto (No. 18 (Music 17 Full score   , Music 17 MIDI   , Music 18 Full score   , Music 18 MIDI   )), the First Nymph (Baker) has a single air (No. 12 (Full score   , MIDI   )), which requires a range of g'-c'''. The Second Nymph also has a single air (No. 17 (Music 15 Full score   , Music 15 MIDI   , Music 16 Full score   , Music 16 MIDI   )) which requires a remarkably wide range of a-c''', suggesting that Arne wrote the part specifically for Mrs Woodman, who received particularly strong reviews for the role. Advertisements of Woodman’s upcoming role as Polly in The Beggar’s Opera – a role in which she was ‘received with universal Applause’ (Public Advertiser, 5 December 1771) – also refer to her success in The Fairy Prince. Mrs Baker received little mention, although one reviewer was unimpressed with her performance in ‘See, see, oh, see, who here is come a-maying!’ (No. 12 (Full score   , MIDI   )): ‘. . . but, alas! when Mrs. Baker attempts the jugg, jugg, jugg of a Nightingale, we freeze for her execution, and shudder for fear she should have the fate of the Philomela she attempts to imitate’ (London Evening Post, 14–16 November 1771). From 17 January 1772, Woodman was replaced in The Fairy Prince by Miss Potts, later Mrs Sophia Ward (fl. 1766–1801) (Highfield, 1973–93, 16. xvi. 263–4BDA, xvi. 263-4), who made her debut in 1766. Playbills indicate that Potts remained in the role for the remainder of the run, although The Public Advertiser (22 February 1772) lists Woodman.
The dances of Nymphs and Satyrs were principally performed by James Fishar, Robert Aldridge and Louisa Manesière. Fishar made his debut on the London stage in 1764 and became the principal dancer at Covent Garden (Highfield, 1973–93, 5. v. 278–9BDA, v. 278-9); he frequently performed with Manesière (d. 1775), with whom he lived and later married; she made her London stage debut in 1761 at Covent Garden (Highfield, 1973–93, 10. x. 67–8BDA, x. 67-8). Aldridge (d. 1793) was a principal dancer on the London stage for two decades from 1762; he moved to Covent Garden at the start of the 1767–8 season, and appeared there regularly until 1782, often receiving extravagant praise from critics (Highfield, 1973–93, 1. i. 57–8BDA, i. 57-8). With one exception, reviews do not mention the adult dancers; however, the rather scathing reviewer in The London Evening Post (14–16 November 1771) found the costumes of the Satyrs ‘indecent’ and evidently skimpy: ‘for if their bodies are supposed to be covered with leaves, why should such dogs, like great butter prints, stare us in the face?’. The same reviewer went on to note that Manesière was ‘so loaded with the vegetable system, that I could swear she had come from Bays-Water or Battersea, to attend Covent Garden market’. The dances of fairies were performed by children, and do not seem to have been entirely successful: as one reviewer noted, ‘it is too difficult for such young children to execult [recte execute], and their being obliged to change their figure on a signal given by a stroke from a hammer is so apparently mechanical, that it renders the dance in the highest degree farcical and ridiculous’ (The Oxford Magazine, vol. 7., 186).
The composer and diarist R. J. S. Stevens also performed in The Fairy Prince, as one of the boys of the St Paul’s choir. His ‘recollections’ (written in 1827) include a fascinating entry recounting the rehearsals and confirm that Woodman was formerly one of Arne’s students (Argent, 1992, 8–9Stevens, 1992, 8-9); it is worth recounting in detail:

Both Dr. Arne, and George Colman Esqe (a little man,) the manager of the Theatre, stood on the Stage, near the Prompter at every Rehearsal: where they made their observations as they occurred, to various performers on their method of exhibition, both in Singing, and in acting; and George Colman shewed the Actors in what manner he imagined Jonson’s Poetry should be given in order to make it impressive. Miss Brown (afterward the celebrated Mrs. Cargill), acted Titania. She was very pretty, had a good voice, and an excellent ear. She was a Pupil of Tommy Baker. Master Wood, son of the Organist of St. Giles’s in the fields, was Oberon; but made no great figure either as an Actor or Singer. Mrs. Woodman, a Pupil of Dr. Arne, made her first appearance upon the Stage, as a Wood Nymph, and was much applauded. Miss Brown, was the Second Edition of Titania: the little girl who first attempted the character, being found too insignificant in her performance, even for a Fairy. In the third act of the Fairy Prince, was introduced a representation of the Ceremony of Installation of the Knights of the Garter at Windsor. This after piece was very popular, and it was represented many times. The Music was admirable.

The Scenery

The Fairy Prince was also notable for its elaborate scenery, painted by Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727–85), Nicholas Thomas Dall (d. 1776), and John Inigo Richards (1730/31?–1810), who had collaborated on scenery for various Covent Garden productions since 1759. Cipriani, the Florence-born court painter, received a total of £105 for his work at Covent Garden in the 1771–2 season (ODNB; Highfield, 1973–93, 3. iii. 285–8BDA, iii. 285-8). Dall began his career as a scene painter at Covent Garden in 1757 and remained active until his death (ODNB; Highfield, 1973–93, 4. iv. 124–6BDA, iv. 124-6). He was succeeded as principal scene painter at Covent Garden by Richards; a founder member of the Royal Academy in 1768, Richards remained principal scene painter at Covent Garden until 1803 (ODNB).

The scenery was well received by audiences and critics. The opening depiction of the moonlit rural landscape was ‘beautifully executed, and producing a happy effect’ (General Evening Post, 12–14 November 1771). The scenes closing the second and third parts warranted particular mention:

The scenery (particularly the transparencies) are equally excellent . . . we never remember to have seen on the stage, more masterly colouring, excellent proportion, or animated expression, than that which we observed in the transparent scenes. The others deserve general applause; but the particular merit of the last scene, the figures of St. George, and the Angel over the gate of St. George’s hall, demand a public tribute and distinction (The Oxford Magazine, vol. 7., 186).

The St George’s Hall scene was reused for another elaborate masque: the afterpiece Windsor Castle, given at Covent Garden on 6 April 1795 to mark the nuptials of the Prince of Wales (later George IV) and the Princess of Brunswick. However, flaws were noted in reviews of the first performance of The Fairy Prince:

Great merit must be given to the execution of some of the scenery, particularly to the two views of Windsor Castle; but would the managers, upon a second representation, throw them further back, they would have a superior effect upon the eye: – at present, their proximity deprives them of some of the real applause that they are entitled to. I hope the lifeless scene of the chapel was effaced the first night; it could but convey two ideas; – first, that the prayer and ceremony had lulled the congregation to sleep, or that these were the blocks upon which the head dresses were tried before the representation of the procession. It conveyed to me the idea of a barber’s shop in Windsor, where the poor Knights were shaving to attend the Installation. I heard an innocent young woman exclaim, Why this is a puppet show, I thought it was to have been a play! (London Evening Post, 14–16 November 1771).

The painted scene of St. George’s Chapel, is greatly inferior to the representation of the Chapel at Drury-lane [i.e. The Institution of the Garter]; besides, that the ceremony in the Chapel is omitted; but indeed it is here styled a vision only. The procession is not so well conducted, not is the last scene of St. George’s Hall either so splendid or so entertaining, as at the other house. The dresses of the fancied characters are well imagined; but those of the Sovereign, Knights, &c. are not more showy than at Drury-lane (General Evening Post, 14–16 November 1771).

The closing procession and ceremonial dinner also appear to have been well received, though not thought by some to have been superior to that in the Drury Lane production of The Institution of the Garter:

The procession is too crowded, but elegant; the dinner inferior to one at the London Tavern . . . (London Evening Post, 14–16 November 1771).

The procession of the Knights, was grand, but we think it no other way superior to that at Drury-lane, than from the happy thought of making it to the Chapel and not from it, by which means the Knights intended to be installed are seen in the silver vest, worn by them previous to their being covered with the black mantle, and other ensigns of the order, which have a fine effect . . . . The method of performing the ceremony of the supper, is exceedingly apropos for the purpose of a making a magnificent sight (The Oxford Magazine, vol. 7, 186).

The Ceremonial of the Dinner in Saint George’s Hall, as well as the Scene of the Hall itself, introduced in the new Masque of the Fairy Prince, are universally allowed to be a most correct and accurate Representation of the real Solemnity at Windsor (Public Advertiser, 14 November 1771).

The inclusion of ‘an additional Scene’ was advertised for the twenty-ninth performance. The scene proved a hit with audiences; a detailed description is found in The General Evening Post (17 January 1772):

The new transparent scene exhibited last night at Covent-garden theatre, in the entertainment of the Fairy Prince, is a representation of Edward the Black Prince in the act of seizing the Bohemian standard at the famous battle of Cressy – Cipriani (the artist who executed it) has feasted the critic’s eye with one of the finest paintings of the kind ever seen in England. – The figure and position of the Prince, the heads and necks of the horses, with the fire darting from the eye of that which carries the standard-bearer, beggar description. – The whole is so forcible, so animated and expressive, the colouring so just, and the drawing so natural and chaste, that it may be called ‘a speaking picture’, in the truest sense of the words, and its excellence, in some measure, demands our silence as to the propriety of its introduction, under the apology of a vision, which word we have ever understood to infer a view of some future event!

The text of the new scene was included in the libretto published in Colman’s Works (1777; Source D). It shows that the insertion of the scene had implications for the music at the end of Part 2: the Second Nymph’s accompanied recitative ‘Let our shows be new, as strange’ (16 (Full score   , MIDI   )) is slightly altered and interrupted with a six-line recitative by Silenus, preceded by the stage direction describing the scene (Appendix 2 (Full score   , MIDI   )). The recitative is broken up and would have required some modification. Indeed, on 16 November 1771 Arne received £120 for composing the music, and on 27 January received a further £1 11s 6d ‘for composing additional Music’ (Stone, 1962, 1603London Stage, p. 1603), presumably for the inclusion of the Cressy scene: no music survives.

Reception

The Fairy Prince enjoyed initial popularity. There were twenty-three performances between 12 November and 9 December (see Appendix A). A further thirteen performances were given before the following summer, including a benefit for Colman on 27 January, from which he made a profit of £125 15s 6d (Stone, 1962, 1603London Stage, p. 1603). The first performances were reviewed in several London magazines and newspapers, several of which have already been cited (see also Appendix B). Critical reaction to the entertainment as a whole was mixed, though most reviews reveal a reluctance to judge The Fairy Prince by any dramatic principles, apparently resigned to the commercial-artistic trade-off when appealing to the whims of popular opinion.
Despite its popularity, The Fairy Prince was too closely entwined with the circumstances that inspired it to endure beyond the 1771–2 season. However, a one-off revival of sorts did take place in 1775. It seems that much of Part 1 was presented by several members of the original cast (apparently in their original costumes and using some of the scenery) as part of an entertainment ‘given by the Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Seavoir Vivre Club at the Pantheon’ on 18 May 1775. The Savoir Vivre Club was founded in 1772, with the aim ‘to patronize men of genius and talent’ (Egan, 1832, 132). The club was well known for its recreational gambling, and its members included the politician Charles James Fox (1749–1806). In 1775–6 the clubhouse at 28 St James’s Street, was designed and erected by John Crunden (c. 1745–1835); it was taken over by Boodle’s gentlemen’s club in 1782, which is still located there. The Pantheon, designed by James Wyatt and located on the south side of Oxford Street, opened in 1772; its principal rotunda was one of the largest rooms built in England at the time. It was sold to Mark’s and Spencser’s in 1937 and demolished soon after (see F. H. W. Sheppard, 1963Survey of London). The entertainment lasted until the early hours of next morning and was attended by an audience of 1,400. A lengthy account was published in the London Chronicle and the Public Advertiser (20 May):

The very ticket of admission contained a concetto, executed by Capriani and Bartolozzi, and exhibited a Dumb Cupid . . . . The Scenery, for so we must call the Decoration of the Pantheon, consisted of a romantic Païsage, executed by Mr. Dahl, of Covent Garden Theatre, with Cascades, Bowers, Rocks, and Cataracts . . . . The Orchestra was in the Form of a Cave or Bower, and the Performers, both Vocal and Instrumental, habited like Shepherds, Satyrs, and Sylvans . . . . Part of the Fairy Prince was also sung and played by the whiskered, long-nosed Band and Chorus, assisted by the grotesque Figures of Messrs. Mattocks, Reinhold, Du-Bellamy, &c. &c. . . . . The Masque, however, here as elsewhere, was unmeaning and foolish.

Perhaps the reviewer of a 1775 Covent Garden performance of Kane O’Hara’s burletta Midas had the ‘revival’ performance of The Fairy Prince in mind when he described the actor playing Pan: ‘Mr. [Robert] Mahon skipped about like a dancing satyr in the Fairy Prince’ (Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser, 14 November 1775).

Records of other examples of performances of numbers from The Fairy Prince are rare. Towards the end of the 1790s, R. J. S. Stevens copied three duettos (Nos. 5 (Full score   , MIDI   ), 22 (Full score   , MIDI   ), 29 (Full score   , MIDI   )) in two manuscripts (Sources K and L), suggesting that they may have been performed in private amateur circles. The catch for the Satyrs (No. 11 (Full score   , MIDI   )) was, however, the most popular item. It is found in two manuscript copies (Sources M and N), and in the third volume of Apollonian Harmony (c. 1795–8) (Source O); in the early nineteenth century, the composer and organist Joseph Major (1771–1828) published a series of variations based on the piece: Dr Arne’s favorite Catch, Buzz quoth the blue Fly (London, British Library, h.60.l.(16.)). Of The Fairy Prince numbers, Samuel Arnold selected only ‘Now all the air shall ring’ (No. 18 (Music 17 Full score   , Music 17 MIDI   , Music 18 Full score   , Music 18 MIDI   )) to be performed as part of a commemoration concert for Arne on 8 May 1802. Thereafter, The Fairy Prince was largely forgotten until the twentieth century when several editions derived from the original vocal score appeared. James Brown published arrangements of selections for violin and piano in 1925 and 1933, and in 1959 Robert Salkeld published an edition of No. 12 (Full score   , MIDI   ) with texts in German and English (see Bibliography). The only modern revival – presumably based on the vocal score – seems to be a BBC production broadcast on 26 September 1960 (see Gilman, 2009). The full orchestral version of the overture was included by Richard Platt in the Garland Press series The Symphony and Overture in Great Britain.

Appendix A

List of Performances and Mainpieces

1771

  1. Tuesday, 12 November The Miser (Molière)
  2. Wednesday, 13 November The Earl of Essex (John Banks?)
  3. Thursday, 14 November Every Man in His Humour (Ben Jonson)
  4. Friday, 15 November The Jealous Wife (George Colman)
  5. Saturday, 16 November The Busy Body (Susanna Centlivre)
  6. Monday, 18 November The Stratagem (George Farquhar?)
  7. Tuesday, 19 November The Clandestine Marriage (George Colman and David Garrick)
  1. Wednesday, 20 November Barbarossa (Rev. Dr John Brown)
  2. Thursday, 21 November The English Merchant (George Lillo)
  3. Friday, 22 November The Brothers (Richard Cumberland)
  4. Saturday, 23 November Cyrus (John Hoole)
  5. Monday, 25 November King Richard III (Shakespeare)
  6. Tuesday, 26 November The Fox (Ben Jonson)
  7. Wednesday, 27 November The Fox
  8. Thursday, 28 November The Clandestine Marriage
  9. Friday, 29 November The Fox
  10. Saturday, 30 November The Busy Body (Susanna Centlivre)
  11. Monday, 2 December The Fox
  12. Tuesday, 3 December Jane Shore (Nicholas Rowe)
  13. Wednesday, 4 December Love Makes a Man (Colley Cibber)
  14. Thursday, 5 December Barbarossa
  15. Friday, 6 December The Inconstant (George Farquhar)
  16. Monday, 9 December The Recruiting Officer (George Farquhar)

1772

  1. Monday, 6 January The Fox
  2. Tuesday, 7 January The Way to Keep Him (Arthur Murphy)
  3. Wednesday, 8 January Every Man in His Humour
  4. Thursday, 9 January Oroonoko (Aphra Behn)
  5. Friday, 10 January A Bold Stroke (Susanna Centlivre)
  6. Thursday, 14 January The Provok’d Husband (John Vanbrugh
  7. Friday, 17 January Love’s Last Shift (Colley Cibber)
  8. Monday, 20 January The Stratagem
  9. Wednesday, 22 January Love’s Last Shift
  10. Monday, 27 January* Macbeth (Shakespeare)
  11. Tuesday, 28 January The Fox
  12. Saturday, 22 February She Wou’d and She Wou’d Not (Colley Cibber)
  13. Thursday, 28 May** Isabella (Thomas Southerne, adpt. David Garrick)
* A benefit night for Colman, from which he made a profit of £125 15s 6d. (G. W. Stone, 1962, London Stage, p. 1603)

** Advertised weeks in advance as ‘having been particularly desired by several foreign Noblemen now in London, and other Persons of Distinction’ (Public Advertiser, 14, 15, 19, 21 and 27 May 1772)

Appendix B

List of reviews of the first performance

The General Evening Post, 12–14 November 1771: ‘short account’ giving an outline of the action and scenery; promises ‘A more circumstantial account of this Exhibition, with the Songs, &c. – in our next.’ (see below). Of note: ‘. . . a beautiful duett between Mr. Mattocks and Mr. Du Bellamy . . . . On the whole, the fancy in the contrivance of the action, composition in the music, richness of the habits, mastership in the painting, and general regularity and excellence in the conduct and performance, afforded universal satisfaction and delight.’ Essentially the same account was printed in the Public Advertiser (13 November 1771).

The Public Advertiser, 14 November 1771: brief comment on the success of the ceremonial dinner scene only.

The General Evening Post, 15 November 1771: detailed account and review of the action (including texts of most of the songs and choruses), concluded with a lengthy assessment noting that ‘As a raree-shew, it is splendid; but, notwithstanding all the parading accounts in the public prints, prior to the exhibition, we think, upon the whole, that it cannot boast any superiority over the Institution of the Garter, at the other theatre; for though in many respects it is preferable, in others it is greatly inferior. It is true, that here the manners of the present times are preserved, and the ceremonies at the late installation more exactly represented than at Drury-Lane theatre. With respect to the music, which is the most meritorious part of this performance, it has greatly the advantage of Mr. Dibdin’s flimsy composition at the other house. – It is probably equal to any thing the invention of the most celebrated composer could have produced on the occasion. The overture is spirited and pleasing; the recitative accompaniments of the dialogue naturally and intelligently expressed; the songs and duets discover taste and invention; and the choruses are grand and harmonious. The echo song, in particular, is pleasingly executed; and the catch, by the Satyrs, very happily conceived. In short, the whole discovers a strength of imagination, and a retention of judgement equal to any thing composed by Dr. Arne in the meridian of his glory; and on this account we not only congratulate the managers on his success, but think they are entitled to some praise, for giving encouragement to so distinguished a genius. . . .’. The account is prefaced with brief biographical information on Mrs Woodham and Miss Brown. Essentially the same review but lacking the final assessment was reprinted in the Craftsman or Say’s Weekly Journal (16 November 1771); a truncated version is found in The Lady’s Magazine, vol. 2 (1771), 215-18

The London Evening Post, 14–16 November 1771: detailed review; begins with an account of a dispute between Colman and the puppeteer Carlo Perico: ‘So excellent is Don Carlo in the conduct of his wooden family, that his Sauvages des Bois, infinitely excel Mr. Colman’s Sylvans, and the little family of Perico, the fairy family of the fairy manager. In short, I cannot see it in any other light, but that the petulance and jealousy of Mr. Colman are such, that he really believes Signior Carlo has stolen one of his best thoughts; and, in revenge for the plagiarism, he has determined to open a puppet shew on a more extensive plan, and maliciously exerts himself to ruin a poor itinerant Italian family, who have got the envy of the dramatic world for making puppets of wood beyond the compositions of the dowdy, worn-out old gentlewoman, Mother Nature; and, therefore, to rival the said ingenious Carlo, he is pleased to bring out the Fairy Prince.’

The Critical Review, vol. 32 (1771), 392. Echoes sentiments expressed in the General Evening Post, 15 November 1771. The same was printed in The Theatrical Review, vol. 1 (London, 1772), 178-89, at 187-9: detailed account and review of the action (including texts of most of the songs and choruses), concluded with a lengthy assessment.

The Oxford Magazine, vol. 7 (1771), 186-7: detailed review, offering critique of music and scenery etc.; gives texts of several favourite songs and the singers: ‘Idle nymph, I pray thee, be’ (Mattocks and Du Bellamy); ‘Satyrs, he doth fill with grace’ (Reinhold); ‘Let us play and dance and sing’ (Mrs Woodman); ‘Tho’ the moon be gone to bed’ (Master Wood); ‘Melt earth to sea, sea flow to air’ (Miss [Brown]). Preceded by an account of The Institution of the Garter.

The Town and Country Magazine, vol. 3 ([1772]), 575-6, at 575: detailed account and review of the action (including texts of most of the songs and choruses); the review is similar to those in other sources, such as The Theatrical Review, vol. 1. See also The General Evening Post, 12–14 November 1771 (same in The Public Advertiser, 13 November 1771); and The General Evening Post, 15 November 1771 (essentially the same review was reprinted in The Craftsman or Say’s Weekly Journal, 16 November 1771).

The Sources

Given the high quality of the music it is particularly frustrating that no full score of The Fairy Prince survives. Indeed, few of Arne’s manuscripts are known; many presumably perished in the Covent Garden fire of 1808, while others (such as Caractacus, 1776) appear to have been lost after being bequeathed to his son, Michael. Much of The Fairy Prince was, however, published in vocal score (Source A), which serves as the copy-text for much of this edition. Designed for amateurs, vocal scores typically omitted many details of the orchestration as well as choruses and secco recitatives. The music publisher Peter Welcker seems to have initiated the practice of issuing vocal scores of complete works (rather than single acts) in 1764 with George Rush’s The Royal Shepherd. Such scores were typically not engraved until a month or two after the opening night (Fiske, 1986, 294-5). However, with The Fairy Prince Welcker seems to have struck while the iron was hot, abandoning his usual complete vocal score format in the process. The earliest advertisement for the vocal score of The Fairy Prince is found in The Public Advertiser for 28 November 1771, under ‘NEW MUSIC. This Day is published’; however, the advert seems to describe Source F, which comprises only the vocal items only from Part 1. The Public Advertiser carried another advertisement on 11 February 1772, this time for ‘The Fairy Prince, by Arne, 6s’ (Welcker). Given the doubled price, this was presumably the vocal score of the entire work (Source A); vocal scores of full-length operas usually sold for 10s. 6d. though it was common for all music to be sold below the market price (see Fiske, 1986, 299): the copy of the complete vocal score now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford is priced at 3s. As was common practice, the vocal score omitted three choruses (Nos. 6b (Full score   , MIDI   ), 15 (Full score   , MIDI   ) and 34 (Full score   , MIDI   )), one recitative designated ‘accompanied’ in the libretto (No. 20 (Full score   , MIDI   )) and all of the secco recitatives. It did, however, include keyboard arrangements of the overture and thirteen dances. The vocal score – with and without the instrumental items – was issued in several editions until the turn of the nineteenth century. The overture from The Fairy Prince was clearly popular; Welcker published the keyboard arrangement found in the vocal score separately (Source G) as well as in orchestral parts (Source C).

The only (apparently) autograph material known to survive from The Fairy Prince is a recently discovered performing part for George Mattocks, who played the First Satyr: Source B. The find is significant in the wider context, as performance parts for singers – i.e. the source from which parts were learned – in English theatre works from the second half of the eighteenth century are extremely rare. In the current context it also allows several gaps to be filled. The manuscript – now bound as one fascicle of a guardbook housed in the Special Collections of the University of Birmingham – provides several important concordances (with some revealing discrepancies) for Nos. 2 (Full score   , MIDI   )–5 (Full score   , MIDI   ), 11 (Full score   , MIDI   ) and 18 (Music 17 Full score   , Music 17 MIDI   , Music 18 Full score   , Music 18 MIDI   ). More importantly, Source B is also a unique source for the unaccompanied ‘cornett’ melody played by the First Satyr as the first scene begins, the tenor parts of the choruses Nos. 6b (Full score   , MIDI   ) and 15 (Full score   , MIDI   ), and for four secco recitatives. The recitatives are of particular importance: Mattocks’ manuscript includes all of those for the First Satyr, but also gives fragments of recitatives from other characters as cues.

   The main sources for the text are the vocal score (Source A) supplemented by the printed word-book (Source D). Significant portions of it, giving the texts to many of the songs and choruses, were also printed in several reviews of the first performance. A revised version was also included in the fourth volume of Colman’s Works (1777) (Source E). In this edition, the text has been modernised throughout, in line with the general practices observed in The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson. A diplomatic transcription of the 1771 libretto with original spelling etc. is also provided.

The Order of the Musical Items

The vocal score (Source A) includes thirteen dances. A single dance is given among the vocal numbers: ‘A troop of fairies’ at the start of Part 2 (p. 28); the same title is found at this point in the libretto (p. 17), though not specified as a dance. The remaining dances are appended to the end of the vocal score, a practice first used in Arne’s Comus (1738). Roger Fiske noted that ‘the twelve dances cannot have been played consecutively at the end of the opera; they must have come one by one earlier on, and to some extent this is confirmed by the libretto’ (1986, 363). Several dances are called for in the libretto; however, the titles are either generic or do not match those in the vocal score appendix. Fiske’s explanation for this was that Arne provided his own titles. However, it may also suggest that the libretto was ready for publication before Arne finalised the instrumental numbers; such a time-lag is also implied by several variants in the text between the word-book, vocal score, and George Mattocks’ manuscript performing part.
   It seems that the position of the dances in the vocal score appendix follows the order in which they were heard in the performances; Fiske provided a reconstruction of the order of the dances (1986, 613-14), which has been followed in this edition. The tonality of the dances provides only a rough guide without the recitatives that would have framed them; the discovery of Source B goes some way to recovering the situation. The first dance (No. 7 (Full score   , MIDI   )) is titled ‘The airs for the grand dance of the satyrs’ (subtitled, ‘Figure dance’, ‘Gavotte’) suggesting that it comes in Part 1. It is preceded by the D major air and chorus Nos. 6a (Full score   , MIDI   )–b and followed by the recitative ‘Farewell, Bacchus! We will serve’. Mattocks’ entry occupies the middle of the recitative and is centred in D major. The next dance is ‘For the entrance of the sylvans’ (No. 9 (Full score   , MIDI   )), which Fiske interpreted as representing the sleeping Sylvans with the plaintive phrases for oboes and bassoons (1986, 613); it begins in D major but ends in B¨ major, providing the ideal transition to the next dance: the ‘Chacoon’ (No. 10 (Music 9 Full score   , Music 9 MIDI   , Music 10 Full score   , Music 10 MIDI   )) in E¨ major, which presumably accompanies the revelation of St George’s Chapel. It is followed by the recitative ‘Mark, my satyrs, what a show!’; Mattocks’ entry comes near the end of the recitative; it has a key-signature of one sharp and the short entry is a V-I cadence on A major; A major is also the key of Mattocks’ second entry shortly thereafter; the next item (No. 11 (Full score   , MIDI   )) is in C major. Then follows dances for the Sylvans (No. 13 (Full score   , MIDI   )) and Nymphs (No. 14 (Full score   , MIDI   )), which are called for in the libretto simply as ‘A Dance’; Source B also includes the rubric ‘Dance’ on an unused stave between the end of the recitative ‘How now, sylvans! Can you wake?’ and No. 15 (Full score   , MIDI   ), presumably referring to the same item(s). Both dances have a tonal centre of C; one review described the dance after the discovery of the sylvans as ‘savage and loaded’ (London Evening Post, 14–16 November 1771). No. 13 (Full score   , MIDI   ) is be preceded by the recitative ‘Now, now, prepare to set’: no music survives. Another lost recitative comes next; it is followed by the chorus No. 15 (Full score   , MIDI   ), in G major.

Next in the vocal score appendix is ‘The fairies country dance, by the children, in the Second Act’ (No. 25 (Full score   , MIDI   )); this is not called for in the libretto though it seems likely to follow the air ‘Melt earth to sea, sea flow to air’ (No. 24 (Full score   , MIDI   )), before which all of the fairies except the two principals exit; it is described as ‘a characteristic dance, affording infinite mirth’ (The Town and Country Magazine, vol. 3, [1772], 576). Three procession marches follow (Nos. 26 (Full score   , MIDI   )–8 (Full score   , MIDI   )) which must be from the procession at the end of Part 2. After the five-bar piece ‘When St George descends’ (No. 31 (Full score   , MIDI   )), there are two dances played at the ceremonial dinner (Nos. 32 (Full score   , MIDI   )–3 (Full score   , MIDI   )). There is no obvious place in the libretto for No. 31 (Full score   , MIDI   ): Fiske conceded that he had ‘failed to find a home’ for it in his reconstruction. However, the review in The General Evening Post (12–14 November 1771) confirms that it was part of the performance, and implies that it belongs in the final scene: ‘We had almost forgot to mention the descent of an admirable figure of St. George, finely executed by Cipriani’. The remark comes at the end of the review, and clearly refers to a scenic device but offers no further details. It seems most likely that this music was used to introduce the scene of ‘St George combating with the Dragon’, which may have descended from the ceiling; as another review notes, ‘In the above scene [the ceremonial dinner], after the Sovereign and Knights are seated, a transparent painting is discovered, suspended from the ceiling of the hall, of St. George combating with the Dragon’ (General Evening Post, 14–16 November 1771). Having No. 34 (Full score   , MIDI   ) here also fits with the position of the music in the vocal score, between the processional marches and the first air played at the dinner.

   No music seems to survive for the ‘DANCE of FAIRIES’ (No. 30 (Full score   , MIDI   )), called for in the libretto (p. 24) immediately following the fairies’ duet (No. 29 (Full score   , MIDI   )) in the third part.

Reconstruction of Missing Items

With the discovery of Source B several recitatives and single lines from two previously lost choruses have been recovered. Reconstruction is certainly possible, though beyond the scope of the present edition; however, as Roger Fiske suggested, it would be perfectly acceptable in any modern performance for the recitatives to be spoken; most English operas after 1762 contained some spoken dialogue; of course, much of the recitative texts would have been spoken in Jonson’s original. Fiske (1886, 362) also suggested that the finale of Louis Grabu’s opera Albion and Albanius (prem. 3 June 1685) could be used to replace the now lost Grand Chorus that concludes The Fairy Prince; Colman had borrowed this section of his text from John Dryden’s libretto. Though a practical solution, in The Fairy Prince the Grand Chorus would have been in the same key as the overture, E¨ major; however, Grabu’s finale is in C, so transposition would be required. However, such a substitution would do Arne little justice. A complete modern edition of Albion and Albanius has recently been published by the Purcell Society (White, 2007).A complete modern edition of Albion and Albanius has recently been compiled by Bryan White (PSCS 1).

Notes on Performance

The Fairy Prince overture was published in eight parts, for two oboes, two horns, two violins, viola and two bassi (i.e. cello, double bass and bassoon; rounded out by a keyboard continuo in original performances). In addition, the vocal score calls for an ‘Octave Flute’ (No. 12 (Full score   , MIDI   )) (i.e. a small recorder), two clarinets (No. 22 (Full score   , MIDI   )), bassoons (Nos. 9 (Full score   , MIDI   ), 14 (Full score   , MIDI   ) and 22 (Full score   , MIDI   )), two trumpets (Nos. 26 (Full score   , MIDI   ) and 27 (Full score   , MIDI   )), a carillon, and timbrels (i.e. tambourine) (No. 8 (Full score   , MIDI   )). The instruments are often not specified in the vocal score; thus, in the edition, where the orchestration is obvious but not indicated, editorial suggestions have been made.

From c. 1769 to 1778 the Covent Garden orchestra was led by John Abraham Fisher (1744–1806), who composed the music for another Jonsonian adaptation, The Druids (1774), in which several members of The Fairy Prince cast appeared. In 1760, there were 19 orchestral players in the orchestra, plus a keyboardist and a copyist at Covent Garden: this figure is unlikely to have changed much by 1771 (for the Covent Garden orchestra, see Fiske, 1986, especially 279-85). Without surviving parts we can only estimate the size of the band for The Fairy Prince, though to realize the various dynamics there must have been at least two players for each violin part and for the cellos. The double bass presumably played in all fully scored sections; elsewhere its use falls to the discretion of the conductor. The secco recitatives probably suffice with a keyboard accompaniment alone. In his edition of William Shield’s Rosina, John Drummond (1998MB 72, p. xxxiii) added a note of caution to Fiske’s claim that the harpsichord cannot have been superseded by the fortepiano in the Covent Garden Theatre before the 1790s.We cannot be sure when the fortepiano became regularly used in English theatres, though it is likely that this happened during the 1770s, and possibly as early as 1771.
Few eighteenth-century English operas have survived in orchestral form; however, those that do strongly suggest that the oboists also played the flutes and probably the clarinets as well (see Holman, 2007Dibdin, 2007, 29). However, theatre orchestras did often have to employ extra musicians, especially trumpets and drums. Although the score of The Fairy Prince does not call for drums they may well have been used in the processional music at the end of Part 2 (Nos. 26 (Full score   , MIDI   )–8 (Full score   , MIDI   )). The trumpet parts could have been played by spare violinists, the same is true of timpani parts, if any were used. With his arrival in London in 1767, Johann Christian Fischer brought a new approach to oboe playing ‘from a blare to a bitter-sweet murmur’ (Fiske, 1986, 282); until the mid-1780s or so the normal range of the oboe was around two octaves to d"'; the vocal score (Source A) uses the English and French terms, oboes and hautbois, interchangeably.
Arne’s Thomas and Sally (1760) was the first work by an English composer to use clarinets and sparked great enthusiasm for the instrument, which was thereafter included in almost all operas. The tone of the late eighteenth-century clarinet was more penetrating than that of its modern counterpart, making it especially suitable for outdoor music. Bassoons were frequently used, especially in overtures; when printed in vocal scores, the bassoon part is often given an octave higher (e.g. No. 8 (Full score   , MIDI   )). Although it was eighteenth-century practice for the bassoons to be often used to reinforce the string bass, such reinforcement may not be appropriate with modern instruments; it may be reasonably assumed that at least one bassoon would have been playing whenever the oboes and/or horns are required. In this edition the bassoon is indicated only where its presence is stated or implied. Horns appear in Nos. 1 (Music 1a Full score   , Music 1a MIDI   , Music 1b Full score   , Music 1b MIDI   , Music 1c Full score   , Music 1c MIDI   ), 17 (Music 15 Full score   , Music 15 MIDI   , Music 16 Full score   , Music 16 MIDI   ) and 19 (Full score   , MIDI   ): the writing is typically unadventurous and all within an easily achievable range. Percussion instruments were common and varied in the theatres; according to Fiske (1986, 284), Arne’s carillon (No. 8 (Full score   , MIDI   )) seems to have been a keyed glockenspiel: his use of the glockenspiel and timbrels are early and innovative examples of these instruments in an orchestral context.

The sources give a reasonably good idea of at least some of the ornamentation necessary (predominantly trills and appoggiaturas); it is left to the discerning performer to add further embellishments, as appropriate. Although the designation of ‘Chorus’ in a vocal score or in a libretto typically meant simply that all of the soloists sing together, we know from R. J. S. Stevens that the Boys of St Paul’s Choir ‘attended’ the rehearsals of The Fairy Prince. They presumably sang in the main choral numbers at the close of Parts 1 and 3 (Nos. 18 (Music 17 Full score   , Music 17 MIDI   , Music 18 Full score   , Music 18 MIDI   ) and 34 (Full score   , MIDI   )); the remaining choral numbers in Part 1 seem more likely to have been sung by the soloists playing the Satyrs.

Textual Note

This edition is based on three main sources. The principal source is the published vocal score (A), which is supplemented by George Mattocks’ manuscript partbook (B), and the published set of orchestral parts for the overture (C). All deviations from these sources and discrepancies between them are recorded in the Textual Notes. In the musical texts the original notation and layout has been largely preserved, with the exception that melodic lines sharing staves in vocal numbers are here presented on separate staves, generally without comment; stem direction, beaming, tempo marks, word division, and dynamics have been modernized where necessary; repeat schemes are adjusted to bring them into line with modern practice; the resulting editorial bars created are marked with an asterisk (*) in the musical text. The continuo figuring is taken from Sources A and C (none is given in Source B), with errors and significant variants noted in the commentary; except where confusion may otherwise arise the figuring has not been completed, though its vertical and horizontal placing has been modernised and corrected where necessary without notice. Any editorial figures are given in square brackets.

The naming of instruments and singers given or implied in the score (or word-book, in the case of singers) are taken from the copy-texts; editorial designations (and expansions) are given in square brackets, as appropriate. Indications for ‘hautboy’ have been modernised to ‘oboe’, otherwise they are original. ‘Chorus’ designations are also original, with any deviations listed in commentary. Where characters are not specified, the names of those implied are given in square brackets. Titles of instrumental numbers are taken from the vocal score (Source A); titles for vocal numbers are editorial, as are the item numbers. Designations of ‘Recitative’ and ‘Accompanied Recitative’ are taken from Source D, unless noted otherwise in the commentary.

Editorial accidentals are given above the stave, except for grace notes or in cases where there are two or more notes in a chord in which case they are given before the note concerned in round brackets; in all instances, accidentals apply to the end of the bar unless cancelled. Redundant accidentals have been silently eliminated. Time signatures have been modernised, with the originals given in prefatory staves, or above the lowest stave in cases where a change in time signature occurs within a piece. Where necessary, singers’ clefs have been modernised, with the original given at the singer’s first appearance. Italics are used in the vocal numbers to indicate editorially supplied repetitions of text: otherwise all editorial material is given in square brackets and small font. Rubrics not in round brackets are taken from the principal printed music sources (A and C); stage directions not in round brackets are taken from the main libretto source (Source D): where necessary, the directions have been fitted around the movements rather than given as a single text block. Rubrics and stage directions in round brackets are incorporated from Source B; the exception is item 1 (Music 1a Full score   , Music 1a MIDI   , Music 1b Full score   , Music 1b MIDI   , Music 1c Full score   , Music 1c MIDI   ), where rubrics in brackets are from Source A. Any rubrics in square brackets are editorial. Where supplementary information regarding the scenery etc. is available from contemporary reviews it has been footnoted.

Appoggiaturas, generally unslurred in the sources, are here all uniformly slurred without comment. In Sources A and C wedges and dots to indicate staccato articulation; this has been retained in the edition. Editorial wedges are in square brackets, editorial slurs are indicated by a vertical dash. Editorial slurs have sometimes been added to instrumental parts to match slurs in corresponding voice parts, but only where there is positive evidence that this was the composer’s intention. Instrumental doublings (usually of the vocal line(s) by the violins are indicated in the vocal score (Source A) by such phrases as ‘Unison’, ‘con Voce’ or ‘With the Voice’ etc. and are here written out in full, with the rubric noted in commentary.

Dynamic indications are generally given as ‘P’, ‘F’, etc., they have been replaced by p and f; indications such as ‘Pmo’ and ‘Fmo’ have been replaced by their modern equivalents; ‘crec’ has been replaced by ‘Cresc.’. The solo vocal parts contain no dynamic indications, meaning that the singer is free to decide upon an appropriate scheme, befitting the character of the music. Dynamics given in instrumental parts do not imply absolute values, but rather serve as a reminder to players where they are – or are not – accompanying a solo vocal part: a wider and more variable range than p and f should be achieved in performance.