Arne, Thomas (1710-1768)

Thomas Arne's comic opera Love in a Village (1762) occupies a unique place in the history of English music as the first full-length opera about ordinary people supported by composed (as distinct from borrowed) songs, some of them fully operatic in style. It had a huge impact on English comic opera and became the most performed opera on the English stage in the eighteenth century with over 180 performances of record. Robert Hoskins' fine edition is accompanied by an introduction, critical commentary and full libretto