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InterpNEWS
“Let’s Travel back to London’s Vauxhall Gardens” By Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald
For about twenty years, about 1744-1764, Thomas Arne, later awarded the title of Dr. Arne, was the musical director at London’s Vauxhall Gardens, a resort or pleasure garden where visitors enjoyed fine dining, strolling, flower gardens, and music, among other delights, just as they had at Marylebone Gardens and Ranelagh Gardens. Because many of us seek something different, let’s turn back the keys of our old grandfather clocks or wave a magical scythe and travel back in time to London’s Vauxhall Gardens, perhaps the most enchanting and inviting of the gardens simply because the proprietors featured stairs descending to the River Thames (“Sweet Thames run softly ‘til I end my song,” to wit words of Edmund Spenser who died on January 16, 1599), boating, picnic suppers, and they allowed children to play, in addition to offering musical concerts, dancing, sculpture, lodging, games, and cards. Who wouldn’t want to visit there, albeit through the powers of the imagination? Because Thomas Arne was baptized a Roman Catholic, he was not allowed to perform on the organ in certain churches, but he was at liberty to play the organ and entertain in Vauxhall Gardens and other venues and bring his entourage of vocalists and instrumentalists. In the early days he brought his wife, Cecilia Young Arne, who sang soprano to Vauxhall; along with his mistress, Charlotte Brent (this liaison occurred when Arne and his wife were temporarily estranged); his younger sister, Susannah Maria Arne Cibber, for whom he and George Frederic Handel wrote a number of vocal selections (she was a vocalist and an actress); and his younger brother, Richard. During this time, Arne composed the music for songs from Shakespeare’s plays, as well as oratorios, operas, and masques. To experience the joy and pleasure of Vauxhall Gardens, look at one of Antonio Canaletto’s paintings, *** and imagine yourself enjoying refreshments, music, and flowers. Hopefully (yes?), someone who enjoys lyrics would treasure hearing Arne’s tunes such as “Under the Greenwood Tree” and “When Daisies Pied” from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, along with a host of other melodies, as well as operas, oratorios, and masques. Hearing “Rule Britannia” from an early masque, Alfred, for which Arne had written the music, would have been glorious. Susannah sang the role of the spirit of Pallas. To enrich this imaginary tour, you might find these selections on the ever- inviting You-Tube.