The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson

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The Fairy Prince | Sources

Primary Sources

A   The | Fairy Prince | a Masque | as Perform’d at the | THEATRE-ROYAL in COVENT-GARDEN | Composed by | Thomas Augustine Arne | Doctor in Music | Price 3/ | [rule] | London Printed by Welcker in Gerrard Street St. Ann’s Soho | Where may be had the greatest Variety of New Music. | NB Just Published that truly admired Song in Score with the Ger: Flute Accompanyment sung in the Opera Viagitori by Sigra. Gugliemi Price 1s. [c. 1771]. RISM, A.1823; BUCEM, p. 44. Oblong folio. The complete vocal score was first advertised in the Public Advertiser on 11 February 1772. It comprises items 2–5, 6a, 7–14, 16–19, 21, 22, 24–9, 31–3 and 35. Its publication was preceded by a volume comprising ‘THE first Half of the Songs, Duets, Chorusses [sic], &c. of the Fairy Prince’ (Source F). Both were printed by Peter Welcker of Gerrard St, Soho, printer to the Bishop of Osnabruck (not to be confused – as several library catalogues do – with the contemporary London publisher, John Welcker). Welcker was in business in Soho from 1762 until his death in 1775; his widow, Mary, continued the business until her own demise in 1778. The business was then taken over by her son-in-law James Blundell. The vocal score contains most of the vocal numbers from the opera, excluding the secco recitatives and three choruses. It includes thirteen dances (twelve of which are given together as an appendix), which appear to have been performed during the masque. Several copies are known: see RISM. A facsimile was published by Belwin Mills of New York as part of their Kalmus vocal series (c. 1979): the original source is not identified though it seems to be RISM A.1823. The copy once held by Dublin, Trinity College Library (Early Printed Books Stacks, OLS X-2-64) is now lost.
Copies consulted: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Mus. 23 c.12 (2); London, British Library, D.263.(3.). Bibliography: Humphries & Smith, 1970; Fiske, 1986.
B   Birmingham, Special Collections, Main Library, University of Birmingham, MS 5008. 113 fols. + vi fols: five unnumbered leaves between fols. 11 and 12; two leaves are consecutively numbered ‘86’ (several leaves are mis-numbered): 119 folios in total; 24 fascicles. Oblong folio guardbook (re)bound in modern, twentieth-century, light brown leather. Contains theatre music by Michael Arne, Thomas Augustine Arne, François-Hippolyte Barthélemon, Jonathan Battishill, William Boyce, Charles Dibdin, Johann Christoph Pepusch and William Shield. Mostly comprises performing parts, and includes Boyce and Arne autographs as well as material copied by Charles Wesley. At least some of the fascicles were once owned by James William Dodd (1760-1818), Second Usher of Westminster School (i.e. the school attached to Westminster Abbey), London: a fragment reading ‘J. Dodd | Dean’s Yard | Wes.t Abby’ is pasted inside the modern front cover, following rebinding. Dodd was a composer of salon music; his Ballads of Archery was published in 1818, with music (see Highfield, 1973–93, 4.438). The manuscripts were presumably acquired from his father, also James William Dodd (c. 1740–96). Dodd senior was a singing and dancing actor who excelled at comedic roles, especially playing genteel fops; in 1765 David Garrick brought him to Drury Lane, where he was to remain until his death (see Highfield, 1973–93, 4.432-40). Upon his death, on 17 September 1796, Dodd left an extensive library which his son put up for auction by Leigh and Sotheby from 19–27 January 1797: several items are known in British collections (see, for example, Talbot, 2009). The catalogue numbers 2435 lots, including copies of Thomas Morley’s Plaine and Easie Introduction to Music (1608) and Christopher Simpson’s Compendium of Practical Music (1678); however, no specific reference is made to any of the items now bound as MS 5008, individually or severally. The vast majority of the lots are printed items. The manuscripts may have been included in one of the ‘parcels’ of varying dimensions listed at the start of the catalogue. Given that the overall MS 5008 measures approximately 240 x 300mm, a quarto format is implied (there are indications that several sheets in MS 5008 were folded). If these manuscripts were included in the collection, lot 6 ‘A Parcel, Miscellaneous, 4to.’ – which sold for 2 shillings – would seem to be the most likely candidate; lot 7, ‘A Parcel, Dramatical, 4to.’ is the only other similarly described lot: it sold for 3s. 6d. The Fairy Prince fascicle was evidently once owned by the English musicologist and composer John Stafford Smith (1750–1836), who may have acquired the manuscript from the 1797 auction. By the time of his death Smith’s library comprised 2191 volumes; it was disbursed indiscriminately in a vaguely catalogued sale on 24 April 1844 to finance the hospitalisation of Smith’s mentally ill daughter (see King, 1963, 44). Nothing else can be established of the provenance of the guardbook. It was housed in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, for several decades (Fenlon, 1976, 118-19) before being transferred to the Special Collections Department of the University. The MS 5008 fascicles contain songs from plays and operas performed in Drury Lane and Covent Garden, including several songs sung by Dodd. Included on fols. 65-73v is George Mattock’s part for much of the Part 1 of The Fairy Prince (‘The First Satyr. M:r Mattocks’ is written at the top of the page). A note in pencil by Stafford Smith reads ‘Dr. Arne’s handwriting | J. S. S.’; the attribution as holograph appears accurate. MS 5008 includes several unique items for The Fairy Prince, including an unaccompanied melody for cornet played ‘While the Moon is rising’: this fits with the stage directions for the First Satyr ‘to come forth and call’; this melody seems also to have been used for the next two times that the Satyr is called to ‘winds his Cornet’. The manuscript is of particular importance as a source for Nos. 2–6b, 11, 15 and 18 (of which 6b and 15 are unique), and as a unique source for four secco recitatives. All of the recitatives for the First Satyr are given; fragments of other recitatives are also given as cues for Mattocks. Among the other fascicles (fols. 17r-30v) is an excerpt from Boyce’s Secular masque (c. 1746) in the composer’s hand; it includes a two-voice recitative for the characters Diana and Janus, played by Kitty Clive and George Mattocks. No direct links can be established between Mattocks and Dodd. King, 1963; Fenlon, 1976; Talbot, 2009.

C    The | Overture, | to the | Fairy Prince | in Eight Parts | Composed by | Doct. r Arne |Price 2. S | [rule] | LONDON Printed by [Peter] Welcker in Gerrard Street St. Ann’s Soho | Where may be had the following Works for Concerts | Richter’s 6 Overtures Op 4 _ 10-6 Cirris 6 Overtures _ _ _ 10-6 Bach’s Quartets _ _ _ _ _ 10-6 | Rushs Overture Royal Shepherd 2-0 Bachs 2 single Overtures each 2-0 Kammells Ditto _ _ _ _ _ 10-6 | Ditto Capricious Lovers _ _ _ 2-0 Pugnanis Overtre Nanetta e Lubino 2-0 Boccherinis Ditto _ _ _ _ 10-6 | N B the Overture & Songs in the Fairy Prince for the Voice & Harpsichord. [1772]. RISM A.1828. Upright folio. Apparently the earliest advertisement appeared in the Public Advertiser on 20 March 1772: ‘The Overture, in eight Parts, to the Fairy Prince, by Dr. Arne, 2s’; the advertisement was repeated ibid. on 7 April. Welcker also included a keyboard arrangement in the vocal score (Source A), which was also issued independently (Source G). In the 1750s Arne published two opera overtures (Comus and The Judgement of Paris) among his sets of symphonies intended for concert performances; the publication of orchestral parts of opera overtures reached an apex between 1764 and 1778. Noteworthy is the layout of the horn parts: they can be read at pitch in the bass clef or as played by substituting a treble clef and ignoring the flats in the key-signature; this appears to be Arne’s own innovation. A modern edition of The Fairy Prince overture was included by Richard Platt in The Symphony and Overture in Great Britain: Twenty Works, Symphony, 1720–1840, Series E; vol. 1 (New York, 1984). The only complete copy is Oxford, Bodleian Library, Mus. 221 c.58/1-9 (11); the only other known copy is an incomplete set (lacking the first violin part) in Edinburgh, Reid Library, Cup.Z Z32.

D   THE | FAIRY PRINCE: | A | MASQUE. | AS IT IS PERFORMED AT THE | THEATRE-ROYAL | IN | COVENT-GARDEN. | LONDON: | Printed for T. BECKET, in the Strand; | Bookseller to Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of | Wales and Bishop of OSNABURGH | MDCCLXXI. Upright folio. Printed word-book from the first performances; advertised in The London Magazine (vol. 40, 1771, 571), priced 1s. Includes the following ‘Advertisement’: ‘The greater part of this Masque is borrowed, with some variation, from Ben Jonson. The same liberty has been taken with a few passages of Shakespeare, and a Chorus of the late Gilbert West, Esq. The final Chorus is from Dryden. The Editor humbly submits the whole to the Publick; hoping that it will not appear unworthy of the occasion to which it is adapted ; and that they will receive with their usual candour this effort to entertain them by the combined powers of the moist eminent proficients in the Arts of Musick, Painting, and Poetry.’ Includes cast list for the first performance; the principal fairies are only described as ‘Two Children, being their first Appearance on any Stage’; and the Nymphs are given as ‘Mrs. Baker And A Gentlewoman’.

Copy consulted: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Vet. A5 e.1952(1). For locations of other copies, see Robinson, 1981. Bibliography: Nicoll, 1952, 3.246; Robinson, 1981.

E   THE | DRAMATICK WORKS | of | GEORGE COLMAN. | VOLUME the FOURTH; | [. . .]| LONDON, | Printed for T. Becket, Adelphi, Strand. | MDCCLXXVII. Upright folio. The fourth and final volume of the incomplete edition of Colman’s works; includes The Fairy Prince (pp. 224-44). The 1777 edition is the same as that of 1771, although the typeface has been updated and several words modernised (e.g. ‘shew’ becomes ‘show’). Of primary significance is the inclusion of the additional ‘Battle of Cressy’ scene towards the end of part 1 (p. 238). The stage directions describing the scene can be found in contemporary newspaper accounts; however, this appears to be the sole source of the additional recitative (see Appendix 2). Copy consulted: London, British Library, General Reference Collection C.104.cc.8.

Secondary Sources

F   The | Fairy Prince | a Masque | as Perform’d at the | THEATRE-ROYAL in COVENT-GARDEN | Composed by | Thomas Augustine Arne | Doctor in Music | Price 3/ | [rule] | London Printed by Welcker in Gerrard Street St. Ann’s Soho | Where may be had the greatest Variety of New Music. | NB Just Published that truly admired Song in Score with the Ger: Flute Accompanyment sung in the Opera Viagitori by Sigra. Gugliemi Price 1s. [1771]. Oblong folio. Incomplete vocal score containing items 2–6a, 8, 11, 12 and 16–18: i.e. all of the vocal items from Part 1 later included in Source A. Compiled from the same plates as Source A, it retains the title-page and page numbers (pp. 6-27). It is evidently the publication advertised on 28 November 1771 in the Public Advertiser: ‘This Day is published, THE first Half of the Songs, Duets, Chorusses [sic], &c. of the Fairy Prince, as now, performing at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden: Composed by Dr. Arne. Price 3s. The favourite Song sung by Signora Guglielmi, and accompanied with the German [i.e. transverse] Flute, by Mr. Tacet, in the Opera of Viagitori. Price 1s. Printed by [Peter] Welcker, in Gerrard Street, Soho. Where may be had the greatest Variety of New Music’. The copy in the Library of Congress appears to be unique. The ‘truly admired song’ presumably refers to ‘Se pieta de il ciel’ from I viaggiatori ridicoli tornati in Italia by Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi (1728–1804). ‘Mr. Tacet’ is Joseph Tacet (fl.1751–80), one of the most famous flautists in England in the second half of the eighteenth century. Copy consulted: Washington, Library of Congress, M1523.A74 F3 (Case).

G   The new Overture to the Fairy Prince, Adapted for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte [c. 1772]. RISM A.1829. Oblong folio. The keyboard arrangement of the overture from the vocal score (Source A) was published separately by Peter Welcker. It comprises pages 2-5 of the vocal score; lacks title-page. Unique copy: London, British Library, f.65.b.(4.).

H   [Rule] | THE | FAIRY PRINCE. | A MASQUE. | AS PERFORMED AT THE | THEATRE-ROYAL in COVENT-GARDEN. | [rule] | LONDON: Printed by R[obert]. Falkener, and sold at his house, No 45. Salisbury-court, Fleetstreet, and at his Music-shop, No 159. near | Somerest-house in the Strand. | (Price One Shilling and Eight-pence.). [c. 1775]. RISM A.1824. Upright folio. An edition of the vocal score, in movable type; contains all of the vocal music from Part 1 printed in Source A: Nos. 2–6a, 8, 11, 12 and 16–18. The print is undated; however, according to Humphries and Smith (1970, 144), Falkener had a shop at his house in Fleet street between c. 1765 and 1775, and a shop near Somerset House c. 1775: from which a publication date of c. 1775 can be inferred. Unique copy: London, British Library, G.226.b.(1.). Humphries & Smith, 1970.

I   THE | FAIRY PRINCE, | A MASQUE. | As Performed at the | Theatre Royal, Covent Garden; | Composed by | D r . ARNE, | For the | GERMAN FLUTE. | LONDON: | Printed for Harrison & Co. No. 18. Paternoster Row. [c. 1787] RISM A.1827. Oblong folio. Published as pp. 83-98 of Samuel Arnold’s New Instructions for the German Flute . . . with . . . a Variety of Favourite Tunes and Other Easy Lessons (serial: Harrison’s New German-Flute Magazine, 1787). Consists of arrangements for one, two and three ‘German’ (i.e. transverse) flutes, evidently compiled from the vocal score (the items follow the same order, and use the same titles etc.): 1 (Andantino and Presto only; G major), 3–5 (á2), 6a (F major), 7 (D major), 9, 10 (G major), 11 (á3; D major), 12, 13 (F major), 14, 17, 18 (Duetto only), 19 (á2; D major), 21, 22 (á2; D major), 24 (D major), 25 (D major), 26 (G major), 27 (G major), 28 (D major), 29 (G major), 33 (G major).

Copy consulted: New Zealand, Wellington, the Alexander Turnbull Library, qREng ARNO New 1787.

J   THE | FAIRY PRINCE; | A MASQUE. | Performed at the | THEATRE-ROYAL, COVENT-GARDEN. | Composed by | D R . ARNE, | For the | VOICE, HARPSICHORD, and VIOLIN. | [rule] | LONDON: | Printed for Harrison & Co. No. 18, Paternoster Row [c. 1787]): vocal score. Oblong folio. RISM A.1825. Another edition of the vocal score, it comprises Nos. 2–5, 6a, 7–14, 16–19, 21, 22, 24–9, 31–3 and 35; closely related to Source A, but with several minor variations, e.g. in the chorus of 18 only the vocal parts are given (with the two treble lines on separate staves).

Copy consulted: London, Royal College of Music, H609/2; the copy in Norway, Universitetsbiblioteket i Oslo listed in RISM is actually the word-book.
K   London, British Library, Add. MS 31669. The manuscript is described as ‘Duettos by Various Authors. Selected, Written, and Gratefully Presented Miss [Anna Maria] Jeffery and Miss Susan Jeffrey R. J. S. Stevens January. 1797. of the Charterhouse’ (fol. 1); it also includes music by Handel, John Christopher Smith, Stephen Storace, and Richard John Samuel Stevens (1757–1837) himself. On fols. 13-19 Stevens entered copies of Nos. 22 (fols. 13-16) and 29 (fols. 16v-19), evidently derived from a copy of Source A or some closely related source. Anna Maria Jeffrey had been Stevens’ student since 1788; he proposed to her in 1799, but was rejected; she did eventually relent, and they were married in 1810. Argent, 1992.

L   Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 9113. A manuscript collection of 38 ‘Duettos’ for two voices and continuo by Thomas Augustine Arne, Samuel Arnold, William Boyce, Joseph Corfe, John Eccles, Tommaso Giordani, Starling Goodwin, Maurice Greene, Georg Friedrich Händel, Henry Harrington, George Hayden, Samuel Howard, William Jackson, Joseph Mazzinghi, Niccolò Pasquali, John Percy, Henry Purcell, Tommaso Traetta, John Travers, Michael Wise and Samuel Webbe. The manuscript was compiled by R. J. S. Stevens, and mostly comprises vocal parts in score (lacking the continuo); some duets for soprano and bass have continuo figures below the bass part. On pp. 107-8 is a copy of No. 5 (lacking the continuo part), presumably derived from a copy of Source A or some related source. Original calf binding with metal clasps, with a black label on the front cover; the title page reads ‘Written by R. J. S. Stevens, Charterhouse’. No date is given; Stevens was appointed organist of the Charterhouse in 1796. Given that Stevens copied a further two items from The Fairy Prince in another manuscript dated 1797 (Source N), it seems reasonable to suggest that this copy of 5 was entered around the same time. This manuscript was also presumably intended for the Jeffrey sisters.

M   Aberystwyth, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales, Ms. 8073A. Manuscript collection compiled c. 1790. containing seventeenth- and eighteenth-century catches, glees and rounds by composers including Harriet Abrams, Thomas Augustine Arne, Jonathan Battishill, John Blow, Henry Carey, Jeremiah Clark, Benjamin Cooke, William Cranford, Edmund Gregory, Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi, John Hilton, Simon Ives, William Lawes, James Nares, Stephen Paxton, Henry Purcell, John Stafford Smith, Thomas Ravenscroft and John Wilson. Includes a copy of No. 11 at fols. 48v-49.

N   Warminster, Longleat House, Music Manuscript 13. Oblong folio manuscript compiled c. 1775 containing solo instrumental pieces (keyboard and harp) by anon., Fortunato Chelleri, Jack Latten (Latin) and Pietro Domenico Paradisi, and partsongs by John Alcock, Thomas Augustine Arne, Luffmann Atterbury, Benjamin Cooke, John Dyne, John Garth, Charles Jenner and Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny. Includes nine songs from Thomas Augustine Arne’s 1762 ballad opera Love in a Village (fols. 12v-18) and a copy of No. 11 (fol. 31v).

O    Apollonian Harmony: | a Collection of scarce & celebrated | Glees, Catches, Madrigals, | Canzonetts, Rounds, & Canons | Antient & Modern, with some Originals, | Composed by | Aldrich, Arne, Atterbury, Battishall, Boyce, | Brewer, Dibdin, Eccles, Est, Giadini, Green, | Handel, Harrington, Hayes, Hook, Morley, | Nares, Purcell, Ravenscroft, Travers, Webbe, | and other eminent Masters ; | most of which are sung at the Noblemens’ | Catch-Club, Theatres, & Public Gardens | The Words consistent with Female Delicacy | [Rule] Vol. 3 Be Merry and Wise Pr. 4s. [Rule]. (London: Printed for Henry Thompson, [1795?–98?]). The six-volume Apollonian Harmony first appeared in the mid-1790s, and was reprinted around the turn of the nineteenth century by Button and Whittaker. In addition to the composers listed on the title-page, the vast collection also included works by various English and Continental composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The collection was probably compiled by Edmund Thomas Warren-Horne (c. 1730–94), secretary of the Noblemen’s and Gentlemen’s Catch Club from its foundation in 1761 until his death. The club was founded in London to promote the composition and performance of canons, catches and glees; among its members ranked J. C. Bach, Thomas Augustine Arne and R. J. S. Stevens; most of the items included in Apollonian Harmony were performed at the Catch Club. Included in the third volume (p. 47) is a copy of No. 11 (vocal parts only). Copy consulted: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Harding Mus. E 1057.

P   THE FAIRY PRINCE, | A MASQUE. | AS PERFORMED AT THE | Theatre Royal, | COVENT GARDEN. | COMPOSED BY, | D r . Arne. | [rule] | LONDON. | Printed for Harrison Cluse & Co N o 78 Fleet Street. RISM A.1826. Upright folio. Printed in vol. x, no.4 of the Pianoforte Magazine (1800), pp. 3-42; it consists of eighteen items in the following order: Nos. 1, 19, 21, 22, 24, 29, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33. Closely related to Source A, but with several minor discrepancies (such as the omission of the figured bass from 22 and the omission of the title from 31). The Pianoforte Magazine was issued by Harrison, Cluse & Co. from 1797 to 1802. Each issue cost 2s.6d. and included a music supplement of a complete vocal score or other music. The magazine was to be published weekly; those who bought all of the projected 250 issues were to be given a free piano with the last instalment; however, it seems that only two-thirds or so of the issues were published. The magazine relied on older music due to the fourteen-year copyright law of 1709, which was reinvigorated in 1774. The upright format of the magazine is easily identifiable; towards the end of the eighteenth century upright vocal scores became common.

Copies consulted: London, British Library, D.854; Washington, Library of Congress, M1523.A74 F3 (Case). Bibliography: Fiske, 1986.