Kitty the nonpareil (Thomas Arne)
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- (Posted 2024-11-06) CPDL #82649:
- Editor: Christopher Shaw (submitted 2024-11-06). Score information: A4, 3 pages, 154 kB Copyright: CC BY SA
- Edition notes: Please click on the link for preview/playback/PDF download.
General Information
Title: Kitty the nonpareil
Composer: Thomas Arne
Lyricist:
Number of voices: 1v Voicing: solo high
Genre: Secular, Aria
Language: English
Instruments: Basso continuo, violins
First published: 1760
Description: A topical comic song probably written for performance at the London pleasure gardens, either Ranelagh or Vauxhall. Arne refers to several celebrities at the height of their fame in 1759: military commanders (Frederick the Great of Prussia, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Sir Edward Hawke (victor at Quiberon Bay) and also those of less definable celebrity: Lady Diana Beauclerk (née Spencer - the original "Lady Di"), Lady Bell (currently unidentified) and Kitty Fisher, who achieved widespread renown in 1759 with what would, in modern parlance, be termed a 'wardrobe malfunction'.
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
Of wars let other rhymers talk,
With Fred'rick, Ferdinand and Hawk
Fill each heroic ditty;
At distance from the blust'ring throng,
All, all the burden of my song
Shall be the name of Kitty.
When first I saw her on the plain,
I gaz'd, I lov'd, and told my pain,
She sigh'd and seem'd to pity;
'Tis well the nymph that wounds can cure,
Yes, my poor heart! or else I'm sure
'Twere death to look on Kitty.
Ye tasteless slaves of passion dwell
On Lady Di and Lady Bell,
The great, the rich, the witty;
But I'll be hang'd, at play, at ball,
If they, or any of them all,
Can cope with blooming Kitty.
When match'd with nature's dye, how faint
The sickly red and white of paint!
Can varnish'd dolls be pretty?
Here art would nature but disguise:
Ah! what are di'monds to thine eyes?
My dear, my charming Kitty.
Go fortune, with your favours sport,
Throw titles to the dogs at court,
Give money in the city;
But think not so to cozen me,
I'm wiser, and will never be
Content with less than Kitty.