(b ?Essex, c1715; d Great Warley, Essex, March 1792). English psalmodist. He was a singing teacher, parish clerk and (at least in 1790) organist at Great Warley, Essex, and compiled several publications designed for country parish churches. The most important was The Compleat Psalmodist (seven editions, 1741–79) which was in general modelled on earlier books of the same kind, containing a didactic introduction, psalm tunes, hymns and anthems of the parochial kind. But it was unusually ambitious in including also a number of chants for the prose canticles and a complete setting of Morning and Evening Prayer (see robert Barber (i)). Many of the tunes and anthems were his own; others were supplied by members of his choir at Great Warley; the rest were taken from earlier collections.
Arnold published four other books of similar purpose and scope, and also The Essex Harmony (three editions, 1767–86) which contained songs, catches and glees from various sources. His prefaces give a colourful and informative picture of the musical life of an 18th-century village. The most expansive of these are in the fifth edition of The Compleat Psalmodist (1761) and in Church Music Reformed (1765).
Bury and Norwich Post (14 March 1792)
A.H. Mann: Essex Musical Events and Musicians (MS, GB-NW 448), 91ff
R.T. Daniel: The Anthem in New England before 1800 (Evanston, IL, 1966/R), 75–6
N. Temperley: The Music of the English Parish Church (Cambridge, 1979/R)
R.M. Wilson: Anglican Chant and Chanting in England and America, 1660–1815 (Cambridge, 1996)
NICHOLAS TEMPERLEY