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Alfred, by Thomas Arne and from which "Rule, Britannia!" comes from, was published by Musica Britannica in 1981. This publication contains all surviving music edited as an urtext edition. The editor collaged the different libretti availiable to present the most complete version of the opera. Is this act significant enough to make the score copyrighted?

It should be fine most likely under the 25 year rule for urtext/critical editions (published more than 25 years ago). As long as their is no contributions by any recent editors in the score, its fine. The only thing is you most likely have to remove the preface sections with text by the editors.