The Beggar's Opera is an opera written by John Gay. First staged in 1728, it is the best known of the satirical ballad operas in the modern day and tells of its protagonist sending another man to the gallows.
Characters[]
- Peachum
- Macheath
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
‘Whore and rogue they call husband and wife:
All professions be-rogue one another'
The tale of Peachum, thief-taker and informer, conspiring to send the dashing and promiscuous highwayman Macheath to the gallows, became the theatrical sensation of the eighteenth century. In The Beggar’s Opera, John Gay turned conventions of Italian opera riotously upside-down, instead using traditional popular ballads and street tunes, while also indulging in political satire at the expense of the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. Gay’s highly original depiction of the thieves, informers, prostitutes and highwaymen thronging the slums and prisons of the corrupt London underworld proved brilliantly successful in exposing the dark side of a corrupt and jaded society.
Bryan Loughrey and T. O. Treadwell’s introduction examines the eighteenth-century background of musical theatre and opera, the changing cityscape of London and the corruption of the legal system. This edition also includes a note on the music in The Beggar’s Opera and suggestions for further reading.
See also[]
- The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild, the Great by Henry Fielding
- The True and Genuine Account of the Life and Actions of the Late Jonathan Wild by Daniel Defoe
Sources[]
- Wikipedia
- Goodreads