The Beggar’s Opera
I love The Beggar’s Opera a 1728 ballad opera in three acts by English poet and dramatist John Gay satirising three separate things:
• Italian opera (parodying its conventions such as three acts, a prison scene, rival “divas,” and a forced happy ending).
• Political and social corruption (equating high society and politicians with the criminal underworld).
• Contemporary crime figures: the highwayman and prison-escaper Jack Sheppard partly inspired the charismatic anti-hero Macheath; the thief-taker and fence Jonathan Wild inspired Peachum.
Characters speak and behave like the elite while operating as thieves, fences, and prostitutes, driving home the idea that the “gentlemen of the road” and the “fine gentlemen” are interchangeable in their amorality.
Gay wrote the piece in 1727–28 in London, setting new (often witty or bawdy) lyrics to roughly 60–69 familiar English, Scottish, and other popular tunes - broadside ballads, folk songs, hymns, and even some opera airs - rather than commissioning original grand arias.
Several theatre managers initially rejected it as too unconventional. It was accepted by John Rich at the Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre and premiered on 29 January 1728. It was an immediate sensation, running for 62 consecutive performances (a near-record at the time). It was said that it “made Rich gay and Gay rich” reflecting the financial windfall for both the manager and the author.
The Beggar’s Opera essentially invented the English ballad opera: spoken dialogue interspersed with popular songs, low-life or everyday characters, social and political satire, and accessible native music. This was a deliberate, populist alternative to Italian opera.
It is widely regarded as a direct ancestor of nineteenth-century British comic opera (notably the works of Gilbert and Sullivan) and, more broadly, of the modern musical—combining spoken drama, popular song, social critique, and relatable characters.
In short, by turning the conventions of elite Italian opera upside-down and grounding them in popular music and sharp contemporary satire, Gay created a new, commercially successful and distinctly British form of musical drama that helped pave the way for the musicals that followed.
In the work the anti-hero Macheath is the object of the affections of two rival women, Polly Peachum and Lucy Locket. In this song, as Macheath is led away to be hanged, they both hope it will be them that he turns too.
Polly. Hither, dear Husband, turn your Eyes.
Lucy. Bestow one Glance to cheer me.
Polly. Think with that Look, thy Polly dies.
Lucy. O shun me not - but hear me.
Polly. 'Tis Polly sues.
Lucy. ‘Tis Lucy speaks.
Polly. Is thus true Love requited?
Lucy. My Heart is bursting.
Polly. - Mine too breaks.
Lucy. Must I
Polly. - Must I be slighted.
Macheath. What would you have me say, Ladies?—You see, this Affair will soon be at an end, without my disobliging either of you.
The full work can be seen here in this amateur production.
[media=https://youtu.be/Wc5r7DMrCnE?is=rJ_UWu1GIUiafKc-]
This is the above song from that production
[media=https://vocaroo.com/1i3tNUBPq5mm]
Here is a professional version, far too slow for my liking and I hate the modern orchestration.
[media=https://youtu.be/YAK8jQ6fO6U?is=TK_Tf_34xgcKf9MX]
• Italian opera (parodying its conventions such as three acts, a prison scene, rival “divas,” and a forced happy ending).
• Political and social corruption (equating high society and politicians with the criminal underworld).
• Contemporary crime figures: the highwayman and prison-escaper Jack Sheppard partly inspired the charismatic anti-hero Macheath; the thief-taker and fence Jonathan Wild inspired Peachum.
Characters speak and behave like the elite while operating as thieves, fences, and prostitutes, driving home the idea that the “gentlemen of the road” and the “fine gentlemen” are interchangeable in their amorality.
Gay wrote the piece in 1727–28 in London, setting new (often witty or bawdy) lyrics to roughly 60–69 familiar English, Scottish, and other popular tunes - broadside ballads, folk songs, hymns, and even some opera airs - rather than commissioning original grand arias.
Several theatre managers initially rejected it as too unconventional. It was accepted by John Rich at the Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre and premiered on 29 January 1728. It was an immediate sensation, running for 62 consecutive performances (a near-record at the time). It was said that it “made Rich gay and Gay rich” reflecting the financial windfall for both the manager and the author.
The Beggar’s Opera essentially invented the English ballad opera: spoken dialogue interspersed with popular songs, low-life or everyday characters, social and political satire, and accessible native music. This was a deliberate, populist alternative to Italian opera.
It is widely regarded as a direct ancestor of nineteenth-century British comic opera (notably the works of Gilbert and Sullivan) and, more broadly, of the modern musical—combining spoken drama, popular song, social critique, and relatable characters.
In short, by turning the conventions of elite Italian opera upside-down and grounding them in popular music and sharp contemporary satire, Gay created a new, commercially successful and distinctly British form of musical drama that helped pave the way for the musicals that followed.
In the work the anti-hero Macheath is the object of the affections of two rival women, Polly Peachum and Lucy Locket. In this song, as Macheath is led away to be hanged, they both hope it will be them that he turns too.
Polly. Hither, dear Husband, turn your Eyes.
Lucy. Bestow one Glance to cheer me.
Polly. Think with that Look, thy Polly dies.
Lucy. O shun me not - but hear me.
Polly. 'Tis Polly sues.
Lucy. ‘Tis Lucy speaks.
Polly. Is thus true Love requited?
Lucy. My Heart is bursting.
Polly. - Mine too breaks.
Lucy. Must I
Polly. - Must I be slighted.
Macheath. What would you have me say, Ladies?—You see, this Affair will soon be at an end, without my disobliging either of you.
The full work can be seen here in this amateur production.
[media=https://youtu.be/Wc5r7DMrCnE?is=rJ_UWu1GIUiafKc-]
This is the above song from that production
[media=https://vocaroo.com/1i3tNUBPq5mm]
Here is a professional version, far too slow for my liking and I hate the modern orchestration.
[media=https://youtu.be/YAK8jQ6fO6U?is=TK_Tf_34xgcKf9MX]
