#The Beggar's Opera

[beggars-opera]

Down a vintage Defunctland rabbit hole this fine Saturday and found one relevant to my interests

[gasparodasalo]

Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667-1752) - Overture to "The Beggar's Opera" for 2 Oboes, Bassoon, Strings and Basso continuo in B-flat Major. Performed by Robert Rawson/The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen on period instruments.

[theoutcastrogue]

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues

"3-part BBC documentary series. Few figures in British history have captured the popular imagination as much as the outlaw. From gentleman highwaymen, via swashbuckling pirates to elusive urban thieves and rogues, the brazen escapades and the flamboyance of the outlaw made them the antihero of their time - feared by the rich, admired by the poor and celebrated by writers and artists. In this three-part series, historian Dr Sam Willis ... shows that, far from being 'outsiders', outlaws were very much a product of their time, shaped by powerful national events."

Episode 1 - Knights of the Road: The Highwayman's Story

"In 1714, Captain Alexander Smith's book The Complete History of the Lives and Robberies of the Most Notorious Highwaymen caused a sensation. It set the bar for colourful and slightly dubious accounts of the big names in highway robbery. But whilst the public might find them romantic, the elite weren't so keen. They represented a threat to the social order: not only were they attacking property with impunity without any regard to the rank of their victims, but the robberies were giving them wealth and pretensions of status.

To satirists, there was a delicious irony to the howls of outrage about highwaymen. For them, politicians in the Georgian government were even worse thieves. In 1728, John Gay penned The Beggar's Opera, using a highwayman called Macheath as a central character in his stage satire. Macheath was the theatrical incarnation of the gentleman robber, but he wasn't the villain of the peace. He was moral, he was noble, and it was set against the rapaciousness of the elite. His character was used to dissect the hypocrisy of the ruling classes, who were losing more at the gambling tables than they were on the roads. Then there was the corruption. In John Gay's eyes, highwaymen were more honest thieves than the government. The ruling class were committing robberies of their own, but they were getting away with it. Prime Minister Robert Walpole spirited away thousands of pounds, and when the Chancellor, the Earl of Macclesfield, took a hundred thousand pounds in bribes, all he got was a fine."

[ethanfreemanappreciation]

In 1983 Ethan starred in The Begger’s Opera in Vienna.

Followed by the German tour of Timuria, Kinder-Musical as die Freude in 1986

(Picture of Timuria shared by Ethan last year.)

With Ethan's birthday coming up next month we thought it would be nice to look back on all the incredible roles he has performed over the years.

[unwelcome-ephestion]

What was the first musical...?

...is sort of a redundant question. Theatre has been musical for as long as there has been theatre. The earliest musical that we would recognise as fitting the modern genre? Some say Show Boat; some go further back to the Black Crook - but the earliest play normally posited is John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1727).

Don't let the title fool you - it's not an opera so much as it is a parody of opera. It's closer to a jukebox musical - all the songs are well known tunes parodied. Some opera, mainly Handel within that, but also a lot of popular song - near the end you get Greensleeves. But this isn't jukebox in the modern sense - the lyrics are changed to apply to the play, and often to take aim at government figures, in this case the corruption of the government of Prime Minister Walpole.

Ballad opera, as the style came to be known, was phenomenally popular and also controversial. Polly, the sequel to the Beggar's Opera, was censored and so never staged, though scripts were pirated and sold. The same is true of many other ballad operas, more highly censored than other stage works because their popularity with the masses was so dangerous. By the end of the 1730s, censorship had all but killed the genre - but not without a prolific decade of government criticism. The use of popular songs was particularly useful, because the use of well known songs could reference certain scandals or politics without ever actually lyrically mentioning them, making them very tricky to clamp down on.

(I specialised in this in university so if anyone wants to read more about this absolutely let me know.)

The Beggar's Opera is now best known in the form of the Threepenny Opera, into which it was adapted by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill - with new music. The most famous song from which is none other than Mack the Knife! So the show still, in its way, resonates in popular culture today.

[j-august]

Since Laws were made for ev'ry Degree, To curb Vice in others, as well as in me, I wonder we han't better Company, Upon Tyburn tree! But Gold from Law can take out the Sting; And if rich Men like us were to swing, 'Twou'd thin the Land, such Numbers to string, Upon Tyburn Tree!

John Gay, The Beggar's Opera

[hampal]

People saw Captain Macheath and Mack the Knife and said “I could fix him.”

[rwpohl]

the empty space, peter brook 1968, alexander verlag berlin 1994 (excerpt.pdf)

[merripestin]

Raul Julia plays Macheath in the 1989 movie version and he is as good as you think he's going to be. The movie is a bit uneven and I see why some people don't love it, but it has William Nighy as Tiger Brown and the rest of the cast is equally fab and you should go watch it at least once because again RAUL JULIA.

Also, Pirate Jenny is sung by Jenny and I get why people hate that but also it is great and I love it.

Down The (Writing) Research Rabbit Hole, [n] in a series

I can't (meaning "won't") tell you why. But sheesh, what a ride.

Links investigated:

Executed Today

Mack The Knife (Wikipedia)

Die Dreigroschenoper (Wikipedia)

Mack the Knife (Mackie Messer) lyrics in German

The Beggar's Opera

Best unexpected nugget so far: "In 1976, a brand-new interpretation of 'Mack the Knife' by Ralph Manheim and John Willett was used in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of The Threepenny Opera, starring Raul Julia as Macheath." ...HOLY COW FIRE UP THE TIME MACHINE AND DROP ME OFF AT THE tkts BOOTH, I WANT TIX.

[byneddiedingo]

Daphne Anderson, Laurence Olivier, and Dorothy Tutin in The Beggar's Opera (Peter Brook, 1953)

Cast: Laurence Olivier, Hugh Griffith, George Rose, Dorothy Tutin, George Devine, Mary Clare, Athene Seyler, Stanley Holloway, Daphne Anderson. Screenplay: Denis Cannan, Christopher Fry, based on a libretto by John Gay. Cinematography: Guy Green. Production design: Georges Wakhévitch. Film editing: Reginald Beck. Music: Arthur Bliss.  The Beggar's Opera, John Gay's 1728 ballad opera, is said to have been inspired by a suggestion of Jonathan Swift that someone should compose "a Newgate pastoral among the thieves and whores" in the old London prison. When I watched Peter Brook's film, his first as a movie director, the closed caption insisted on rendering “Newgate” as “nougat.” The movie isn't exactly a "nougat pastoral," but it's a pleasant enough confection, with Technicolor cinematography by Guy Green and production design and handsome costuming by Georges Wakhévitch that evoke William Hogarth's paintings of the actors in the original production. Best of all, the film has Laurence Olivier, Hugh Griffith, Dorothy Tutin, Stanley Holloway, and Athene Seyler in the cast. Gay's songs, originally set to familiar folk song tunes, have been remusicalized by Arthur Bliss, with some additional lyrics by Christopher Fry, who also wrote the screenplay with Denis Cannan. Most of the singing was dubbed, with the exceptions of Olivier and Holloway: The latter nicely displays a basso buffo style and Olivier has a pleasant if sometimes slightly stressed baritone. The film was a flop, unfortunately, and isn't much seen today, but it's worth checking out when it comes around.

The Beggar's Opera, Act V, by William Hogarth, c. 1728

[dimity-lawn]

Originally, this was an 18th century print of John Gay, who wrote the immensely popular ballad opera known as The Beggar’s Opera in 1728. That being said, I saw “Mr. Gay” and thought of this scene:

[james-stark-the-writer]

Macheath is such a piece of shit like utterly insufferable, i kinda love him

listening to John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and this is so fucking funny. i love the drama.

[flea-palace]

alert alert ive been reading susan kay again and it's got me mentally volatile !!

[ethanfreemanappreciation]

In 1983 Ethan starred in The Begger’s Opera in Vienna.

Followed by the German tour of Timuria, Kinder-Musical as die Freude in 1986

(Picture of Timuria shared by Ethan last year.)

With Ethan's birthday coming up next month we thought it would be nice to look back on all the incredible roles he has performed over the years.

[dadrockconfessions]

[j-august]

POLLY. But I love him, Sir: how then could I have Thoughts of parting with him?

PEACHUM. Parting with him! Why, that is the whole Scheme and Intention of all Marriage Articles. The comfortable Estate of Widow-hood, is the only Hope that keeps up a Wife's Spirits. Where is the Woman who would scruple to be a Wife, if she had it in her Power to be a Widow whenever she pleas'd?

John Gay, The Beggar's Opera