The Beggar's Opera - Softcover

Gay, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486408884 ISBN 13: 9780486408880

Publisher: Dover Publications Inc, 2000

Synopsis

A receiver of stolen goods informs on his chief supplier, setting in motion an increasingly absurd turn of events. In addition to its burlesque of the then-current vogue for Italian operatic styles, this satirical 1728 play ridicules a broad spectrum of political figures and social conventions. Influential prototype for Threepenny Opera.

About this title

Review:

"Offers a useful performance history of the satirical ballad-opera...the New Mermaids [edition] includes music as well as words for the songs."--"Plays International"

Offers a useful performance history of the satirical ballad-opera...the New Mermaids [edition] includes music as well as words for the songs. Plays International"

"Offers a useful performance history of the satirical ballad-opera...the New Mermaids [edition] includes music as well as words for the songs." --Plays International

From the Back Cover:

The great lords and powerful public officials of early eighteenth-century England are represented as highwaymen and thieves in this deliciously satirical ballad opera. In addition to its burlesque of the contemporary vogue for Italian operatic styles, John Gay's 1728 masterpiece ridicules a broad spectrum of political figures and social conventions—marriage, lawyers, trade, and even Walpole, the prime minister.
Depicting crime and vice at every level of society, The Beggar's Opera offers a witty and powerful indictment of greed, hypocrisy, and corruption in all social classes. When Peachum, a receiver of stolen goods, discovers that a notorious highwayman has eloped with his daughter, the wily old villain turns informer and collects the reward money as his prospective son-in-law is hauled off to prison. Events take an increasingly absurd turn as the dashing outlaw romances the jailer's daughter and effects an escape, only to return to the shadow of the gallows for a farcical climax that parodies the sentimental tragedy of the day.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications Inc
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0486408884
• ISBN 13: 9780486408880
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 64