Historical Fiction Notes: The Beggar's Opera

Painting based on The Beggar's Opera, scene 5, William Hogarth, c. 1728, in the Tate Britain (source)

 "The Beggar's Opera premiered at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre on 29 January 1728 and ran for 62 consecutive performances, the longest run in theatre history up to that time. The work became Gay's greatest success and has been played ever since; it has been called "the most popular play of the eighteenth century." In 1920, The Beggar's Opera began an astonishing revival run of 1,463 performances at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, London, which was one of the longest runs in history for any piece of musical theatre at that time." (Wikipedia)

John Gay (1685-1732) "Gay was born in Barnstaple, England, and was educated at the town's grammar school. On leaving school he was apprenticed to a silk mercer in London, but being weary, according to Samuel Johnson, "of either the restraint or the servility of his occupation", he soon returned to Barnstaple, where he was educated by his uncle, the Rev. John Hanmer, the Nonconformist minister of the town. He then returned to London" (Wikipedia)

"The Scriblerus Club was an informal association of authors, based in London, that came together in the early 18th century. They were prominent figures in the Augustan Age of English letters. The nucleus of the club included the satirists Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. Other members were John Gay, John Arbuthnot, Henry St. John and Thomas Parnell. The group was founded in 1714 and lasted until the death of the founders, finally ending in 1745.  Working collaboratively, the group created the persona of Martinus Scriblerus, through whose writings they accomplished their satirical aims. Very little of this material, however, was published until the 1740s. The club began as an effort to satirize the abuses of learning wherever they might be found, which led to The Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus." (Wikipedia)

While I was in the area of 18th century comedic drama with Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer, I decided it would worthwhile to make a brief detour back half a century to the Augustan era, and to read The Beggar's Opera, by John Gay.

This work, the most famous by the author, is considered the quintessential English ballad opera.  As such, there is no classical operatic recitative to expose the dialogue, and the musical works are original lyrics adapted to popular tunes of the day. It was intended a comedic satire of Italian operatic styles of the day, which had become popular in London in that era.

I wanted to read this work, even though it was a little before the time period of my interest, simply because it was by far the most popular stage production of that era. The actors in the lead roles became famous among Londoners, and the portrait of the leading lady was widely circulated, anticipating our modern fandom of 20th century Pop Culture.

But even though the play was very popular in its day, and even as a revival in the early 20th century in London, it is now largely eclipsed in reptutation by the 1928 adaptation, Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera), which was written by Bertolt Brecht, along with Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill. This debuted right at the dawn of modern Pop Culture (the origin of which I often take somewhat arbitrarily to be 192 ). Even more familiar than the Brecht play itself is the song "The Ballad of Mack the Knife", made famous to Americans by recordings by Louis Armstrong and later by Bobby Darin.

Poster for Die Dreigroschenoper by Brecht.

Bobby Darin, show here in 1959. "Mack the Knife" was introduced to the United States hit parade by Louis Armstrong in 1956, but the song is most closely associated with Bobby Darin, who recorded his version at Fulton Studios on West 40th Street, New York City, on December 19, 1958.

Knowing that the play was very popular, it is probably not surprising to learn that it concerns the lives of miscreants, criminals, and corrupted public officials. The hero and most charming character, Captain Macheath, is a notorious and unrepentant thief.  His male and female companions are part of his extended criminal network, with the women portrayed mostly as having very easy virtue.  I can testify to the enduring popular of this last topic from personal experience, as my own blogs stats tell me that by far the most popular post I have ever made on this site is the one I wrote in the autumn of 2012 about being hassled by the prostitutes and pimps outside my motel in Fresno. From the title of that post, I can well guess what it is that brings folks from search engines to land on my blog.

In any case, the subject matter and style of The Beggar's Opera greatly overlaps the later chapters of Moll Flanders, which dates from around the same time period. Like parts of Defoe's novel, much of the action takes place inside Newgate Prison, and we learn of the treatment of prisoners and the corruption of the penal system of England, where money could buy everything, even perjured testimony to gain release of convicts who might otherwise be hanged or transported to the New World as slaves.

The takeaways here for my own research project were not in the way of things that struck me as being obvious information I needed for parts of the story. But that was fine by me. There was some juicy information about how the gaming houses of Marybone (Marylebone) worked, and also the how highwaymen operated in gangs. Details about the reputation of various London locales in that era are always welcome, for example when Macheath states that Drury Lane would be empty of pleasure women (enjoyed by all classes of men) were it not for criminals like himself, who furnished by far the most important demand for such services.

Also it was interesting satirical insight to learn that just as a man might marry for a woman's inherited fortune, a woman might marry purposely to become a widow and gain a man's money.

But most of this is just background side information at this point, perhaps to be useful at some point. Nevertheless as "the most popular play of the eighteenth century," The Beggar's Opera, its characters, and even actors, would have been very familiar to all the characters in my own story, especially ones familiar with the theater, so that makes it important on its own.

As a ribald comedy, the play necessarily has a Hollywood-like happy ending, even though the characters deserve execution, as stated plainly in the epilogue of the play. Comparing it to American cinema, it definitely has a pre-code feel, and its not surprising that its most famous modern adaptation came out of Weimar Germany. Captain Macheath---not only a notorious criminal, but a bigamist and cad----certainly deserves to go to the gallows, but he is just too lovable. He is too charming a rogue for condemnation, and the targets of his crimes (gentleman gamblers) make his robbery akin to that of  Robin Hood in a way. Like all roguish outlaws in fiction, he is an embodiment of the life force, a criminal in a society that elevates criminals to public office. As the audience, we want him to survive, so he must.