Be there nothing so satirical as a courtier spurned and private investor ruined. With his diplomatic career destroyed by the arrival in Britain of the Georgian dynasty, and finances ruined in the South Sea Bubble, such was John Gay before he wrote his famous ballad opera.
Taking on the pretensions of the new Italian operatic style and Whig political usurpers alike, The Beggars Opera is an outpouring of polemic vitriol against the hypocrisy of English political and judicial systems and its ruling elite.
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It would appear the public appreciated Gay's efforts. Running for sixty-two consecutive performances, the Beggars Opera went on to be the most popular work of the eighteenth century, and after a revival in the twentieth, spawned Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's famous adaptation, The Threepenny Opera.
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Is it time for another revamp? Inspired by both traditional and modern musical developments, rap, hip-hop and the barrier defying talents of artists such as Jakub Józef OrliÅ„ski, we think it's worth exploring!
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