It is supposed, that the origin of 'The Beggar's Opera' is due
to a remark of Swift's that 'a Newgate pastoral might be made a pretty
thing.' Gay borrowed the idea, and constructed 'The Beggar's Opera'
round a cut-throat highwayman of the name of Macheath, while Dr. Pepusch
arranged the music from old English and Scotch melodies, together with
some of the most popular tunes of the day. The success of the work was
very remarkable. It was performed sixty-two times during the first
season, and even now is still to be heard occasionally. It was the
foundation of that exceedingly simple form of art, the English ballad
opera, which was so widely popular in London during the closing years of
the eighteenth century, and early in the nineteenth. At first composers
availed themselves largely of traditional or popular tunes in arranging
the music which diversified the dialogue of these works, but as time
went on they became more ambitious, and the operas of Storace and his
contemporaries are for the most entirely original.
Meanwhile an attempt had been made by Arne to adapt the mannerisms of
the Italian stage to English opera. His 'Artaxerxes,' which was produced
in 1762, was constructed strictly upon the lines of Italian opera, being
made up throughout entirely of airs and recitative. It had a most
encouraging reception, but the enterprise seems to have borne little
fruit, for after a few years we hear no more of English opera 'after the
Italian manner,' and London seems to have been content with Italian
opera and ballad operas of the already familiar type.
Pages:
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353