FIELD-DAY FOR THE MORALISTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 89, 7 March 1941, Page 9

FIELD-DAY FOR THE MORALISTS

"The Beggar’s Opera" Caused A Stir

‘¢7F there be any one thing more disgraceful to the English stage than another, it is this opera. The subject, the ideas, the language, are equally all horribly disgusting: the author has raked together the very offal of society." This was written about "The Beggar’s Opera" one hundred years after ‘t was first produced in 1728, but the people who saw the revivals produced in the late 19th and early 20th century took it all quite calmly -and enjoyed the music. Now the NBS is to present the full opera from 2YA in the "Music from the Theatre" series, on Sunday evening, March 9, with the cinema and stage star Michael Redgrave in the leading part-that of the swashbuckling Captain Macheath. Tt is not the first time that an opera or play has survived to live down the horrid things said about it at thé outset, but probably more nasty things were said about the "Beggar’s Opera," one way and another, than about any other production of the days before the movies arrived. These old criticisms remind one of what was often written in the not-so-far-distant past about the blood’n’thunder Westerns, and the sex-and- iniquity society films. The 18th century critics even got in first with the theory that the Westerns turned schoolboys into desperadoes, for a news paragraph about "The Beggar’s Opera" in 1794 records: "A boy of 17, some years since tried at the Old Bailey for what there was every reason to think his first offence, acknowledged himself so delighted with the spirited and heroic character of Macheath that on quitting the theatre he laid out his last guinea

in the purchase of a pair of pistols, and stopped a gentleman on the highway" (the italics, as they say, are not ours). Even before that, in 1776, Sir John Hawkins, a lawyer by profession, who had been knighted for his services as a magistrate, wrote: "Rapine and violence have been gradually increasing aa — of

ever since its first presentation" — a magisterial pronouncement which smacks very much of statements once frequently heard about the bad effect of movies on the young. Certainly, John Gay, the author of the opera, could perhaps have given points to the Hollywood sensationalists in the days before the Hays office took control of the moral standards of the movies. His hero, Captain Macheath, made no bones about loving as many women as were present at the time, and the bland statement of his father-in-law that he was merely putting his daughter "in the comfortable state of widowhood" covers a dirty piece of

double crossing, which alas, seems inconspicuous amid the welter of "low" characters, An Age of Corruption The full plot is summarised in the note on Page 18 of this issue. Newgate was the chief prison for London and most of the scenes are played therein. The age was one of callous indifference to poverty and suffering, when men, women and children were transported or hanged for very trifling thefts. In the pages of this opera, and the pictures of the contemporary artist, Hogarth, one has a vivid representation of the reckless, dissolute, and predatory spirit of a large section of the city population of England before the work of the Wesleys, Whitefield Howards and other religious and social reformers. Influence on Music and Politics As a matter of fact, however, the chief interest in "The Beggar’s Opera" today lies, not so much in its characters and setting as in its value to the music lover and student of opera because of the important part it played in English musical history. Two hundred years ago, with the death of Purcell, English music had declined. It is true that Handel, a naturalised Englishman, was producing Malian operas, but the production in 1728 of "The Beggar’s Opera," a deliberate caricature of the Italian operas of Handel and his friends, set a néw fashion in England and resulted in the composition of a number of native imitations which dealt a serious blow to the imported Italianate type. "The Beggar’s Opera" is not merely a parody of Italian opera, however, but also a political satire, hitting at the

Prime Minister of the day, Sir Robert Walpole, and his satellites. A picture of the political corruption of the period is presented in the guise of a picture of the life of highwaymen, pickpockets, harlots, and criminal servants of the law. The government of the day was so upset that the public performance of a sequel, or second part of the opera, called "Polly," was forbidden by the Lord Chamberlain, and this did not reach the stage till nearly half a century later. Tunes of the Day The songs of "The Beggar’s Opera" were set to the popular tunes of the. day, English and Scottish folk song and folk dance tunes, London street tunes, a few French airs, and a touch of Purcell and Handel. The author of the dialogue and song-lyrics was the poet Gay, hence the old gag that the " Beggar’s Opera" made Gay rich and the rich gay. The selector and arranger of the music was Dr. Pepusch, a learned theorist and teacher of composition, a Doctor of Music at Oxford, and altogether a very respectable gentleman. All the music is charming, and its subject matter, piquant at the date it was written, has become still more sa after the life it represents has passed away. It is like the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan in retaining an interest for the public after the full significance of its topical allusions has been lost. Sir Nigel Playfair presented many revivals in London, and the opera has even been produced in New Zealand by a travelling professional company about 15 years ago. When first produced the opera broke all records by running for 63 nights; when it was revived it ran for two and a-half years. The arrangement to be presented by the NBS is that of the Glyndebourne company, of which Val Gielgud is producer. A point of special interest is that the leading role of Captain Macheath is taken by Michael Redgrave. As the star of several popular films, notably "The Lady Vanishes,"-he is well known to us here, but few will have suspected until now that he is also an operatic star.