Beggars
For a long time, I had wanted to buy John Gay's Beggar's Opera, especially since I heard a feature comparing all three versions (the Gay version, the Britten version and the Brecht/ Weill Threepenny Opera), and on Amazon I found the complete version and the version from Benjamin Britten, both as second hand. Now I only need the Threepenny Opera, but I guess I can steal (copy) it from a library CD.
Anyway, the original Beggar's Opera is pretty funny, it's not as sophisticated as any opera by Gay's rival Händel, but I like it. Instead of arias, it contains popular songs. For example "Greensleeves" is used for the final.
Here is the first song.
HROUGH all the Employments of Life
Each Neighbour abuses his Brother;
Whore and Rogue they call Husband and Wife:
All Professions be-rogue one another:
The Priest calls the Lawyer a Cheat,
The Lawyer be-knaves the Divine:
And the Statesman, because he's so great,
Thinks his Trade as honest as mine.
(The entire text can be found at the University of Oregon.)
This is the only song Kurt Weill/ Bertolt Brecht adapted to their version, but they wrote a new text for it.
P.S.: Today, I spend more than four hours in a meeting, writing the protocol. It broke my brain, and the word count is abysmal. *shrug* Well, 614 words are better than nothing.
Anyway, the original Beggar's Opera is pretty funny, it's not as sophisticated as any opera by Gay's rival Händel, but I like it. Instead of arias, it contains popular songs. For example "Greensleeves" is used for the final.
Here is the first song.
HROUGH all the Employments of Life
Each Neighbour abuses his Brother;
Whore and Rogue they call Husband and Wife:
All Professions be-rogue one another:
The Priest calls the Lawyer a Cheat,
The Lawyer be-knaves the Divine:
And the Statesman, because he's so great,
Thinks his Trade as honest as mine.
(The entire text can be found at the University of Oregon.)
This is the only song Kurt Weill/ Bertolt Brecht adapted to their version, but they wrote a new text for it.
P.S.: Today, I spend more than four hours in a meeting, writing the protocol. It broke my brain, and the word count is abysmal. *shrug* Well, 614 words are better than nothing.