Beggar's Opera

The Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera written by John Gay in 1728, featuring music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It satirizes the Italian opera style popular in London by depicting the lives of beggars, highwaymen, and women of the town, rather than classical heroes. Notably, it ran for 62 performances, setting a record for 18th-century England, and influenced later works, including Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper. The opera's songs are based on popular street ballads and folk tunes of the time.