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England had been slow to accept opera, having preferred the pageant-like masques and plays with many musical interludes. Strangely enough, the Puritans who controlled England from 1649 to 1660 encourage opera- by forbidding plays. An opera was judged to be a musical concert, and so a musical play, "The Siege of Rhodes," with music by several composers, was allowed production in 1656. Even after the Restoration in 1660 English operas were primarily plays with incidental music. Many such plays were provided with music by Henry Purcell, the great English composer, who wrote but one true opera, "Dido and Aeneas."
The English had never quite accepted the unreal quality of opera librettos. Spurred on by Jonathan Swift, John Gay and Dr John Pepusch put together an opera in which all the characters were anti-heroes: members of the London underworld of criminals, fake beggars, and bribe-taking law enforcers. This work, "The Beggar's Opera," was produced in 1728. Its dialogue was spoken and the melodies were either folk songs or airs taken from works by well-known composers. The Beggar's Opera was a tremendous success and was soon followed by a whole swarm of "ballad operas." |
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