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Benjamin Britten (1947-1976)
The Beggar's Opera, Op. 43 (1947-48) 117:52
Ballad Opera in three acts
Realised from the original airs of John Gay's ballad opera (1728)
Words by John Gay (1685-1732)
with alterations and additions by Tyrone Guthrie (1900-1971)
Full score prepared for publication by David Matthews
Dedicated to James Lawrie
COMPACT DISC ONE
1 Introduction 1:19
Beggar: 'If Poverty be a title to Poetry'
2 Overture - 4:24
Act I 47:00
3 1 Peachum: 'Through all the employments of life' - 1:18
4 Filch: 'Sir, black Moll hath sent word' - 0:42
with Peachum
5 2 Filch: ''Tis Woman that seduces all Mankind' - 1:17
with Mrs Peachum
6 Peachum: 'But it is now high time to look about me' - 1:12
with Mrs Peachum
7 Mrs Peachum: 'Women indeed are b itter bad judges' - 0:52
3 Mrs Peachum: '…ev'ry Man handsome who is going to the Camp' -
Mrs Peachum: 'If any wench Venus' Girdle wear' -
8 Peachum: 'Was Captain Macheath here this morning?' - 0:54
with Mrs Peachum
9 4 Mrs Peachum: 'If Love the Virgin's Heart invade' - 1:52
with Peachum
10 5 Mrs Peachum: 'A Maid is like the Golden ore' - 0:29
11 Mrs Peachum: 'Come hither, Filch' - 0:59
with Filch
12 6 Polly: 'I know as well as any of the fine ladies' - 2:22
Polly: 'Virgins are like the fair flower in its lustre' -
with Peachum
13 7 Mrs Peachum: 'Our Polly is a sad slut!' - 1:19
with Omnes, Peachum, Polly
14 8 Polly: 'Can Love be controlled by Advice?' - 1:17
with Mrs Peachum, Peachum
15 9 Mrs Peachum: 'The girls shows such a readiness' - 2:17
Mrs Peachum: 'O Polly, you might have toyed and kissed' -
with Polly, Omnes, Peachum
16 10 Polly: 'I, like a Ship in storms, was tossed' - 0:53
with Mrs Peachum, Peachum
17 11 Peachum and Mrs Peachum: 'A fox may steal your hens, Sir' - 1:45
with Polly
18 12 Polly: 'O ponder well! Be not severe' - 0:48
with Mrs Peachum
19 13 Polly: 'The Turtle thus with plaintive crying, her Lover dying' - 1:51
with Mrs Peachum, Peachum
20 14 Melodrame. Polly: 'Now I'm a wretch indeed!' - 3:02
with Omnes, Macheath
21 15 Macheath: 'My heart was so free' - 0:48
with Polly
22 16 Macheath: 'Were I laid on Greenland's coast' - 1:59
with Polly, Omnes
23 17 Polly: 'O! what pain it is to part!' - 0:55
with Macheath
24 18 Macheath: 'The Miser thus a shilling sees' - 2:25
with Polly
25 Ben Budge: 'But pr'thee, Mat, what is become of thy brother Tom?' - 0:41
with Mat of the Mint, Jemmy Twitcher, Nimming Ned, Harry Paddington, Wat Dreary
26 19 Gentlemen of the Road: 'Fill ev'ry glassd, for wine inspires us' - 0:49
27 Macheath: 'Gentlemen, well met' - 0:37
with Mat of the Mint
28 20 Macheath: 'I shall wish myself with you' - 1:49
Tenor Solo (Harry Paddington): 'Let us take the road' -
with Gentlemen of the Road
29 21 Macheath: 'If the heart of a man is depressed with cares' - 2:05
30 22 Macheath: 'Dear Mrs Coaxer, you are welcome' - 4:35
Macheath: 'Youth's the season made for joys' -
with Ladies of the Town
31 Macheath: 'Now pray, ladies, take your places' - 0:54
with Jenny Diver, Mrs Coaxer
32 23 Jenny Diver: 'It is your own choice' - 1:32
Jenny Diver: 'Before the vbarn-door crowing' -
with Ladies of the Town, Macheath, Dolly Trull, Suky Tawdry
33 24 Jenny Diver: 'But to be sure, Sir' - 1:39
Ladies of the Town: 'The Gamesters and the Lawyers are jugglers alike' -
with Betty Doxy, Macheath, Peachum
34 Peachum: 'The gentlemen, ladies, lodgegs in Newgate' - 0:44
25 Peachum: 'Constables, wait upon the Captain to his lodgings' -
Macheath: 'At the Tree I shall suffer with pleasure'
52:43
COMPACT DISC TWO
Act II 22:53
1 Lockit: 'Noble Captain, you are welcome' - 0:53
with Macheath
2 26 Macheath: 'Man may escape from rope and gun' - 3:28
with Lucy Lockit
3 27 Lucy Lockit: 'Thus when a good Housewife sees a rat' - 0:44
with Macheath
4 28 Lucy Lockit: 'It is the pleasdure of all you fine men' - 2:32
Lucy Lockit: 'How cruel are the traytors' -
with Macheath
5 29 Macheath: 'The first time at the looking glass' - 1:13
with Lucy Lockit
6 Lockt: 'In this last affair, brother Peachum, we are agreed' - 0:45
with Peachum
7 30 Lockit: 'Such language, brother, anywhere else' - 1:07
Lockit: 'When you censure the age' -
with Lucy Lockit
8 31 Lucy Lockit: 'Is then his fate decreed, Sir?' - 1:42
with Lockit
9 Lucy Lockit: 'Though the Chaplain was out of the way to-day' - 1:09
with Macheath, Polly
10 32 Polly: 'Thus when the Swallow seeking prey' - 1:54
with Macheath, Lucy Lockit
11 Macheath: 'If women's tongues can cease for an answer' - 1:26
33 Lucy Lockit: 'I will not!' -
Macheath: 'How happy could I be with either' -
Polly: 'I'm bubbled, Oh how I am troubled!' -
12 34 Polly: 'Cease your funning' - 2:48
with Omnes, Macheath, Lucy Lockit
13 35 Lucy Lockit: 'Why how now, Madam Flirt!' - 1:05
with Polly, Peachum, Lockit
14 36 Lucy Lockit and Polly: 'Now power on earth can e'er divide' 2:00
with Macheath, Lockit, Peachum, Omnes
Act III 42:14
15 Lockit: 'To be sure, wench, you must have been aiding and abetting' - 0:49
with Lucy Lockit
37
16 Lucy Lockit: 'Dear Sir, mention not my education' - 3:19
37 Lucy Lockit: 'When young at the bar you first taught me to score' -
with Lockit
17 38 Lucy Lockit: 'Ungrateful Macheath!' - 1:06
Lucy Lockit: 'My love is all madness and folly' -
with Lockit
18 39 Lockit: 'Thus Gamesters united in friendship are found' - 1:43
19 40 Beggar: 'Our scene doth represent a Gaming House' - 2:43
Macheath: 'The modes of the Court so common are grown' -
with Ben Budge, Mat of the Mint, Omnes
20 Lockit: 'The Coronation account, brother Peachum' - 2:14
41 Lockit: 'Keep a watchful eye on Polly' -
Lockit: 'What Gudgeons are we men!' -
with Peachum, Servant, Mrs Trapes
21 42 Mrs Trapes: 'In the days of my youth I could bill like a dove' - 2:21
with Lockit, Peachum
22 43a Mrs Trapes: 'In the days of my yough I could bill like a dove' - 0:39
with Beggar
23 43b Lucy Lockit: 'Jealousy, rage, love and fear' - 1:07
Lucy Lockit: 'I'm like a Skiff on the Ocean tossed' -
24 Lucy Lockit: 'I have the Rat's-bane ready' - 2:12
with Filch, Polly
25 44 Polly: 'A curse attends a woman's love' - 1:38
with Lucy Lockit
26 Polly: 'When I was forced from him' - 1:02
45 Polly: 'But perhaps he hath a heart not capable of it' -
Polly: 'Among the men Coquets we find' -
with Lucy Lockit
27 46 Lucy Lockit: 'Come, sweet lass' - 1:55
with Polly
28 47 Polly: 'Now every glimmering of happiness is lost' - 1:45
with Lucy Lockit, Macheath, Peachum
29 48 Macheath: 'Which way shall I turn me, how can I decide?' - 0:40
with Polly
30 Polly: 'Dear, dear Sir, sink the material evidence' - 1:53
49 Polly: 'Polly upon her knees begs it of you' -
Polly: 'When my Hero in court appears' -
with Lucy Lockit
31 50 Lucy Lockit: 'How then can you be a tyrant to me' - 2:00
Lucy Lockit: 'When he holds up his hand arraigned for his life' -
with Lockit
32 51 Lockit and Peachum: 'Ourselves, like the Great, to secure a retreat' - 0:44
33 Lockit: 'We are ready, Sir…' - 1:54
52 Lockit: '…to conduct you to the Old Bailey!'
Lucy Lockit, Polly, Macheath, Lockit, Peachum and Omnes: 'The Charge is prepared; the Lawyers are met' -
with Mrs Peachum
34 53 Scena. Macheath: 'O cruel, cruel case!' - 5:10
with Jailer
35 54 Polly: 'Would I might b e hanged!' - 1:58
with Lucy Lockit, Macheath
36 Mat of the Mint: 'But surely you don't intend that Macheath shall really be executed?' - 1:18
with Beggar, Ben Budge, Lucy Lockit, Polly, Lockit, Peachum
37 55 Macheath: 'Thus I stand like a Turk, with his doxies around' 1:51
with Mrs Peachum, Peachum, Ladies of the Town, Gentlemen of the Road, Lucy Lockit, Polly, Mrs Trapes, Lockit
65:09
Susan Bickley mezzo-soprano - Mrs Peachum
Jeremy White bass-baritone - Mr Peachum
Leah-Marian Jones mezzo-soprano - Polly Peachum
Thomas Randle tenor - Captain Macheath
Robert Anthony Gardiner tenor - Filch
Donald Maxwell baritone - Lockit
Sarah Fox soprano - Lucy Lockit
Frances McCafferty mezzo-soprano - Mrs Diana Trapes
Sirena Tocco beggar
City of London Sinfonia
Christian Curnyn
Recorded in:
Blackheath Halls, London
1-4 February 2009
Producer(s)
Brian Couzens (Executive)
Rachel Smith
Sound Engineer(s)
Ralph Couzens
Jonathan Cooper (Assistant)
Format: Digital CD 16Bit 44.1Khz
Originally recorded in: 24Bit 96Khz |
