This is a (shortened) television adaptation of the then-current English Opera Group production. It was filmed (I believe) very, very quickly, with no time for retakes. Keep in mind that the stage action and performances were conceived and scaled for sizeable auditoriums, unlike (say) Jonathan Miller's made-for-TV version with Roger Daltry and Patricia Routledge. Most importantly, the Stage Director was Colin Graham ("Charles P. Rogers" was presumably the director for TV), who was an important part of Britten's theatrical world for many years -- he directed the world premieres of many of the later operas, including Death in Venice. Makeshift as this studio version inevitably is, we are fortunate to have a record of so many wonderful singers in this piece!
It's Gilbert and Sullivan with murderers, thieves, and whores. Throw in Janet Baker, Heather Harper, Kenneth McKellar, a great supporting cast, and a classic BBC production makes this my favorite version. Thanks for everything on your channel GBopera.
I've never been a fan of Britten, but this is awful. Britten has ruined the whole thing musically. The original is far better. As to listening for pleasure that is not possible. As to production, it is dreadful. Messy with totally pointless "business".
There is no "original." Only a vocal score with base accompaniments has survived, so you would have heard a different orchestration of that done by someone other than Britten or Gay
It has been reconstructed. The first recording I heard with the original TENOR Macheath was with William McAlpine. It was arranged and the overture composed by a German: Dr. Pepusch. The latest reconstruction is by the Broadside Ballads. One flaw: the hero drops his excellent cockney accent when singing. Not believable. @@rossmerchant8435
Quite right. Many of us first heard The Beggar's Opera in the version by Frederic Austin, a huge hit from1920 on, which presents a rather prettied-up 18th century both musically and verbally (in Peachum's first song, the word "trull" replaces "whore"). Britten's version, made for the newly-formed English Opera Group in 1948, is of a piece with his other music of the period and of his eyebrow-raising "realizations" of English folk songs, harmonically and otherwise. You can love it or hate iy, but it has a definite character all its own, and the way Britten makes a "real" opera out of patchwork sequences like Macheath's prison soliloquy in Act III is fantastic. Final note: Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) was intended as a 200th anniversary production (1928) of Gay's original, though in the event Weill took over only one of the original's tunes -- again, Mr. Peachum's first song. @@rossmerchant8435
How wonderful to see a young Janet Baker (Polly).
I agree 100%! 🙂
Fabulous to see and hear Kenneth McKellar.
This is a (shortened) television adaptation of the then-current English Opera Group production. It was filmed (I believe) very, very quickly, with no time for retakes. Keep in mind that the stage action and performances were conceived and scaled for sizeable auditoriums, unlike (say) Jonathan Miller's made-for-TV version with Roger Daltry and Patricia Routledge. Most importantly, the Stage Director was Colin Graham ("Charles P. Rogers" was presumably the director for TV), who was an important part of Britten's theatrical world for many years -- he directed the world premieres of many of the later operas, including Death in Venice. Makeshift as this studio version inevitably is, we are fortunate to have a record of so many wonderful singers in this piece!
Thank you
It's Gilbert and Sullivan with murderers, thieves, and whores. Throw in Janet Baker, Heather Harper, Kenneth McKellar, a great supporting cast, and a classic BBC production makes this my favorite version. Thanks for everything on your channel GBopera.
Yo yo yo richtig krass geworden kann man Baba drauf freestylen ya selame
Assassin's Creed III
Same
I’m glad I’m not the only one
This is not the full script of the play. If you're viewing this for anything other than pleasure, look elsewhere.
bless u
I detect no deviation for the script of the Benjamin Britten version
23:12 ❤
309 like
Still at 309
26:54
+hi
ماشي ياعم هيثم انت ومسرحياتك دي
صياحك طرب
@@MuhammadReda1 🥲🤡
I've never been a fan of Britten, but this is awful. Britten has ruined the whole thing musically. The original is far better. As to listening for pleasure that is not possible. As to production, it is dreadful. Messy with totally pointless "business".
There is no "original." Only a vocal score with base accompaniments has survived, so you would have heard a different orchestration of that done by someone other than Britten or Gay
It has been reconstructed. The first recording I heard with the original TENOR Macheath was with William McAlpine. It was arranged and the overture composed by a German: Dr. Pepusch. The latest reconstruction is by the Broadside Ballads. One flaw: the hero drops his excellent cockney accent when singing. Not believable. @@rossmerchant8435
Quite right. Many of us first heard The Beggar's Opera in the version by Frederic Austin, a huge hit from1920 on, which presents a rather prettied-up 18th century both musically and verbally (in Peachum's first song, the word "trull" replaces "whore"). Britten's version, made for the newly-formed English Opera Group in 1948, is of a piece with his other music of the period and of his eyebrow-raising "realizations" of English folk songs, harmonically and otherwise. You can love it or hate iy, but it has a definite character all its own, and the way Britten makes a "real" opera out of patchwork sequences like Macheath's prison soliloquy in Act III is fantastic. Final note: Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) was intended as a 200th anniversary production (1928) of Gay's original, though in the event Weill took over only one of the original's tunes -- again, Mr. Peachum's first song. @@rossmerchant8435