Joan Sutherland · Kiri Te KanawaAngela Lansbury ·Warren Mitchell

Michael Hordern · Alfred MarksNational Philharmonic Orchestra

Richard Bonynge

JOHN GAYThe Beggar’s Opera

Eloquence

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JOHN GAY (?1685-1732)

THE BEGGAR’S OPERA

New performing version by Richard Bonynge and Douglas Gamley.Orchestrated by Douglas Gamley.

The spoken text has been adapted and directed for this recording by Anthony Besch.

Matt Graham ClarkeLockit Stafford DeanJemmy Twitcher John GibbsThe Player Michael HordernPolly Peachum Kiri Te KanawaMrs. Peachum Angela LansburyMr. Peachum Alfred MarksThe Jailer Alfred MarksThe Beggar Warren MitchellThe Drawer Warren MitchellMacheath James MorrisJenny Diver Ann MurrayMrs. Trapes Regina ResnikFilch Anthony Rolfe JohnsonLucy Lockit Joan SutherlandDolly Trull Ann Wilkens

London Opera ChorusChorus director: Terry Edwards

National Philharmonic OrchestraRichard Bonynge

Assistant conductor: Douglas GamleyRepetiteur: Sharolyn Kimmorley

This new performing version is published by Josef Weinberger Limited

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CD 1 58’53

The Prologue1 If poverty be a title to poetry 2’102 Overture 4’39

Act I3 No. 1: Through all the employments of life 2’164 No. 2: ’Tis woman seduces all mankind 3’115 No. 3: If any wench Venus’ girdle wear 3’586 No. 4: A maid is like the golden ore 1’477 No. 5: Virgins are like the fair flow’r in its lustre 2’518 No. 6: Our Polly is a sad slut 1’579 No. 7: Can love be controll’d by advice? 2’280 No. 8: O Polly, you might have toy’d and kist 3’08! No. 9: A fox may steal your hens, sir 2’23@ No. 10: O ponder well, be not severe 2’58£ No. 11: Pretty Polly, say 2’06$ No. 12: My heart was so free 1’27% No. 13: Were I laid on Greenland’s coast 2’24^ Yes, I would go with thee…

No. 14: Oh what pain it is to part! 3’06

Act II (beginning)& No. 15: Fill ev’ry glass 2’45* No. 16: Let us take the road! 1’50( No. 17: If the heart of a man is deprest with cares 2’45) No. 18: Youth’s the season made for joys 2’51¡ No. 19: Before the barn door crowing 2’00™ No. 20: The gamesters and lawyers are jugglers alike 2’09# No. 21: At the tree I shall suffer 1’37

CD 2 66’33

Act II (conclusion)1 No. 22: Man may escape from rope and gun 3’402 No. 23: Thus when a good housewife sees a rat 2’003 No. 24: How cruel are the traitors 2’494 No. 25: The first time at the looking-glass 1’215 No. 26: When you censure the age 1’136 No. 27: Is then his fate decreed, sir? 1’597 No. 28: You’ll think, ere many days ensue 2’248 No. 29: Thus when the swallow seeking prey 1’539 No. 30: How happy I could be with either 2’050 No. 31: Cease your funning 2’00! No. 32: Why how now, Madam Flirt? 1’18@ No. 32A: No pow’r on earth can e’er divide 2’27£ No. 33: I like the fox shall grieve 2’15

Act III$ Introduction… To be sure, wench you must’ve been 2’18% No. 34: When young, at the bar 2’06^ And so you have let him escape… 2’06

No. 35: My love is all madness and folly!& No. 36: The modes of the Court so common 1’47* No. 37: What gudgeons are we men! 1’51( No. 38: In the days of my youth 4’47) No. 39: I’m like a skiff on the ocean tost 2’38¡ No. 40: Come, sweet lass 2’01™ No. 41: Look hither, dear husband 1’26# No. 42: Which way shall I turn me? 0’46¢ No. 43: When my hero in court appears 1’58∞ No. 44: When he holds up his hand 1’35§ No. 45: The charge is prepared 2’18¶ No. 46: O cruel, cruel, cruel case! 3’19• No. 47: Would I might be hanged! 3’23ª But, honest friend, I hope you don’t intend 2’07º No. 48: Thus I stand like the Turk 2’38

Total timing: 125’26

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Let’s try who best can spatter,Madam Flirt!

In the original version there was a quarrel betweenPeachum and Lockit which echoed Walpole’s notoriousphysical fight with his brother-in-law Lord Townshendthe year before, the same year that Handel’s famoussopranos, the lovely Faustina and the dumpy Cuzzoni,actually fought on the stage in the presence of PrincessCaroline, just as Polly and Lucy fight – the only visualallusion, as far as we know, to Italian opera performers.

Not that London had always disliked the novelconventions of Italian opera. Even in 1617, soon afterItaly’s first operatic experiments, one of Ben Jonson’scharacters ‘spake in song (stile recitativo)’; in 1667Samuel Pepys, hearing the Italian composer Draghising, thought ‘all in the recitative very fine, but wishedhe had understood the words, and in 1691, whenPurcell wrote that British music was ‘now learningItalian, which is its best master’ as well as the lighter‘French air’, socialites in the play The Wives’ Excuse (forwhich Purcell wrote music) expressed at a musicmeeting opinions that are often drawled out today:

Friendall: Ladies and gentlemen, how do you likethe music?Mrs. Slightly: Oh very fine, sure, Sir! …Springame: … The music’s extremely fine.Wellvile: Especially the vocal part. For I did notunderstand a word on’t.Friendall: Nor I, faith… but the words were Italian, theysung well, and that’s enough for the pleasure of the ear.

In January 1705 Drury Lane presented ‘An opera after

the Italian manner. All sung’ – unlike the Purcell-typeoperas with grand musical scenes usually ending eachact of dramas spoken by non-singing actors – but itwas sung in English with the popular British Mrs. Tofts,who publicly approved the arrest of her former servantAnne Barwick for hissing and ‘throwing of oranges’ atthe perhaps French-Italian Francesca Margherita deL’Epine who sang Italian songs between the acts.

Then in April the newly-built Queen’s Theatre in theHaymarket (now Her Majesty’s) opened with London’sfirst Italian-sung opera, Greber’s The Loves of Ergasto,with Congreve’s English Epilogue hoping ‘In time… toregale you with some sense’: its very bad singersreturned to Italy five days later. In the next five yearsLondon heard not only Purcell-type operas but Italianoperas sung in Italian or English or even both – four atDrury Lane and seven at the Queen’s – and also Englishoperas in the Italian style. So critics sharpened theirquill-pens.

Italian operas were ‘enriched with songs, but innocentof thought’ and soon the excitingly new castratoheroes could ‘combat in trills and in a fugue expire’,especially the fine actor-singer Nicolini, who in 1710strangled a lion while singing an aria in an Italian-sungopera which had English interludes – the opposite offive years before.

Then in 1711 on 24 February, the day after Handel’stwenty-sixth birthday, his opera Rinaldo, composedwhile visiting London, began London’s domination byopera in Italian for nearly two centuries. With anItalianised English libretto, Rinaldo was helped by thepopular Purcell-type spectacular staging, though the

It is ironic that Covent Garden, the world-famousopera-house where operas are given in their originallanguage, might never have been built, had theLondon theatre-going public not begun, at the start ofthe eighteenth century, to object to opera performed ina foreign language, and had this objection not givenrise to The Beggar’s Opera – not really an opera at all,but rather what the early twentieth century might havecalled a satirical revue, with the distinction that TheBeggar’s Opera takes the form of a play with songs.

Satire being then popular, Jonathan Swift, suggestinga subject for John Gay who had been impoverished bythe South Sea Bubble, wrote to their fellow-satiristPope in 1716: ‘What think you of a Newgate Pastoral,among the Whores and the Thieves there?’ – a pastoralbeing a stage-show of ‘rustic purity’ with music andhighly polished verses, while Newgate was London’snotorious prison filled with various riff-raff.

But, when Gay at last finished his ‘opera’ in 1727, Swiftdisliked it and, though the dramatist Congreve thought‘it would either take greatly or be damnedconfoundedly’, Drury Lane turned it down. John Rich’slesser theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields accepted it,however, and there, though the rising actor James Quingave up the leading part, suggesting instead oneThomas Walker who had been humming some of thetunes during rehearsals, it was first performed on 29January 1728, with an unknown cast.

The Beggar in the introduction was really Gay himselfwho, after years of contact at Court, was offered nobetter post than Gentleman Usher, in 1727, to the two-year-old daughter of the new king, George II. And his

musical play about Macheath, his girls Polly Peachumand Lucy Lockit, their criminal parents, hishighwaymen, the ‘women of the town’, his arrest andhis escape from the gallows, was satirical, both directlyand subtly. Contemporary Italian opera, not (as hasoften been stated) The Beggar’s Opera’s prime target,was only one of the topics of the day that werepilloried. Another was the popularity of criminals’achievements and hangings: Jonathan Wild, a thief-catcher but also a receiver of stolen goods, was easilyrecognisable in the character of Peachum, while thehighwayman nicknamed ‘Blueskin’ (also recentlyhanged) and the 22-year-old housebreaker JackSheppard, who had often amazingly escaped fromNewgate and whose hanging four years before wassaid to have been watched by some 200,000 peoplewere reflected in Macheath and his gang. The ‘womenof the town’ were not unlike certain fashionable ladies.

The powerful leader of the government, Sir RobertWalpole, had his reputed practice of bribery alluded towhenever ‘Bob Booty’ was mentioned; Gay’s ‘Robin ofBagshot’ had Walpole’s characteristics of vulgarity, loveof drink, and presumed ‘robbery of the public’;Walpole’s fat stomach was like that of Hall, who playedLockit, the jailer, and Macheath’s song about his twoloves – How happy could I be with either / Were t’otherfair charmer away! – obviously alluded to Walpole’swife and to Molly Skerrett, his mistress, as did theslanging duet:

Why how now, Madam Flirt?If you thus must chatter,And are for flinging dirt,

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to wait till 1777, but even the Archbishop ofCanterbury’s disapproval of making a highwayman ahero could not stop The Beggar’s Opera’s success.

With 62 consecutive performances (not 63 as has beensaid) it broke the record for a long-running show; itssongs decorated fans and screens; Quin, having refusedto play Macheath, did so for his benefit night twomonths later, and, though Walker’s success in the partled to such dissipation that he died in great distress whenonly 46, the Polly – Lavinia Fenton – so captivated theDuke of Bolton that, after having three children by him,she became his Duchess when his wife died in 1751.

The Beggar’s Opera certainly made ‘Gay rich and Richgay’: but while Gay made nearly £800 in its first run,Rich’s profit was £4000, so that he, needing a largertheatre, built Covent Garden in 1732.

Each year for over twenty years The Beggar’s Operahad London performances, always in more than onetheatre and including Covent Garden. Ireland andScotland saw it the same year as London. It wasperformed in Minorca, in Jamaica (1733), in French atwhat is now the Haymarket Theatre (1749), in manyAmerican cities in the 1750s, and up to 1800 in variousways – by children, as a tragedy in classical Romandress, and often with women in the male parts andmen as the females. Surprisingly, though Shakespearewas always cut, The Beggar’s Opera was not: and therecords show that it lasted three hours and a quarter.

Many famous performers appeared in the opera,including in rough chronological order the young PegWoffington, in several parts in one production; John

Rich’s son-in-law John Beard, for whom Handel wrotemany tenor parts; Macklin, the ‘perfect’ Shylock; KittyClive who dominated Garrick; the famous LadyMacbeth, Mrs. Pritchard; Charles Bannister, who couldimitate the castrato Tenducci but used his famousCaliban roar seriously as Polly: the first Lady Teazle, Mrs.Abington; Mrs. Cibber, an unwilling Polly; theinternationally known high soprano, Mrs. Billington,with her ornamentations, but no actress; the greatMme. Mara, short, with her irregular protruding teethas ‘pretty Polly’ when nearly fifty; the ballad-singersIncledon and Miss Stephens (who married the Earl ofEssex); the brilliant Mme. Vestris, the first theatre-manageress, as Macheath; Miss Paton (who marriedLord William Pitt Lenox) and John Braham (creators ofthe leading parts in Weber’s Oberon); the first principalsin The Bohemian Girl, Miss Rainforth and WilliamHarrison (founder of the first Opera in Englishcompany); the great opera and oratorio tenor SimsReeves with his hair clubbed (refusing Macheath’s usualfull-bottomed wig) in a costume suiting his luxuriantmoustache; and in 1887 the first baritone Macheath,Santley (the first British Flying Dutchman) for whomGounod composed Valentin’s aria in Faust.

Pepusch’s thin score with two oboes and probably solostrings was often re-harmonised and re-scored –notably by Arne, raising the keys to show off top-notes;by Linley adding woodwind to solo strings and turningMacheath’s prison snippets into a scena; the theatre-musician John Addison; and others adding or‘improving’ according to the taste of their time.

But most outstanding was Frederic Austin’s version

sea, on which an ermine-clad Nicolini appeared in anopen boat, was still visible when ‘in a delightful grove’live sparrows promptly flew into the auditoriumextinguishing the candles and probably messingladies’ hairdos.

Addison blamed the librettist for calling ‘MynheerHandel… the Orpheus of our age’ and praising him forcomposing Rinaldo in a fortnight – only true in so faras Handel put together some of the earlier music withsome new, without waiting for the Italianised lyrics.

But then in 1712 English opera was hamstrung by‘what cannot be told without indignation’, as Dr.Johnson later wrote in his Lives of the Poets. The LordChamberlain, the shifty twelfth Early and only Duke OfShrewsbury, urged by his Italian wife, Adelhida – shewas daughter of the Marquis Palleotti of Bologna andthe Duke had met and married her in Augsburg (wasthere a link with Handel?) – withdrew the subscriptionfor the English Calypso and Telemachus (its libretto wasby John Hughes, always a champion of singing inEnglish) and performances were forbidden (unless atreduced prices). The opera failed.

Handel then settled in London: Italian opera – that‘exotick, irrational entertainment’ in Dr. Johnson’s words(not just ‘opera’, as is often misquoted) – becamefashionable, and in 1720 a Royal Academy of Music wasfounded to present operas in Italian, chiefly by Handel,with £50,000 subscribed and all lost by 1728.

No wonder that theatre-minded Londoners objected tosound without sense (through unintelligibility, unlessread in inadequate English translation): so Gay satirised

Italian opera’s lyrics as translated, not its music (apartfrom roulades on obviously unsuitable words like ‘dirt’in the ‘Madam Flirt’ duet), and especially the Italian‘simile’ arias in which comparisons held up the story:for instance, in Handel’s Flavio (1723), Guido actuallycompares himself with an ermine that dislikes gettingits fur dirty, so Polly sings that ‘Virgins are like the fairflow’r in its lustre’ which, ‘when once pluck’t’, ‘Rots,stinks and dies and is trod under feet’.

But Gay’s ‘simile’ arias, unlike the Italian ones, oftenalso carry on the story – for instance, Macheath’s heart‘roved like the bee Till Polly my passion requited’ – andall the lyrics (mostly by Gay) were sung clearly to well-known tunes, unlike the Italian ‘vocal sonatas’.

The sixty-nine hummable tunes – traditional British orFrench, or written by composers such as Purcell andeven Handel – were largely chosen by the first-classGerman musician, long resident in London, Dr.Pepusch. He disliked Handel’s music, and the final hit atItalian opera was in its usual artificially happy ending, asoften seen in the Haymarket.

At the first performance success seemed dubious tilltowards the end of the first act, when Polly pleaded forMacheath’s life singing ‘O ponder well, be not severe’whereupon Pope heard the Duke of Argyll say ‘It’ll do– it must do! I see it in the eyes of ’em.’ – and it did:even Walpole, who was there, cleverly laughed whenLockit sang how risky it was to ‘mention vice or bribe’because everyone in authority would cry ‘That waslevell’d at me!’. But his revenge was to get Polly, Gay’ssequel to The Beggar’s Opera, banned (perhapsbecause Polly was too like his mistress, Molly). Polly had

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made for Nigel Playfair’s production in 1920 at the LyricTheatre, Hammersmith, which had 1463 performancesup to 1923 – a record for any ‘opera’. The dialogue –tedious because the 1728 allusions could not beappreciated – was pruned by Arnold Bennett, whoencouraged Playfair and the Lyric from the start, andthe 69 tunes were at first reduced to some 54, thoughlater six others were added, also some pieces – shortpreludes, interludes and dances – by Austin himself tosuit the production.

For singers, Playfair immediately thought of those hehad produced in Figaro for Sir Thomas Beecham, whooften came to The Beggar’s Opera rehearsals. Theexcellent Figaro was obviously Macheath – FrederickRanalow – and the Count Almaviva, Austin (a fineVerdian Iago and the Gunther in Richter’s CoventGarden Ring in English), played Peachum; Polly wasSylvia Nelis and the Lucy (no longer a soprano, but amezzo for contrast) was Violet Marquesita.

Brilliant scenes designed by the 30-year-old Lovat Fraser(whose career was cut short when he died the followingyear) were, as Playfair told him abruptly, too complicatedand expensive, so overnight Fraser devised a simplesetting that could be changed from outdoors to indoorsby placing a painted window against the set’s back wall(commonplace now, but novel then); a chandelier wasdesigned by Gordon Craig during rehearsals on one ofhis rare visits to England; and Lovat Fraser’s costumedesigns with colours reminiscent of Diaghilev were sonew for a play that they were as much responsible forthe great success as were the performers, theproduction, and Austin’s 1920 harmonies, that in no way

distorted the old tunes, with only eight orchestral players– string quartet (plus viola d’amore and viola da gamba),double bass, flute, oboe and harpsichord – conductedby Eugene Goossens the younger.

Models of the set and china figures of some charactersreflected the great success that resulted in demands forincome tax returns from Mr. Gay – only 182 years toolate. Playfair’s production was revived at the sametheatre in five other years but was not a success in NewYork; and while it was at the Lyric, Playfair producedPolly in 1922 at London’s Kingsway Theatre, withAustin’s orchestration.

In 1928 the Brecht-Weill ultra modernisation DieDreigroschenoper appeared (Germany had seen theoriginal often in the eighteenth century). Professor E. J.Dent re-scored the original. Sadler’s Wells which hadseen the original often in the 1850s later gaveBenjamin Britten’s version. The Young Vic added newcharacters in their Old Vic performances in May 1981.

Michael Redgrave played Macheath at the HaymarketTheatre in 1940. A discussion with Ian Hunter aboutGlyndebourne’s touring version led to the EdinburghFestival. Laurence Olivier was Macheath in a filmversion in 1954. This recording is proof that TheBeggar’s Opera has more to it than its 1728 satire. Itwill certainly not be the last.

Dennis Arundell

A note on the present versionBallad opera enjoyed enormous popularity in theeighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and it can beconsidered almost as the equivalent of musical comedy inthose times. Basically a play with many songs of a simplenature, it is a very English form of entertainment,although closely related to early French opéra-comiqueand German Singspiel. The dialogue was always spokenand words frequently adapted to existing music.

There are few genuine folk songs in The Beggar’s Opera(a notable exception is of course ‘Greensleeves’). Gayfitted his lyrics to favourite songs of the day, mainlyEnglish but also Scottish, Irish, Italian and French, andmostly taken from a collection entitled Wit and Mirth, orPills to Purge Melancholy, published in 1719 by ThomasDurfey. This is proved by the fact that in the 1729 editionof The Beggar’s Opera these melodies are identified bythe title or first line of the words in Durfey’s publication.Some of these tunes are old enough to have appeared inPlayford’s English Dancing Master of 1650, and a fewdate from much earlier still, for example ‘Greensleeves’,which appeared in A Handful of Pleasant Delites in 1584.

These melodies span a period of over a century andencompass a wide variety of styles, from bawdy tavernsongs and popular dances to the music of Gay’scontemporary Handel (the March of Rinaldo) and HenryPurcell. The original words of many of the songs wouldhave been well known to the audience at the firstperformance in 1728 and may have added a doubleentendre, either political or salacious, to some of thenumbers, the melodies probably being chosen at leastpartly with that in mind.

Gay at first intended the songs to be unaccompanied,the actors passing from speech to song without pause,but during the rehearsal he was persuaded to haveorchestral accompaniments provided. It was probably atthis stage that Dr. Pepusch was called in to supply thebass line which appears in the 1729 edition and perhapsto write out parts for the other players.

In preparing this new version of the music, we haveconstantly borne in mind that the work was originallypresented as a popular entertainment, in contrast and inopposition to the Italian opera of the day. A number ofthe original melodies have been rejected because theirverbal significance has long been forgotten, and somenew ones incorporated, some of the old tunes withoutword connotations being of very poor quality. Thispractice had already begun with revivals in the eighteenthcentury – an edition of 1765 is announced as being ‘withthe additional alterations and new basses by Dr. Arne’ –and continued throughout the following century innotable revivals at Covent Garden and Drury Lane.

We decided at the outset on an adaptation for singersand a full-size (double woodwind) symphony orchestrarather than attempt yet another eighteenth-centurypastiche intended primarily for singing actors. Althoughactors with little vocal accomplishments can be used inmany roles, the parts of Polly, Lucy and Macheath allrequire operatic voices. The musical language of the newversion is that of the present day, with at least some ofthe satirical element of the original retained by gentleparodying of a wide range of eighteenth, nineteenth andtwentieth-century musical styles.

Richard Bonynge & Douglas Gamley

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1 THE PROLOGUEBeggarIf poverty be a title to poetry,I’m sure nobody can dispute mine.I own myself of the company of Beggars,and I make one at their weekly festivals at St. Giles’s.

PlayerAh!

BeggarI’ve a small yearly salary for my catchesand am welcome to a dinner there wheneverI please, which is more than most poets can say.

PlayerAs we live by Muses, ’tis but gratitudein us to encourage poetical merit whereverwe find it.The Muses, contrary to all other ladies,pay no distinction to dress, and neverpartially mistake the pertness of embroideryfor wit, nor the modesty of wantfor dullness.Be the author who he will, we push his playas far as it will go.So, though you are in want, I wish you success heartily.

BeggarWell, this piece I own was originally writfor celebrating the marriage ofJames Chanter and Moll Lay.

PlayerUh?

BeggarTwo most excellent ballad-singers.

PlayerAh!

BeggarI have introduced the similies that are in

all your celebrated operas: the swallow, themoth, the bee, the ship, the flower, etcetera.Besides, I have a prison scene, which theladies always reckon charmingly pathetic.As to the parts, I have observed such a niceimpartiality to our two ladies that it isimpossible for either of them to take offence.I hope I may be forgiven that I’ve not mademy opera throughout unnatural, like those invogue; for I have no… er… recitative.Excepting this, as I have consented to haveneither Prologue nor Epilogue, it must beconsidered an opera in all its forms.

PlayerMm…

BeggarThe piece indeed hath been heretoforefrequently represented by ourselvesin our great room at St. Giles’s,so that I cannot too often acknowledgeyour charity in bringing it now on the stage.

PlayerBut I see ’tis time for us to withdraw:the actors are preparing to begin.Play away the Overture!

2 OVERTURE

ACT ONEThe House of Peachum, a receiver of stolen goods.

PeachumNo. 1:3 Through all the employments of lifeEach neighbour abuses his brother:Whore and rogue they call husband and wife:All professions berrogue one another.The priest calls the lawyer a cheat.The lawyer beknaves the divine.And the statesman, because he’s so great,

Thinks his trade as honest as mine.The priest calls the lawyer a cheat, etc.A lawyer’s is an honest employment,so is mine.Like me too he acts in a double capacity,

both against rogues and for ‘em;for ’tis but fitting that we should protectand encourage cheats, since we live by ‘em.

Filch (entering)Sir Black Moll hath sent word her trialcomes on in the afternoon, and she hopesyou will order matters so as to bring her off.

PeachumAs the wench is very active and industriousyou may satisfy her that I’ll soften theevidence.Let Betty Sly know that I’ll save her fromtransportation for I can get more by herstaying in England.

FilchBetty hath brought more goods into our lockto-year than any five of the gang;and in truth ’tis a pity to lose so gooda customer.

PeachumIf none of the gang take her off, she maylive a twelve-month longer.I love to let women escape.A good sportsman always lets the hen-partridges fly, because the breed ofthe game depends upon them.

FilchWithout dispute, she is a fine woman!’Twas to her I was obliged for myeducation.

No. 24 ’Tis woman seduces all mankind.By her we first were taught the wheedling arts.Her very eyes can cheat; when most she’s kind.She tricks us of our money with our hearts.For her, like wolves by night we roam for prey,And practise ev’ry fraud to bribe her charms,For suits of love, like laws, are won by pay,And beauty must be fee’d into our arms.And beauty, etc.

PeachumBut make haste to Newgate, boy,and let my friends know what I intend;for I love to make them easyone way or another.(Filch leaves)But now ’tis time to look about mefor a decent execution against next sessions.A register of the gang:Crook-fingered Jack…A year and a half in the service…Let me see how much the stock owes to his industry…One, two, three, four, five gold watchesand seven silver ones.Considering these are only the fruitsof his leisure hours. I don’t knowa prettier fellow, for no man alivehath a more engaging presence ofmind upon the road.Robin of Bagshot, alias Gorgon, aliasBluff Bob, alias Carbuncle, alias BobBooty, alias…

Mrs. Peachum (entering)What of Bob Booty, husband?I hope nothing bad hath betided him.You know, my dear, he’s a favouritecustomer of mine.’Twas he made me a present of this ring.

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PeachumI have set his name down in the black list,that’s all, my dear;He spends his life among women,and as soon as his money is gone, one orother of the ladies will hang him for thereward, and there’s forty pound lost tous forever.

Mrs. PeachumYou know, my dear, I never meddle inmatters of death; I always leave thoseaffairs to you.Women indeed are bitter bad judges in thesecases, for they are so partial to the bravethat they think every many handsomewho is going to the camp or the gallows.

No. 35 If any wench Venus’ girdle wear,

Though she be never so ugly,Lilies and roses will quickly appearAnd her face look wondrous smugly.Beneath the left ear so fit but a cord.(a rope so charming a zone is!)The youth in his cart hath the air of a lord.And we cry – ‘There dies an Adonis!’If any wench Venus’ girdle wear, etc.But really, husband, you should not beToo hard-hearted, for you never had afiner, braver set of men than at present.We have not had a murder among themthese seven months.And truly, my dear, that is a great blessing.

PeachumWhat the dickens is the woman alwaysa-whimpering about murder for?No gentleman is ever looked on the worsefor killing a man in his own defence.

Mrs. PeachumIf I’m in the wrong, my dear, you mustexcuse me, for nobody can help thefrailty of an over-scrupulous conscience.

PeachumMurder is as fashionable a crimeas a man can be guilty of, and so,my dear, have done upon this subject.Was Captain Macheath here this morningfor the bank-notes he left with youlast week?

Mrs. PeachumYes, my dear, and though the bankhath stopped payment, he was so cheerfuland so agreeable!Sure, there is not a finer gentleman uponthe road than the Captain!If he comes from Bagshot at any reasonablehour, he hath promised to make one thisevening with Polly and me and Bob Bootyat a party of quadrille.Pray, my dear, is the Captain rich?

PeachumThe Captain keeps too good companyever to grow rich.

Mrs. PeachumOh really? I am so sorry upon Polly’s accountthe Captain hath not more discretion.

PeachumUpon Polly’s account?What a plague does the woman mean,upon Polly’s account?

Mrs. PeachumCaptain Macheath is very fond of the girl.

PeachumAnd what then? You would not be so mad

as to have the wench marry him!Gamesters and highwaymen are generallyvery good to their whores, but they’re thevery devils to their wives.

Mrs. PeachumBut if Polly should be in love, howshould we help her, or how can shehelp herself? Poor girl, I’m in theutmost concern about her.

PeachumLook here, wife. You know I would indulgethe girl as far as prudently we canin any thing but marriage.After that, my dear, how shall we be safe?Are we not then in her husband’s power?If the affair is not already done.I’ll terrify her from it by theexample of our neighbours.I’ll go to her this minute and sift her.(He goes out)

Mrs. PeachumNever was a man more out of the wayin an argument than my husband!Why must our Polly, forsooth,differ from her sex, and love onlyher husband?And why must Polly’s marriage,contrary to all observation, make herthe less followed by other men?All men are thieves in love, and likea woman the better for being another’s property.

No. 46 A maid is like the golden orewhich hath guineas intrinsical in’t,Whose worth is never known beforeIt is tried and impress’d in the mint.A wife’s like a guinea in gold,Stamped with the name of her spouse;

Now here, now there, is bought or soldAnd is current in every house.A maid is like the golden ore, etc.

(Enter Filch)Come hither, Filch.(I am as fond of this child, as thoughmy wind misgave me he were my own).Where was your post last night, my boy?

FilchI plied at the opera, madam;and considering ’twas neither darknor rainy, made a tolerable hand on it.

Mrs. PeachumBut hark you, my lad; don’t tell mea lie, for you know I hate a liar.Do you know of anything that hath passedbetween Captain Macheath and our Polly?

FilchI beg you, madam, don’t ask me;for I must either lie to you or toMiss Polly; for I promised I wouldn’t tell.

Mrs. PeachumYonder comes my husband and Polly.Come, Filch, you shall go with meinto my own room, and tell me thewhole story.I’ll give thee a glass of a mostdelicious cordial that I keepfor my own drinking.

(They leave together)(Enter Polly and Peachum)

PollyNo. 57 Virgins are like the fair flow’r in its lustre.Which in the garden enamels the ground;Near it the bees in play flutter and cluster

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And gaudy butterflies frolick around.But, when once pluck’t, ’tis no longer alluring.To Covent Garden ’tis sent (as yet sweet).There fades and shrinks and grows past all enduring.Rots, stinks and dies and is trod under feet.But, when once pluck’t, etc.

PeachumYou know, Polly, I am not againstyour toying and trifling with acustomer in the way of business,and if I find out that you’ve playedthe fool and are married, you jade you.I’ll cut your throat, hussy.Now you know my mind.

Mrs. Peachum (entering)No. 68 Our Polly is a sad slut,Nor heeds what we have taught her.I wonder any man aliveWill ever rear a daughter!For she must have both hoods and gownsAnd hoops to swell her pride,With scarfs and stays and gloves and laceAnd will have men beside.And when she’s drest with care and cost,All tempting, fine and gay.As men should serve a cowcumber,She flings herself away!

PeachumOur Polly is…… a sad slut,Nor heeds what we have taught her, etc.

Mrs. PeachumOur Polly is a slut! etc.

BothAnd when she’s drest, etc.

Mrs. PeachumYou baggage, you hussy, you inconsiderate jade!Had you been hanged, it would not havevexed me, for that might have beenyour misfortune; but to do such a madthing by choice!The wench is married, husband!

PeachumMarried! Do you think your mother and Ishould have lived comfortably so longtogether if ever we’d been married?

Mrs. PeachumCan you support the expense of a husbandin gaming and drinking and whoring?Have you money enough to carry on thedaily quarrels about who shall squander most?If you must be married, could youintroduce nobody into our familybut a highwayman?Why, thou foolish jade, thou wilt beas ill-used and as much neglectedas if thou hadst married a lord.

PeachumTell me, hussy, are you ruined or no?

Mrs. PeachumHow a mother is to be pitiedwho hath handsome daughters!Locks, bolts, bars and lectures ofmorality are nothing to them.They have as much pleasure in cheatinga father and mother as in cheating at cards.

PollyOh, mother!

PeachumWhy, Polly, I shall soon knowif you are married, by Macheath’skeeping from our house.

PollyNo. 79 Can you love be controll’d by advice?Will Cupid our mothers obey?Though my heart were as frozen as ice,At his flame ‘twould have melted away.When he kiss’d me so closely he prest,’twas so sweet that I must have complied,So I thought it both safest and bestTo marry, for fear you should chide.

Mrs. PeachumThen all the hopes of our familyare gone for ever and ever.

PollyI did not marry him coolly anddeliberately for honour or money.But I love him.

Mrs. PeachumLove him! Worse and worse!I thought the girl had been better bred.Oh husband, husband!Her folly makes me mad.My head swims, I’m distracted.I can’t support myself …Oh!

PeachumSee, wench, to what a conditionyou have reduced your poor mother.A glass of cordial, this instant.(Polly goes to fetch the cordial)How the poor woman takes it to heart!(administering the cordial)Ah, hussy, now this is the only comfortyour poor mother has left.

PollyGive her another glass, sir;my Mama drinks double the quantitywhenever she is out of order.This, you see, fetches her.

Mrs. Peachum (revived)The girl shows such a readiness,and so much concern, that I couldalmost find it in my heart to forgive her.

Mrs. PeachumNo. 80 O Polly, you might have toy’d and kist;

By keeping men off you keep them on.

PollyBut he so teased me.And he so pleased me,What I did you must have done.

Mrs. PeachumO, while some men you should resist,Be woo’d at length but never won.

PollyBut he so teas’d me etc.But he so teas’d me…

Mrs. PeachumBut he so teas’d thee.

Polly…And he so pleas’d me…What I did you must have done.

Mrs. PeachumWhat you did I must have done.

Mrs. PeachumBut not with a highwayman,you sorry slut!

PeachumA word with you, wife.’tis no new thing for a wench to takea man without consent of parents.You know ’tis the frailty of woman,my dear.Mrs. Peachum

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Yes, indeed the sex is frail.but the first time a woman is frail.She should be somewhat nice, methinks,for then or never is the time to make her fortune.

PeachumMake yourself a little easy;I have a thought shall soon setall matters again to rights.Why so melancholy, Polly?Since what is done cannot be undone,we must all endeavour to make the best of it.

Mrs. PeachumWell, Polly, as far as one womancan forgive another, I forgive thee.Your father’s too fond of you, hussy.

PollyThen all my sorrows are at an end.

Mrs. PeachumA mighty likely speech in troth,for a wench who is just married!

PeachumBut I hear customers in the other room.Go, talk with ‘em, Polly, but come to usagain as soon as they’re gone.(Polly goes out)Dear wife, be a little pacified.Don’t let your passion run awaywith your senses.Polly I grant you hath done a rash thing.

Mrs. PeachumI am very sensible, husband, thatCaptain Macheath is worth money,but I am in doubt whether he hathnot two or three wives already,and then if he should die in a sessionor two, Polly’s dower would comeinto disputePeachum

That indeed is a point which oughtto be considered.

No. 9! A fox may steal your hens, sir,

A whore, your health and pence, sir,Your daughter rob your chest, sir,Your wife may steal your rest, sir,A thief your goods and plate, rep.But this is all but picking,With rest, pence, chest and chicken:It ever was decreed, sir,If lawyer’s hand is fee’d, sir,He steals your whole estate.

Mrs. PeachumA fox may steal your hens, sir, etc.

BothHe steals your whole estate.

(Polly returns)

PeachumBut now, Polly, to your affair.You are married, then, it seems.

PollyYes, sir.

PeachumAnd how do you propose to live, child?

PollyLike other women, sirupon the industry of my husband.

Mrs. PeachumWhat, is the wench turned fool?A highwayman’s wife, like a soldier’shath as little of his pay as ofhis company.

PeachumAnd had you not the common viewsof a gentlewoman in your marriage, Polly?

PollyI don’t know what you mean sir.

PeachumOf a jointure, and of being a widow.

PollyBut I love him, sir.How then could I have thoughtsof parting with him?

PeachumWhy, that is the whole schemeand intention of all marriage articles.Where is the woman who would scrupleto be a wife, if she had it in her powerto be a widow whenever she pleased?

PollyHow I dread to hear your advice.Yet I must beg you to explain yourself.

PeachumSecure what he hath got, have himpeached the next session, and then at onceyou are made a rich widow.

PollyWhat! Murder the man I love!The blood runs cold at my heartwith the very thought of it.

Mrs. PeachumAy, husband, now you have nicked the matter.To have him peached is the only thingcould ever make me forgive her.

PollyNo. 10@ O ponder well, be not severe,

So save a wretched wife!For on the rope that hangs my deardepends poor Polly’s life.O ponder and be not severe,For my life depends on my dear.O ponder well, be not severe, etc.

Mrs. PeachumBut your duty to your parents, hussy,obliges you to hang him.What would many a wife givefor such an opportunity!

PollyWhat is a jointure? What is widowhood to me?I know my heart. I cannot survive him.

Mrs. PeachumWhat, is the fool in love in earnest?Then why, wench, thou art a shame to thy very sex!

PollyBut hear me, mother, if you ever loved…

Mrs. PeachumThose cursed play-books she readshave been her ruin.One more word, hussy, and I shallknock your brains out, if you have any!

PeachumKeep out of the way, Polly, for fear ofmischief and consider what is proposed to you.

Mrs. PeachumAway, hussy, hang your husbandand be dutiful(Polly leaves)The thing, husband, must and shall be done.We must take other measures,and have him peached the next sessionwithout her consentIf she will not know her duty, we know ours.

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PeachumBut really, my dear, it grieves one’s heartto take off a great man.I wish you could have made Polly undertake it.

Mrs. PeachumBut in a case of necessity…our own lives are in danger.

PeachumThen indeed, we must complywith the customs of the world,and make gratitude give way to interest.He shall be taken off.

Mrs. PeachumI’ll undertake to manage Polly.(She leaves)

PeachumAnd I’ll prepare matters for theOld Bailey.(He leaves)

MacheathNo. 12£ Pretty Polly, say.When I was away,Did your fancy never strayto some newer lover?Pretty Polly, say, etc.

PollyWithout disguise,Heaving sighs,Doting eyes,My constant heart discover.Fondly let me loll, rep.

BothPretty, pretty, pretty, pretty,Pretty, pretty, Poll!Fondly let me loll (rep.)Pretty, pretty…

PollyAh…

Macheath… pretty, pretty, etc.

BothFondly let me loll, etc.

PollyAnd are you as fond as ever, my dear?

MacheathSuspect my honour, my courage,suspect anything but my love!May my pistols misfire, and my mareslip her shoulder while I am pursued,if I ever forsake thee!

No. 13$My heart was so free,it roved like the beeTill Polly my passion required.My heart was so free, etc.I split each flowerI chang’d ev’ry hour (rep.).But here ev’ry flower is united.I sipt each flower, etcIs there any power, any force thatcould tear me from thee?You might sooner tear a pensionout of the hands of a courtier,a fee from a lawyer, or a pretty womanfrom a looking-glass – but to tear mefrom thee is impossible!

No. 14%Were I laid on Greenland’s coastAnd in my arms embraced my lass,Warm amidst eternal frostToo soon the half year’s light would pass.

PollyWere I sold on Indian soil.

Soon as the burning day was clos’d,I could mock the sultry toilWhen on my charmer’s breast repos’d.

MacheathI would love you all the day…

Polly... Ev’ry night would kiss and play.

BothIf with me you’d fondly strayOver the hills and far away.I would love you all the day.Ev’ry night would kiss and play, etc.Far away, far away, far away!

Polly^ Yes, I would go with thee,But, oh, how shall I speak it?I must be torn from thee.We must part.My Papa and Mama are set against thy life.They are preparing evidence against thee.Thy life depends upon a moment.

No. 15Oh what pain it is to part!Can I leave thee? Can I leave thee?Oh what pain it is to part!Can thy Polly ever leave thee?

MacheathCan I leave thee?Oh, ‘twould grieve me!

PollyCan thy Polly ever leave thee?but lest death……my love should thwart,And bring thee to the fatal cart,Thus I tear thee from my bleeding heart!Fly hence, and let me leave thee!

MacheathBut lest death should bring meto the fatal cart,I tear me from thy bleeding heart,Fly hence and leave thee.

ACT TWO

Scene 1A tavern near Newgate. A party of Macheath’s companionsincluding Matt and Jemmy.

No. 16Matt& Fill ev’ry glass, for wine inspires usAnd fires up with courage, love and joy!

AllFill ev’ry glass, etc.

JemmyFill ev’ry glass, etc.

AllFill ev’ry glass, etc.

MattWomen and wine should life employ.

JemmyIs there ought else on earth desirous?

AllWomen and wine should life employ.Is there ought else in life so fair?Fill ev’ry glass, etc.Let us drink to love and joy!Fill ev’ry glass etc.

Macheath (entering)Gentlemen, well met.My heart hath been with you this hour.but an unexpected affair hath detained me.

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MattAm I to have the honour of taking the airwith you, sir, this evening upon the heath?

MacheathI was to have been of that party, but…

MattBut what, sir?

MacheathPeachum is a man that is useful to us.

MattIs he about to play us any foul play?I’ll shoot him through the head.

MacheathBusiness cannot go on without him.He and I have had a slight differenceand until it is accommodated.I shall be obliged to keep out of his way.You must continue to act underhis direction, for the moment webreak loose from him, our gang is ruined.

MattYour instructions shall be observed.’tis now high time for us to repairto our several duties: so till the eveningat our quarters in Moorfields,we bid you farewell.

MacheathI shall wish myself with you.Success attend you.

No. 17* Let us take the road!

Hark! I hear the sound of coaches:The hour of attack approaches:To arms, brave boys, and load.

HighwaymenLet us take the road, etc.

MattSee the ball I hold!Let the chymists toil like asses,our fire their fire surpassesand turns all our lead to gold.

HighwaymenSee the ball I hold, etc.Let us take the road, etc.(All leave except Macheath)

MacheathWhat a fool is a fond wench!Polly is most confoundedly bit!I love the sex, and a man who loves moneymight as well be contented with one guinea,as I with one woman.

No. 18( If the heart of a man is deprest with cares,

The mist is dispell’d when a maid appears;Like the notes of a fiddleShe sweetly, sweetlyRaises the spirits and charms our ears.If the heart of a man is deprest with cares,They’re dispell’d when a maid appearsand sweetly, sweetly, etc.Roses and lilies her cheeks disclose,but her ripe lips are more sweet than those.Press her, caress her/With blisses her kissesDissolve us in pleasure and soft repose.Roses and lilies, etc.

I must have women.There is nothing unbends the mindlike them.Drawer!

DrawerComing sir!

MacheathIs the porter gone for all the ladies according to mydirections?

DrawerI…I…I expect him back every minute.But you know, sir, you sent himas far as Hockley-in-the-Holefor three of the ladies,for one in Vinegar-Yard and for the restof them somewhere about Lewkner’s Lane.Sure some of them are belowFor I hear the bar-bell.As they come I will show them up.Coming, coming!

(The ladies enter)

MacheathDear ladies, you are all welcome.

JemmyCaptain Macheath, your servant!

DollyGood day to you, gallant Cap’n!

MacheathBut hark, I hear music.The harper is at the door.‘If music be the food of love, play on!’Ere you seat yourselves, ladies,What think you of a dance?

No. 19) Youth’s the season made for joys,

Love is then our duty;She alone who that employsWell deserves her beauty.Let’s be gay while we may,Beauty’s a flower despised in decay.

LadiesYouth’s the season made for joys,Love is then our duty.

MacheathLet us drink and sport today.

LadiesOurs is not tomorrow.

MacheathLove with youth flies swift away

LadiesAge is nought but sorrow.

MacheathDance and sing,Time’s on the wind,Life never knows the return of spring.

LadiesDance and sing,Time’s on the wing.(Certain that) life never knowsthe return of spring.Let us drink and sport today,Love with youth flies swift away.

MacheathAge is nought but……sorrow!

LadiesAge is nought but woe!

MacheathNow pray, ladies, take your places.

JennyDolly Trull, come, sit by me.

DollyWith pleasure, Mistress Diver.

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MacheathDrawer, bring us more winde!If any of the ladies choose gin.I hope they will be so free as tocall for it.

JennyYou look as if you meant me.Wine is strong enough for me.Indeed, sir, I never drink strong watersbut when I have the colic.

MacheathJust the excuse of the fineladies!Why, a lady of quality is never without the colic!You are not as fond of me, Jemmy,as you used to be?

Jenny’Tis not convenient, sir, to showmy fondness among so many rivals.

No. 20¡ Before the barn-door crowingThe cock by hens attended.His eyes around him throwing,Stands for a while suspended,Then one he singles from the crewAnd cheers the happy hen with ‘How d’ye do!’And ‘How d’ye do’ and ‘How d’ye do’ again.His eyes around him throwing,he stands a while suspended, etc.

MacheathAh, Jenny, thou art a dear slut.

DollyBut, to be sure, sir, with so muchgood fortune as you’ve had upon the road,you must be grown immensely rich.

MacheathThe road, indeed, hath done me justice,but the gaming-table hath been my ruin.

DollyNo. 21™ The gamesters and lawyers are jugglers alike:If they meddle, your all is in danger; (rep.)Like gypsies if once they can finger a souse,Your pockets they pick and they pilfer

your houseAnd give your estate to a stranger.The gamesters and lawyers, etc.

JennyA man of courage should neverput anything to the rick but his life.(boldly removing Macheath’s pistolsfrom his belt - and then surreptitiously hiding them)These pistols are the tools of a man of honour.Cards and dice are only fit for cowardlycheats, who prey upon their friends.

DollyBesides your loss of money,’tis a loss to the ladies.Gaming takes you off from women.How fond I could be of you!But before company ’tis ill-bred.

MacheathWanton hussies!

JennyI must and will have a kissto give my wine a zest!

(Peachum enters with two constables)

PeachumI seize you, sir, as my prisoner!

MacheathWomen are decoy ducks; who can trust them?

Beasts, jades, jilts, harpies,furies, whores!

PeachumYou must now, sir, take your leaveof the ladies, and if they have a mindto make you a visit, they will be sureto find you at home.The gentleman, ladies, lodges in Newgate,Constables, wait upon the Captain to his lodgings.

MacheathNo. 22# At the tree I shall sufferwith pleasure, (rep.)let me go where I will,in all kinds of illI shall find no such furies as these are!Let me go where I will, etc.at the tree I shall suffer, etc.

Scene 2Macheath’s cell at Newgate Prison.

LockitNoble Captain you are welcome.You’ve not been a lodger of minethis year and a half!You know the custom sirGarnish, Captain, garnish.Hand me down those fetters there. They’ll fitas easy as a glove, and the nicest manin England might not be ashamed to wear them.And so, sir, I now leave you to yourprivate meditations.(leaves)

CD 2

MacheathNo. 231Man may escape from rope and gun,Nay, some have outlived the doctor’s pill:who takes a woman must be undone,That basilisk is sure to kill!The fly that sips treacleIs lost in the sweets,So he that tastes woman, woman, woman,He that tastes woman ruin meets.The fly that sips treacle, etc.To what a woeful plighthave I brought myself!Here must I, all day long till I am hanged.Be obliged to hear the reproachesof a wench who lays her ruin at my door.But here comes Lucy, and I cannotget from her.Would I were deaf!

(Lucy enters)

LucyYou base man, you!How can you look me in the faceafter what has passed between us?O Macheath, thou has robbed me of my quiet.To see thee tortured would give me pleasure!

No. 242 Thus when a good housewife sees a ratIn her trap in the morning taken, etc.With pleasure her heart goes pit-a-patIn revenge for the loss of bacon.Then she throws him to the dog or catTo be worried, crush’d and shaken.With pleasure her heart, etc.

MacheathHave you no bowels, no tenderness,

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my dear Lucy, to see a husbandin these circumstances?

LucyA husband!

MacheathIn every respect but the form,and that, my dear, may be said over usat any time. Friends should not insistupon ceremonies. From a man of honour,his word is as good as his bond.

Lucy’tis the pleasure of all you fine mento insult the women you have ruined.

No. 253 How cruel are the traitorsWho lie and swear in jestTo cheat unguarded creaturesof virtue, fame and rest!How cruel are the traitors, etc.Whoever steals a shilling,Through same the guilt conceals;In love, the perjured villainWith boasts the theft reveals.Whoever steals a shilling, etc.

MacheathThe very first opportunity, my dear –have but patience – and you shall be my wifein whatever manner you please.

LucyInsinuating monster! And so you thinkI know nothing of the affair of MissPolly Peachum. I could tear thy eyes out!

MacheathYou know, Lucy, the girl is prodigiouslyconceited. No man can say a civil thingto her, but her vanity makes her thinkhe’s her own for ever and ever.

No. 264 The first time at the looking-glassA mother sets her daughter,The image strikes the smiling lasswith self-love ever after.Each time she looks she fonder grows,Thinks ev’ry charm grows stronger.But alas, vain maid, all eyes but your ownCan see you are not younger.

LucyYonder is my father. Perhaps this waywe might light upon the parson whoshall try if you will be as goodas your word. For I long to bemade an honest woman.

(Lockit and Peachum enter in conversation)

LockitIn this last affair, brother Peachum,we are agreed. You have consented togo halves in Macheath.

PeachumWe shall never fall out about an execution.But in one respect indeed ouremployment may be reckoned dishonest,because like great statesmen,we encourage those who betray their friends.

LockitSuch language, brother, anywhere elsemight turn to your prejudice.Learn to be more guarded, I beg you.

No. 275When you censure the age,Be cautious and sage,Lest the courtiers offended should be.If you mention vice or bribe.

’tis so pat to all the tribe,Each cries, ‘That was levell’d at me!’

When you censure the age. etc.

(Peachum leaves)

Lockit (to Lucy)Whence come you, hussy?

LucyMy tears might answer that question.

LockitLearn to bear your husband’s deathlike a reasonable woman.No woman would ever marry if she had notthe chance of mortality for a release.Act like a woman of spirit, hussy.And thank your father for what he’s doing.

LucyNo. 286 Is then his fate decreed, sir?Such a man can I think of quitting?When we first metSo moves me yet (rep.) –See how my heart is splitting!Such a man can I think ofquitting, etc.Ah!

LockitLook ye, Lucy, there’s no saving him,so I think you must even do likeother widows – buy yourself weedsand be cheerful.

No. 297 You’ll think, ere many days ensue,This sentence not severe, (rep.)I hang your husband, child, ’tis true,But with him hang your care, (rep.)‘Twang dang dillo dee! (rep.)I hang your husband, etc.(goes out)

LucyOh, Macheath, my father’s hard heartis not to be softened, and I amin the utmost despair.

MacheathBut if I could raise a small sum…Would not twenty guineas, think you,move him?

LucyWhat love or money can doshall be done: for all my comfortdepends on your safety.

(Polly enters and rushes to embrace Macheath)

PollyWhere is my dear husband?Was a rope ever intended for this neck?Why dost though turn away from me?’tis thy Polly, ’tis thy wife!

No. 308 Thus when the swallow seeking prey

Within the sash is closely pent,His consort, with bemoaning lay,Without sits pining for the event.Her chatt’ring loversAll around her skim;She heeds them not (poor bird)Her soul’s with him!

LucyAm I then bilked of my virtue?Can I have no preparation?O villain, villain!

PollyLook on me, tell me, am I not thy wife?

LucyPerfidious wretch!

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PollyBarbarous husband!

LucyArt thou then married to another?Hast thou two wives, monster?

MacheathIf women’s tongues can cease for an answer,hear me!

LucyI won’t.Flesh and blood can’t bear my usage.

PollyShall I not claim my own?Justice bids me speak.

No. 31Macheath9 How happy could I be with either,Were t’other fair charmer away!But while you thus tease me together,To neither a word will I say.But tol-de-rol, tol-de-rol loddy,And tol-de-rol, lol-de-rol lay!But while you thus tease me, etc.How happy could I be with either, etc.

LucyO villain, villain, thou hast deceived me!I could even inform against theewith pleasure!

Macheath (aside to Lucy)Be pacified, my dear Lucy:This is all a fetch of Polly’s to make medesperate with you in case I get off.(aside to Polly)Really, Polly, this is no time fora dispute of this sort, for whatever you aretalking of marriage, I am thinking of hanging.

LucyReally, Miss Peachum, you but exposeyourself. Besides, ’tis barbarous in youto worry a gentleman in his circumstances.

PollyNo. 320 Cease your funning;

Force of cunningNever shall my heart trapanall these salliesAre but maliceTo seduce my constant man’tis most certainBy their flirtingWomen oft have envy shown;pleased to ruinothers’ wooing.Never happy in their own!Cease your funning etc… pleased to ruin all love not their own.

Decency, madam, might teach youto behave yourself with some reserveto the husband while his wife is present.

LucyIf you are determined, madam,to raise a disturbance in the prison,I shall be obliged to send for a turnkeyto show you the door.I am sorry, madam, you force me to beso ill-bred.

PollyGive me leave to tell you madamthese forward airs don’t become youin the least, madam. And my duty, madam,obliges me to stay with my husband, madam.

LucyNo. 33! Why how now Madam Flirt?If you thus must chatter.And are for flinging dirt (rep.)Let’s try who best can spatter,Madam Flirt!

PollyWhy how now, saucy jade?Sure, the wench is tipsy!How can you see me madeThe scoff of such a jade,The scoff of such a gypsy!

Polly, LucyWhy how now, Madam Flirt, etc.Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

LucyWell now now, Madam Flirt!

PollyHow now, you saucy jade!

Peachum (entering)Where’s my wench? Ah, hussy, hussy,come you home, you slut: and when yourfellow is hanged, hang yourselfto make your family some amends.

PollyDear, dear father, do not tear me from him!I must speak; I have more to say to him.

No. 33A@ No pow’r on earth can e’er devideThe knot that love hath tied, (rep.)When parents draw against our mindThe knot they faster bind.Ho hora in ambora.Hora in ambora.

(Peachum drags Polly from the cell)

Macheath (to Lucy)I am naturally compassionate, wife,so that I could not at first use the wenchas she deserved, which made you at firstsuspect there was something in what she said.

LucyIndeed, my dear, I was strangely puzzled.

MacheathMake me if possible love thee more,and let me owe my life to thee.

LucyMy father, I know, hath been drinking hardwith the prisoners, and I fancy he is nowtaking his nap in his own room.If I can procure the keys,shall I go off with thee my dear?

MacheathIf we are together, t’will be impossibleto lie concealed.

LucyCome then, my dear husband, owe thy lifeto me, and though you love me not,be grateful.

No. 34£ I like the fox shall grieve,

Whose mate hath left her sideWhom hounds from morn to eveChase o’er the country wide.Where can my lover hide?Where cheat the weary pack?If love be not his guide,He never will come back.Ah! Ah!I like the fox shall grieve,Whose mate hath left her side.If love be not his guideHe never will come back.

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(Lucy fetches the keys and Macheath escapes).

ENTR’ACTE

ACT THREE

Scene 1Lockit’s House

Lockit$ To be sure, wench, you must’ve beenaiding and abetting to help himto this escape.

LucyYou know, sir, I am fond of himand would have given money to havekept him with me.

LockitAh, Lucy, thy education might haveput thee more upon thy guard.

LucyDear sir, mention not my educationfor ’twas to that I owe my ruin.

No. 35%When young, at the bar

You first taught me to score.And bid me be freeOf my lips, and no more, etc.I was kiss’d by the parson,The squire and the sot;When the guest was departedThe kiss was forgot.But his kiss was so sweet,So closely he prest,That I languish’d and pinedTill I granted the rest.But his kiss was so sweet, etc.

Lockit^ And so you have let him escape, hussy,

have you? And I am to be ruined because,forsooth, you must be in love!

LucyI could murder that impudent happy strumpet!I gave him his life, and that creatureenjoys the sweets of it!Ungrateful Macheath!

No. 36My love is all madness and folly!Alone I lie,toss, tumble and cry.What a happy creature is Polly!Was e’er such a wretch as I!With rage I redden like scarletThat my dear, inconstant varlet,Stark blind to my charms,Is lost in the armsOf that jilt, that inveigling harlot!Stark blind to my charms, etc.Yes, this my resentment alarms.

Scene 2An Inn

MacheathI am sorry, gentlemen, that the roadwas so barren of money.When my friends are in difficulties,I am always glad that my fortunecan be serviceable to them.(handing over some money)You see, gentlemen, I am not a merecourt friend, who professes everythingand will do nothing.

No. 37& The modes of the Court so common have grown

That a true friend can hardly be met;Friendship for int’rest is but a loanwhich they let out for what they can get.

’tis true you find some friends so kind.Who give you good counsel themselves to defend,In sorrowful dittyThey promise, they pity,But shift you for money, from friend to friend.They shift you for money from friend to friend.

AllThe modes of the court, etc.

MacheathThey shift you for money, etc.

Scene 3

Peachum’s House

Lockit (entering)Ah, brother Peachum, those daughtersof ours are two slippery hussies.Keep a watchful eye upon Polly, andMacheath in a day or two shall beour own again.

No. 38*What gudgeons are we men!Ev’ry woman’s easy prey!Though we have left the hook, againWe bite – and they betray!

PeachumThe bird that hath been trapt,When he hears his calling mate,To her he flies, again he’s claptWithin the wiry gate.

BothWhat gudgeons, what gudgeons, etc……are we men!

PeachumBut what signifies catching the bird,if your daughter Lucy will set openthe door of the cage?

Filch (entering)Sir, here’s Mistress Diana Trapeswants to speak with you.

PeachumShall we admit her, brother Lockit?

LockitBy all means. She’s a good customerand a fine-spoken woman, and a womanwho drinks and talks so freelywill enliven the conversation.

PeachumDesire her to walk in.

(Filch complies, Mrs. Trapes enters)

Dear Mistress Di, your servant!One may know by your kiss thatyour gin is excellent.

Mrs. TrapesI was always very curiousin my liquors.

LockitThere is no perfumed breath like it.(kisses her)I’ve been long acquainted with theflavour of those lips, haven’t I Mistress Di?

PeachumA drop of cordial, Mistress Di?

Mrs. TrapesFill it up, Mr. Peachum, I take as large draughtsof liquor as I did of love.I hate a flincher in either!

No. 39( In the days of my youthI could bill like a dove,Fa-la-la-la-la, faldariddle-la-dee!

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Like a sparrow, at all timesWas ready for loveFa-la-la, etc.The life of all mortalsin kissing should pass,Lip to lip while we’re young,Then the lip to the glass!Fa-la-la, etc.

Lockit, PeachumIn the days of her youthShe could bill like a dove…

Mrs. TrapesFa-la-la, etc.

Lockit, Peachum…Like a sparrow at all timesWas ready for love,etc.

Mrs. TrapesFa-la-la, etc.The life of all mortals, etc.

AllFalariddle-la-dee, etc.

Mrs. TrapesBut now, Mr. Peachum, to our business.If you have blacks of any kind brought inof late – mantoes, velvet scarves,petticoats, let it be what you will,I am your chap. For all my ladiesare very fond of mourning.

PeachumWhy, look ye, Mistress Di, you deal so hardwith us that we can afford to givethe gentlemen who venture their livesfor the goods little or nothing.

Mrs. TrapesThe hard times oblige me to go very nearin my dealings…

No doubt you know Mistress Coaxer.There’s a wench, now, with a good suitof clothes of mine on her back. Tilltoday I could never set eyes upon herfor three months together. But to be sure,I stripped her of the clothes about twohours ago, and left her and sheshould be, in her shift, with a loverof hers at my house.And I hope, for her sake and mine,she’ll persuade the Captain to redeemher, for the Captain is very generousto his ladies.

LockitWhat Captain?

Mrs. TrapesHe thought I did not know him.An intimate acquaintance of yours, Mr. Peachum.

PeachumOh?

Mrs. TrapesOnly Captain Macheath, as fine as a lord!

PeachumTomorrow, tomorrow, dear Mistress Di, you shallset your own price upon any of the goodsyou like.We have at least half a dozenvelvet scarves and all at your service.And Mr. Lockit and I have a little businesswith the Captain, you understand me?

Mrs. TrapesI don’t enquire after your affairs,so whatever happens, I wash my hands on it.It has always been my maxim that one friendshould assist another.But if you please, I’ll take one of thesescarves home with me, ’tis always goodto have something in hand.

Peachum, Lockit, Mrs. TrapesIn the days of her youth, etc.

Scene 4

Newgate Prison

LucyJealousy, rage, love and fear are at oncetearing me to pieces. How I amweather-beaten and shattered with distress!

No. 40) I’m like a skiff on the ocean toast,Now high, now low with each billow borne,With rudder broke and anchor lost,Deserted and all forlorn.I’m like a skiff, etc.While thus I lie rollingAnd tossing all night,That Polly lies sportingOn seas of delight!Revenge, revenge, revengeShall appease my restless sprite!While thus I lie rolling, etc.

I have the rats-bane ready.I run no risk, for I can lay her deathupon the gin, and so many die of thatnaturally, that I shall never be called in question.But say I were to be hanged?...I could never be hanged for anythingthat would give me greater comfortthan the poisoning of that slut!

Filch (entering)Madam, here’s our Miss Pollycome to wait upon you.

LucyShow her in.

(Polly enters)

Dear madam, your servant.I hope you will pardon my passion whenI was so happy to see you last.In the way of friendship, will you give meleave to propose a glass of cordial to you?

PollyStrong waters are apt to give me theheadache. I hope, madam, you will excuse me?

LucyIndeed, my dear Polly, we are both of usa cup too low. Let me prevail upon youto accept of my offer.

No. 41¡ Come, sweet lass,Let’s banish sorrowTill tomorrow!Come, sweet lass,Let’s take a chirping glass!Come, sweet lass, etc.

Wine can clearThe vapours of despairAnd make us light as air.Then drink and banish care!Wine can clear, etc. Ah!

I can’t bear, child, to see youin such low spirits and I mustpersuade you to what I knowwill do you good.(I shall soon now be even with the hypocritical strumpet!)Come, Miss Polly!

PollyI protest, madam, it goes against me.(catching sight of Lockit enteringWith Macheath in chains)What do I see? Macheath again in custody?Now every glimmering of happiness is lost!

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LockitSet your heart to rest Captain.You have neither the chance of love ormoney for another escape, for you are orderedto be called down upon your trial immediately.

PeachumAway, hussies. This is not a time for a manto be hampered with his wives.You see the gentleman is in chains already.

No. 42Polly™ Look hither, dear husband,Turn your eyes!

LucyBestow one glance to cheer me!

PollyThink what that look thy Polly dies!

LucyOh, shun me not, but hear me!

Polly’tis Polly sues!

Lucy’tis Lucy speaks!

PollyIs thus true love requited?

LucyMy heart is bursting!

PollyAnd mine too breaks!

BothMust I, must I be slighted?

MacheathWhat would you have me say, ladies?

You see this affair is at an end,without my disobliging either of you.

PeachumBut the settling this point, Captain,might prevent a lawsuit between yourtwo widows.

MacheathNo. 43#Which way shall I turn me?

How can I decide?On the day of our deathThey’re as fond as a bride!One wife is too muchFor most husbands to hear.But two at a timeThere’s no mortal can bear!This way and that wayAnd which way I willWhat would comfort the one.T’other wife would take ill.This way and that way, etc.

PollyDear, dear father, sink the materialevidence and bring him off at his trial.Polly upon her knees begs it of you!

No. 44¢When my hero in court appears,And stands arrainged for his life,Then think of poor Polly’s tears.For ah, poor Polly’s his wife.Like the sailor he holds up his hand,Distrest on the dashing wave.To die a dry death at landIs as bad as a watery grave.And alas, poor Polly!Alack and a-well-a-day!Before I was in love,Oh, ev’ry month was May!

And alas, poor Polly, etc.

Lucy (to her father)If Peachum’s heart is hardened,sure you, sir, will have more compassionon a daughter.

No. 45∞When he holds up his hand.Arraign’d for his life,O think of your daughter,And think I’m his wife!What are cannons, or bombs,Or clashing of swords?For death is more certainBy witnesses’ words!Then nail up their lips,That dread thunder allay,And each month of my lifeWill hereafter by May!Ah!

LockitMacheath’s time is come, Lucy,therefore let’s have no more whimperingand whining.

PeachumSet your heart at rest, Polly.Your husband is to die today.

Lockit (to Macheath)We are ready, sir to conduct youto the Old Bailey.

MacheathGentlemen, I am ready to attend you.

No. 46§ The charge is prepared,The lawyers are met,The judges all ranged -a terrible show!

I go, undismayed,For death is a debt,A debt on demand,So take what I owe.Then farewell my love,Dear charmers adieu!Contented I die,’tis the better for you.Here ends all disputeThe rest of our lives,For this way at onceI please all my wives, etc.

No. 47¶ O cruel, cruel, cruel, case!Must I suffer this disgrace? etc.Of all the friends, in time of grief,When threat’ning death looks grimmer,Not one so sure can bring reliefas this best friend, a brimmer, (rep.)But can I leave my pretty hussieswithout one tear or tender sigh?Their eyes, their lips, their sweet caressesRecall my love, ah, must I die?

Since laws were made forev’ry degree

To curb vice in othersas well as me

I wonder we han’t better companyOn Tyburn tree!And as the law works speedilyFor malefactors worse than me,

’tis strange, there’s not better companyOn Tyburn, on Tyburn tree!But gold from law can take the sting,And if rich men like us should swing,’Twould thin the land such numbers to stringOn Tyburn tree!

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JailerMiss Polly and Miss Lucy entreata word with you.

MacheathMy dear Lucy, my dear Polly, whatsoeverhath passed between us is now at an end.If you are fond of marrying again, the bestadvice I can give you is to ship yourselvesoff to the West Indies, where you’ll havea fair chance of getting a husband apiece,or by good luck two or three, as youlike best.

PollyHow can I support this sight!

LucyThere is nothing moves one so muchas a great man in distress.

LucyNo. 48etc. What I might be hanged!

PollyAnd I would so too!

LucyTo be hanged with you!

PollyOh, my dear, with you!

MacheathOh leave me in thought!I fear! I doubt!I tremble, I droop,See, my courage is out!

PollyNo token of love?

MacheathSee, my courage is out!

LucyNo token of love?Adieu, farewell!

PollyNo token of love?

LucyAdieu!

PollyFarewell!

MacheathBut hark, I hearThe toll of the bell!

PollyNo token of love!

LucyAdieu, farewell!

BothNo token of loveAdieu, farewell, etc.

Polly, Lucy, then MacheathAdieu, Adieu, etc.

JailerFour women more, Captain, with a childapiece. See, here they come.

MacheathWhat, four wives more! This is too much.Here, tell the sheriff’s officersI am ready.

Playerª But honest friend, I hope you don’t intendthat Macheath shall be really executed?

BeggarMost certainly, sir.To make the piece perfect, I was for doingstrict poetical justice.Macheath is to be hanged; and for the otherpersonages of the drama, the audience musthave supposed they were all either hangedor transported.

PlayerWhy then, friend, this is a downright deeptragedy. The catastrophe is manifestly wrong,for an opera must end happily.

BeggarHm…Hm…Your objection, sir is very just andis easily removed. For you must allow, thatin this kind of drama, ’tis no matterhow absurdly things are brought about.So, you rabble there, run and cry areprieve. Let the prisoner be brought backto his wives in triumph.

PlayerAll this we must do, to comply withthe taste of the town.

BeggarThrough the whole piece you may observesuch a similitude of manners in high andlow life, that it’s difficult todetermine whether (in the fashionable vices)the fine gentlemen imitate the gentlemenof the road, or the gentlemen of the roadthe fine gentlemen. Had the play remainedas I at first intended, it would have carrieda most excellent moral. ‘Twould have shownthat the lower sort of people have theirvices in a degree as well as the rich:only they are punished for them.

MacheathSo, it seems I am not left to my choice,but must have a wife at last.Look ye, my dears, we will have nocontroversy now. Let us give this day to mirth.Ladies, I hope you will give me leaveto present a partner to each of you.And (if I may without offence) forthis time, I take Polly for mine.- And for life, you slut, for we werereally married.As for the rest – but at presentkeep your own secret…

No. 49º Thus I stand like the TurkWith his doxies around:From all sides their glancesHis passion confound.For black, brown and fairHis inconstancy burns,And the different beautiesSubdue him by turns.

Each calls forth her charmsTo provoke his desires;Though willing to all,With but one he retires.But think of this maximAnd put off your sorrow;The wretch of todayMay be happy tomorrow!

LadiesThus he stands like the Turk, etc.

MacheathBut think of this maxim, etc.

AllYouth’s the season made for joys,Love is then our duty;

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She alone who that employsWell deserves her beauty!Dance and singTime’s on the wing,(certain that)Life never knows the return of spring.Let us drink and sport today,Love with youth flies swift away,Love is not tomorrow!

Recording producer: Andrew CornallRecording engineers: James Lock, Stan GoodallRecording location: James Lock, Stan GoodallEloquence series manager: Cyrus Meher-HomjiArt direction: Chilu Tong · www.chilu.comBooklet editors: Bruce Raggatt, Laura Bell

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