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The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper [diː dʁaɪˈɡʁɔʃn̩ˌʔoːpɐ]) is a German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera, and four ballads by François Villon, with music by Kurt Weill.
The Threepenny Opera, musical drama in three acts written by Bertolt Brecht in collaboration with composer Kurt Weill, produced in German as Die Dreigroschenoper in 1928 and published the following year. The play was adapted by Elisabeth Hauptmann from John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728).
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Although set in Victorian England, the tone of The Threepenny Opera reflects the climate of Germany at the time Brecht wrote it—a few years before Hitler’s ascendancy. His Marxist view motivated him to angle The Threepenny Opera to inspire social change.
A short summary of Bertolt Bretcht's The Threepenny Opera. This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of The Threepenny Opera.
The Threepenny Opera, written by German playwright Bertolt Brecht with music by Kurt Weill, is a play that provides a biting critique of capitalism and the bourgeoisie. The show, which premiered in Berlin in 1928, is a reimagining of John Gay’s 18th-century ballad opera The Beggar’s Opera.
Synopsis. Prologue. After the overture, the Street Singer comes onstage with a barrel organ and sings of the crimes of the notorious bandit and womanizer Macheath, Mack the Knife (“Ballad of Mack the Knife”). The setting is a fair in Soho (London), just before Queen Victoria’s coronation.
Plot summary. In 19th century London, Macheath — known as Mackie Messer ("Mack the Knife") — is a Soho crime lord whose former lover is Jenny, a prostitute in a brothel on Turnbridge Street. On first meeting Polly Peachum, however, he persuades her to marry him.
