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GED

GED Gay=s Use of Music for Satire in The Beggar=s Opera John Gay=s The Beggar=s Opera is a rather complex work, despite its apparent simplicity. Critics have interpreted it variously as political satire, moral satire, even (at a stretch) Christian satire. Common to many interpretations is the assertion that the Opera is a satire directed at both the politics and the art of its day. A fairly conventional interpretation of the play and its composition shows that it is, and was intended by its author to be, specifically a satire of Italian opera and of the aristocrats that patronized that form. While that interpretation is not in doubt, because critics almost universally agree about it in the literature, most interpretations overlook a certain aspect of the satire and comedy. Specifically, the nature of the music and the manner in which Gay uses that music in the play produces a certain brusque effect, one which can serve to heighten the comedy and deepen the satire of Opera. This caustic use of music extends to the content of the songs themselves, the technical features of the music, and the manner of their insertion into the play itself. Several examples of the songs, as well as the text surrounding them, evidence this acerbic use of the music within the play to satirize opera. That Gay means to satirize opera categorically is fairly obvious within the text, even without outside knowledge of the operas of the day. Gay first indicates his satiric intent in the Beggar=s opening speech when the Beggar says: I hope I may be forgiven, that I have not made my opera throughout unnatural, like those in vogue. (Nettleton 530) Further, the Beggar represents opera composers to some extent, which is an unflattering representation in itself. That the Beggar speaks like a literary hack furthers the insult delivered to those composers through this character: I have introduced the similes that are in all your celebrated operas: the swallow, the moth, the bee, the ship, the flower &c. At the end of the play, the Beggar and Player return to further insult opera. The Player says AAn opera must end happily@ (III.xvi), to which the Beggar replies by indicating that he can create a happy ending, because A*tis no matter how absurdly things are brought about@ in opera. additionally, the composer and performer do these things Ato satisfy the taste of the town,@ thus assigning blame for the banality of opera to its audiences. Gay was motivated to satirize opera because of its immense popularity, as William Schultz says: In 1728 (the year of the Opera=s premiere) Italian opera was firmly settled as a popular fashion. People of all ranks...flocked to hear the foreign compositions, as well as English pieces in a similar style. (136) Italian opera was so very popular that it eroded native English music and musical styles. Musical productions of anything besides opera were poorly funded by patrons, if funded at all, and often failed. The sixty-nine ballads of Gay=s Opera are native English tunes for which Gay wrote new lyrics. And the work was a very successful strike against the foreign art form, as well as a revitalization of the somewhat sagging English musical tradition (for a fuller discussion of the historical circumstances, see Schultz ). At the very least, a certain sort of artistic patriotism motivated Gay in composition. The most immediate aspect of Gay=s satire is in the content of the opera and some of its ballads. While there are notable exceptions, the opera as a form is one generally reserved for the most Aworthy@ material. This is more the case before the time of the Opera than after, but still largely true even after the Eighteenth century. Wagner=s Parsifal is about a quest for the Holy Grail, and the Niebelung is about the struggles of the Norse gods. Berlioz=s Les Troyens is about the Trojan War. Bizet=s Carmen is a tragic love story, and Handel=s Rinaldo is about a knight in the First Crusade. Handel was a contemporary of Gay and one of the major operatic composer of his day, thus his work rather exemplary of the operas of the period. Purcell=s King Arthur is a Asemi-opera@ about the mythic figure and is stylistically similar to opera proper. While some comedies or satires and the occasional farce number amongst the great operas, the general trend is that the best operas tend to deal with rather serious, elevated subject matter. In contrast with this, not only does Gay make several of his main characters criminals, but some of what they say (and sing) is quite out of the mainstream in terms of operatic content. An example of such Anon-operatic@ content is the ninth air (I.viii) which begins and ends with the refrain, AOur Polly is a sad slut.@ Another example is the eleventh air (I.ix) in which a soldier and sailor sing: A fox may steal your hens, sir; A whore your health and peace. And another is the twentieth air (II.iii) in which the gang of Highwaymen sing about their upcoming attack. Yet another is the eighteenth air, which begins: AThe miser thus a shilling sees.@ This is a far cry from knights and gods singing about the fate of the world, love lost or gained, or other grandiose matters. However, some of the Opera=s ballads are actually about matters normally occurring in operas, such as eighth and tenth airs, which are both Polly singing about love. The content alone does not necessarily make the Opera a satire of the art form for which it is named. This content simply sets the Opera apart from the other and contributes to the satirical effect, which primarily arises through the combination of this and other techniques. Another of Gay=s techniques which contributes to the satire, without totally establishing it, lies in the technical aspects of the music itself. The music to the songs is quite simple, almost to the point of being trite. While the AOverture@ itself is not as simple as the rest, it also does not constitute the majority of the music in the play and thus does not necessarily represent the overall musical effect. The songs consist mostly of half, quarter and eighth notes, with occasional sixteenths. Further, there are relatively few syncopations or notes that otherwise involve moving on the so-called Aup-beat@ of a beat. A musical beat usually consists of a Adown-@ and Aup-beat,@ the former being the first half of the beat. Starting a note on the second half of the beat, the up beat, is a necessity for complex or rich music. And the Opera=s songs have very few such initial motions on the up-beat, compared to most genuine operas of quality. The primacy of the down-beat in these songs tends to make them sound very simple, more so than is the norm for opera. While there tended to be embellishment in the performances of the period, the score provided in the text can be trusted to yield fairly simple sounding music. Further evidence to the point of the simplicity of the music is that the songs are very short and simple. While the singers would often repeat the single verse, and thus make a song sound longer, the actual songs are very short (some less than a minute long without repetition) and plain in terms of content and language. The songs are much simpler than the arias of opera, to which they are roughly analogous. Good arias tend to be longer and/or have more poetical lyrics, and with far less repetition. Also, Aairs@ are supposed to be rather simple tunes (Grove). Theoretically, an aria is also supposed to be rather simple, according to its common etymology with the term Aair;@ but such is often not the case. Some definitions actually describe the aria as a complex or elaborate tune, in contrast with an air. While interpretation of the music is an even more subjective matter than straight literary interpretation, Schultz similarly characterizes the music as simple (160). Further, the music to accompany the singing was actually somewhat of an afterthought. The songs did not have accompanying music until the next to last rehearsal before the opening performance, thence the music was quickly written, and accordingly simple (Irving 240). Schultz also sees this contrast between Gay=s Opera and the form for which it is named: Gay seems to have planned a simple thread of events on purpose, to get a contrast with the extravagant adventures of Italian opera and heroic tragedy. (271) While Schultz is speaking about the plot of the Opera, the assertion remains that Gay wanted to contrast with opera. And he accomplishes this contrast partially through the simple technical aspects of the music, as well as through the coarse content. The contrast, once established, makes the satire possible. This work is like an opera, but not so much like one that it is indistinguishable from one. If the Opera were in fact an opera, Gay would not have accomplished the satirical effect. The technique that contributes most to the satire is also the one hardest to isolate for discussion. It is an almost purely textual technique in that one can pick up the effect in reading alone. The technique is that of using songs in some way Aunnaturally.@ Several of the airs in the piece are, in some way, unnatural relative to their surroundings. This unnaturalness occurs in two ways: structurally, when a song simply does not fit well into its environs and creates a choppy effect; and aesthetically, when the song is too pretty, ugly, grandiose etc. relative to its surroundings or subject An example of the structurally-unnatural use is one of Mrs. Peachum=s songs, the fourth air (I.iv). In real life, as in much theater, people generally do not break out into song at the drop of the proverbial hat. However, opera uses song to convey emotion and plot. An operatic composer would take great pains to make sure that the flow of music and text is not interrupted or choppy. Gay does precisely the opposite in the fourth air. Peachum and his wife are having an argument about Polly=s romantic entanglements (I.iv.68-84). Mrs. Peachum says that she thinks that Polly is in love with Macheath, a highwayman in Peachum=s employ. Peachum points out that highwaymen make bad husbands, to which Mrs. Peachum replies by reasserting her concern for Polly and wondering what can be done when the heart is involved. Then, in the course of a normal conversation, it would have been normal for Mr. Peachum to speak again; instead, Mrs. P. sings a song about virgins and love, thus about Polly. Immediately after the song, Peachum says, ALook ye, wife,@ and resumes the argument in earnest, as though he had been interrupted. The point is that the song interrupts the flow of dialogue without contributing anything necessarily essential to the exchange. In a normal operatic setting, such interruption would be avoided. Instead, here Gay probably wants the exchange to seem silly, precisely because he is satirizing opera. If Gay had wanted to maintain the flow of dialogue, he could have done so by altering the dialogue a bit, perhaps shortening it, and then putting the same song at the end of the exchange. But he did not want the piece to seem like a well constructed opera; he did want it rather like a raucous portrait of the affair. One can imagine Peachum=s ALook ye...@ as a very angry retort for such a silly interruption of his pontificating on the subject. Perhaps emphasizing this structurally unnatural use of song is not part of the tradition of performance for the piece. A certain calmness in the portrayal of Peachum at this interruption could mitigate the disruptive effect of the song, especially to an audience accustomed to opera. However, even if emphasizing this disruption in the conversation is not part of the performance tradition, even if Gay did not necessarily intend for it to be emphasized, this interruption of the conversation by song could be emphasized and remain true to Gay=s spirit of satire. Further, the comedic effect of the exchange could be heightened by an emphasis from Peachum on the interruption. The structural incongruity of the fourth air is not an isolated incident in the text. Another example is the sixth air (I.vii). Polly and Peachum are talking about her romantic entanglements and, as before, the conversation is interrupted by song. She is explaining that she will not waste her feminine talents, will not lose her courtesan=s power, as he fears she will. The scene consists of three parts: Polly=s speech, her song, and Peachum=s reply. It is almost as though the song were part of the conversation with her father, rather than just a reflection of her inner thoughts or just a comment on the subject. As though she were singing the song to her father for the sake of allaying his fears. This is not so incongruous as the previous example, but it is still a bit awkward in the reading. As before, emphasizing this incongruity could be incorporated into a performance for heightened comedic effect while staying true to Gay=s satiric intent. Another example of an incongruously occurring song is the thirtieth air (II.x), which interrupts the conversation between Peachum and Lockit. There are numerous other examples in the text where the songs interrupt dialogue and could thus produce somewhat of a choppy effect. Simply speaking, it is curious that Gay put so many songs (sixty-nine) in such a short piece. It is as though he wanted to create a play that would tend to have some problems in flowing smoothly. As though he wanted to emphasize the choppiness that the actors in a music-intensive drama would have to work against. Emphasizing that choppiness would allow Gay to show, from his perspective, how very silly it is to try to tell a story through a series of songs. An example of the aesthetically unnatural use of song is the thirteenth air (I.x). In this, Polly uses the simile of the bird to compare Macheath and herself (newly married) to two turtle-doves in love: AThe turtle thus with plaintive crying, her lover dying...laments her dove.@ The aesthetic incongruity here comes in the fact that she is applying the simile to the daughter of a criminal (herself) and to her husband, himself a criminal. She is, admittedly, singing about a most serious matter, the likelihood of her lover=s death. While it would be simple, and enriching, irony to use such a Apretty@ simile to talk about something as monstrous as death, Gay pushes this irony to an extreme by applying it to criminals. Admittedly, later art would treat criminals as worthy subject matter; but this is a play native to an England that looked most unfavorably upon criminals. Footnote two in I.vi indicates something of the cultural attitude towards the criminal: APickpockets were sometimes ducked under a pump when caught by citizens@ (Nettleton 536). This is the same culture that propagated the legend of Robin Hood and likes stories about highwaymen, so it is not without some sense of admiration or fascination with criminals. But that fascination only goes so far, and it still seems very ironic to apply this simile to the ostensible Adregs of society.@ This aesthetic unnaturalness in song serves to poke fun at those similes, thus at the conventions of opera, that the Beggar mentions at the very outset of the play. Another example of an aesthetically unnatural song is the twenty-third air, which compares a bachelor to a cock and a maiden to a hen. This simile is appropriate because she is singing about Macheath=s manner of courting. While appropriate to its antecedent, the simile is rather aesthetically incongruous simply by its nature. Chickens are not the swallow, the moth, the bee, nor are they otherwise the normal subject matter for operatic simile. Chickens are rather unpoetical, coarse creatures not traditionally treated in poetry or song. Thence, the simile is rather aesthetically awkward, but deliberately so in a burlesque. Of course, many songs occur quite naturally. An example is the fifth air. It comes at the end of I.v and Mrs. Peachum is alone, thus this song does not interrupt conversation. She sings about Polly and about the status of women in their society: A maid is like the golden ore, A wife=s like a guinea in gold, Stamped with the name of her spouse. She uses the simile of money to sing about the commoditization of women. Thus, the simile is aesthetically appropriate, and this air is not unnatural in either of the aforementioned ways. The natural use of some songs is necessary for maintaining some semblance of this being an opera. If Gay had made this work too much unlike opera, if he had not maintained just the right distance from that form, he would not have satirized it very well. The coarse content, simple music, and the incongruous use of songs accomplish satire largely because they are in a work called an Aopera.@ The idea is that this piece is ostensibly an opera, and yet it is obviously not. It is the author=s characterization, his caricature of opera. By giving this piece simple, even trite, music and scurrilous content, Gay makes light of the entire form. By using so very much music and creating a play so prone to choppiness, he exposes the awkwardness of the operatic form. By maintaining the right distance from the precise form of an opera, Gay=s piece satirizes the Italian form quite effectively. The Opera was effective in that it inspired a new genre, the ballad opera, thus created a niche for native English music. It thus challenged and struck deeply at opera (Schultz 145-153). Because the Opera was so popular and was performed so often for the rest of the century and beyond, it established a permanent stage presence for native English music, and allowed that music to rival the Italian form. A production of the Opera should certainly address this satirical aim, perhaps by emphasizing the unnatural uses of song, or coaching the actors to draw attention to the satirical elements with their timing. In any case, Gay accomplished his motive of striking a blow for English music. Besides the parody of opera which is so critical to the play, there are of course barbs directed against the Prime Minister and against all opera fans. It also satirizes both criminals and the system that pays criminals to inform on each other. Thus, the play serves as political and social criticism. Thence, the Opera achieves an immense degree of complexity and artistry, which helps to explain why the play was so popular for so long. The Opera is entertaining for the masses, complex enough to engage the critic, and it was (in its own way) peculiarly patriotic during an age of immense English pride for native culture. Grove, George. Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. New York: St. Martin=s, 1954. Irving, William Henry. John Gay: Favorite of the Wits. New York: Russell and Russell, 1962. Nettleton, George H., et al. British Dramatists from Dryden to Sheridan. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois UP, 1969. Noble, Yvonne, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Beggar=s Opera. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975. Schultz, William Eben. Gay=s Beggar=s Opera. New York: Russell & Russell, 1923. Bibliography:

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