The Beggar's Opera op. 43 (1948)
Christian Curnyn, City of London Sinfonia, Susan Bickley (Mezzo-soprano), Jeremy White (Bass), Leah-Marian Jones (Mezzo-soprano), Thomas Randle (Tenor), Robert Anthony Gardiner (Tenor), Donald Maxwell (Baritone), Sarah Fox (Soprano), Frances McCafferty (Mezzo-soprano), Kathryn Jenkin (Voice), Siobháin Gibson (Voice), Clare McCaldin (Mezzo-soprano), Bernadette Lord (Voice), Alison Place (Voice), Katy Batho (Voice), Miranda Westcott (Voice), Katherine Paterson (Voice), Bryn Evans (Voice), Aidan Smith (Voice), Mark Saberton (Voice), Ben Thapa (Tenor), Paul Hopwood (Voice), Thomas Barnard (Bass), Sirena Tocco (Voice)
February 2009, London, Blackheath Halls London
Act I
- 01:18Introduction: 'If Poverty be a title to Poetry' (Beggar)
- 04:25Overture
- 01:19'Through all the employments of life' (Peachum)
- 00:43'Sir, black Moll hath sent word' (Filch, Peachum)
- 01:17' 'Tis Woman that seduces all Mankind' (Filch, Peachum)
- 01:13'But it is now high time to look about me' (Peachum, Mrs. Peachum)
- 00:53'Women indeed are bitter bad judges' - '… ev'ry Man handsome who is going to the Camp' - 'If any wench Venus' Girdle wear' (Mrs. Peachum)
- 00:55'Was Captain Macheath here this morning?' (Peachum, Mrs. Peachum)
- 01:53'If Love the Virgin's Heart invade' (Mrs. Peachum, Peachum)
- 00:29'A Maid is like the Golden ore' (Mrs. Peachum)
- 00:59'Come hither, Filch' (Mrs. Peachum, Filch)
- 02:23'I know as well as any of the fine ladies' (Polly) - 'Virgins are like the fair flower in its lustre' (Polly, Peachum)
- 01:20'Our Polly is a sad slut!' (Mrs. Peachum, Omnes, Peachum, Polly)
- 01:18'Can Love be controlled by Advice?' (Polly, Mrs. Peachum, Peachum)
- 02:18'The girl shows such a readiness' (Mrs. Peachum) - 'O Polly, you might have toyed and kissed' (Mrs. Peachum, Polly, Omnes, Peachum)
- 00:53"I, like a Ship in storms, was tossed' (Polly, Mrs. Peachum, Peachum)
- 01:46'A fox may steal your hens, Sir' (Peachum, Mrs. Peachum, Polly)
- 00:49'O ponder well! Be not severe' (Polly, Mrs. Peachum)
- 01:52'The Turtle thus with plaintive crying, her Lover dying' (Polly, Mrs. Peachum, Peachum)
- 03:03'Now I'm a wretch indeed!' (Polly, Omnes, Macheath)
- 00:48'My heart was so free' (Macheath, Polly)
- 01:59'Were I laid on Greenland's coast' (Macheath, Polly, Omnes)
- 00:56'O! what pain it is to part!' (Polly, Macheath)
- 02:26'The Miser thus a shilling sees' (Macheath, Polly)
- 00:42'But pr'thee, Mat, what is become of thy brother Tom?' (Ben Budge, Mat of the Mint, Jemmy Twitcher, Nimming Ned, Harry Paddington, Wat Dreary)
- 00:49'Fill ev'ry glass, for wine inspires us' (Gentlemen of the Road)
- 00:37'Gentlemen, well met' (Macheath, Mat of the Mint)
- 01:49'I shall wish myself with you' (Macheath) - 'Let us take the road'(Harry Paddington, Gentlemen of the Road)
- 02:05'If the heart of a man is depressed with cares' (Macheath)
- 04:35'Dear Mrs. Coaxer, you are welcome' (Macheath) - 'Youth's the season made for joys' (Macheath, Ladies of the Town)
- 00:54'Now pray, ladies, take your places' (Macheath, Jenny Diver, Mrs. Coaxer)
- 01:33'It is your own choice' (Jenny Diver) - 'Before the barn-door crowing' (Jenny Diver, Ladies of the Town, Macheath, Dolly Trull, Suky Tawdry)
- 01:39'But to be sure, Sir' (Jenny Diver) - 'The Gamesters and Lawyers are jugglers alike' (Ladies of the Town, Betty Doxy, Macheath, Peachum)
- 00:47'The gentleman, ladies, lodges in Newgate' - 'Constables, wait upon the Captain to his lodgings' (Peachum) - 'At the Tree I shall suffer with pleasure' (Macheath)
Act II
- 00:52'Noble Captain, you are welcome' (Lockit, Macheath)
- 03:29'Man may escape from rope and gun' (Macheath, Lucy Lockit)
- 00:45'Thus when a good Housewife sees a rat' (Lucy Lockit, Macheath)
- 02:32'It is the pleasure of all you fine men' (Lucy Lockit) - 'How cruel are the traytors' (Lucy Lockit, Macheath)
- 01:14'The first time at the looking glass' (Macheath, Lucy Lockit)
- 00:46'In this last affair, brother Peachum, we are agreed' (Lockit, Peachum)
- 01:08'Such language, brother, anywhere else' (Lockit) - 'When you censure the age' (Lockit, Lucy Lockit)
- 01:42'Is then his fate decreed, Sir?' (Lucy Lockit, Lockit)
- 01:10'Though the Chaplain was out of the way to-day' (Lucy Lockit, Macheath, Polly)
- 01:55'Thus when the Swallow seeking prey' (Polly, Macheath, Lucy Lockit)
- 01:27'If women's tongues can cease for an answer' (Macheath) - I will not! (Lucy Lockit) - 'How happy could I be with either' (Macheath, Polly)
- 02:48'Cease your funning' (Polly, Omnes, Macheath, Lucy Lockit)
- 01:06'Why how now, Madam Flirt!' (Lucy Lockit, Polly, Peachum, Lockit)
- 02:01'No power on earth can e'er divide' (Lucy Lockit, Macheath, Lockit, Peachum, Omnes)
Act III
- 00:49'To be sure, wench, you must have been aiding and abetting' (Lockit, Lucy Lockit)
- 03:20'Dear Sir, mention not my education' (Lucy Lockit, Lockit)
- 01:06'Ungrateful Macheath!' - 'My love is all madness and folly' (Lucy Lockit, Lockit)
- 01:44'Thus Gamesters united in friendship are found' (Lockit)
- 02:43'Our scene doth represent a Gaming House' (Beggar) - 'The modes of the Court so common are grown' (Macheath, Ben Budge, Mat of the Mint, Omnes)
- 02:15'The Coronation account, brother Peachum' (Lockit, Peachum, Servant, Mrs. Trapes)
- 02:22'In the days of my youth I could bill like a dove' (Mrs. Trapes, Lockit, Peachum)
- 00:40'In the days of my youth I could bill like a dove' (Mrs. Trapes, Beggar)
- 01:07'Jealousy, rage, love and fear' - 'I’m like a Skiff on the Ocean tossed' (Lucy Lockit)
- 02:13'I have the Rat's-bane ready' (Lucy Lockit, Filch, Polly)
- 01:38'A curse attends a woman's love' (Polly, Lucy Lockit)
- 01:03'When I was forced from him' - 'But perhaps he hath a heart not capable of it' - 'Among the men Coquets we find' (Polly, Lucy Lockit)
- 01:55'Come, sweet lass' (Lucy Lockit, Polly)
- 01:46'Now every glimmering of happiness is lost' (Polly, Lucy Lockit, Macheath, Peachum)
- 00:41'Which way shall I turn me, how can I decide?' (Macheath, Polly)
- 01:53'Dear, dear Sir, sink the material evidence' - '‘Polly upon her knees begs it of you' - 'When my Hero in court appears' (Polly)
- 02:00'How then can you be a tyrant to me' (Lucy Lockit) - 'When he holds up his hand arraigned for his life' (Lucy Lockit, Lockit)
- 00:45'Ourselves, like the Great, to secure a retreat' (Lockit, Peachum)
- 01:54'We are ready, Sir …' (Lockit) - '… to conduct you to the Old Bailey!' - 'The Charge is prepared; the Lawyers are met' (Lockit, Lucy Lockit, Polly, Macheath, Peachum, Omnes)
- 05:11'O cruel, cruel case!' (Macheath, Jailer)
- 01:59'Would I might be hanged!' (Polly, Lucy Lockit, Macheath)
- 01:18'But surely you don't intend that Macheath shall really executed?' (Mat of the Mint, Beggar, Ben Budge, Lucy Lockit, Polly, Lockit, Peachum)
- 01:54'Thus I stand like a Turk, with his doxies around' (Macheath, Mrs. Peachum, Peachum, Ladies of the Town, Gentlemen of the Road, Lucy Lockit, Polly, Mrs. Trapes, Lockit)
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