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Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera)

Play with music after John Gay's The Beggar's Opera; in three acts. By Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill in collaboration with Elisabeth Hauptmann.

Work Details

Duration

Full Evening, 65 minutes music

First Performance

31 August 1928, Berlin, Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Erich Engel, dir., Theo Mackeben, cond.

For information about licensing this work for use, see our online guide

(NOTE: For information and featured media relating to the Marc Blitzstein adaptation of The Threepenny Opera, see the link below under “Adaptations & Translations.”)

Prologue

After the , the Street Singer comes onstage with a barrel organ and sings of the notorious bandit and womanizer Macheath, Mack the Knife (). The setting is a fair in Soho (London), just before Queen Victoria’s coronation.

Act I

Act I begins in the shop of Jonathan Peachum (), who controls London’s beggars, equipping and training them in return for a cut of their “earnings.” He enrolls a new beggar with the help of his wife, after which they notice that their grown daughter Polly did not come home the previous night (). The scene shifts to an empty stable where Macheath is about to marry Polly, as soon as his gang has stolen and brought all the necessary food and furnishings (). No vows are exchanged, but Polly is satisfied, and everyone sits down to a banquet. Since none of the gang members can provide fitting entertainment, Polly does it herself (). The gang gets nervous when Chief of Police Tiger Brown arrives, but Brown turns out to be an old army buddy of Mack’s () who has saved him from arrest all these years. Everyone else exits and Mack and Polly celebrate their love (). Then Polly returns home and defiantly announces her marriage (). She stands fast against Mr. and Mrs. Peachum’s anger, but she does let slip Mack’s ties to Brown. This revelation gives Mr. and Mrs. Peachum an idea about how to snare Mack, and the trio meditates on the world’s corruption ().

Act II

Polly tells Mack that her father will have him arrested. He makes arrangements to leave London, explaining his bandit “business” to Polly so she can manage it in his absence, and he departs ( and ). Polly decisively takes over the gang as Mrs. Peachum bribes Jenny, Mack’s old lover, to turn him in (). On the way out of London, Mack stops at his favorite brothel to visit Jenny (). Brown arrives and apologetically arrests Mack, who goes to jail. He bribes the guard to remove his handcuffs (); then another girlfriend, Lucy–Brown’s daughter–and Polly show up at the same time, leading to a nasty argument (). After Polly leaves, Lucy engineers Mack’s escape. When Mr. Peachum finds out, he threatens to unleash the beggars during the coronation parade and forces Brown to go after Mack. The action stops for another meditation on the unpleasant human condition ().

Act III

Jenny comes to the Peachums’ shop to demand her bribe money, which Mrs. Peachum refuses to pay. Jenny reveals that Mack is at Suky Tawdry’s house. When Brown arrives, determined to arrest Peachum and the beggars, he is horrified to learn that the beggars are already in position and only Mr. Peachum can stop them (). To placate Peachum, Brown’s only option is to arrest Mack and have him executed. Jenny mourns Mack’s plight (). In the next scene, Mack is back in jail (). He begs the gang to raise a sufficient bribe, but they cannot ( part 2). A parade of visitors–Brown, Jenny, Peachum, and Polly–enters as Mack prepares to die (). Then a sudden reversal: A messenger on horseback arrives to announce that Macheath has been pardoned by the Queen and granted a castle and pension ().

  • Moritat vom Mackie Messer
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  • Morgenchoral des Peachum
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  • Anstatt dass-Song
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  • Hochzeitslied
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  • Seeräuberjenny
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  • Kanonen-Song
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  • Liebeslied
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  • Barbarasong
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  • Erstes Dreigroschenfinale
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  • Melodram
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  • Pollys Lied
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  • Ballade von der sexuellen Hörigkeit
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  • Zuhälterballade
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  • Ballade vom angenehmen Leben
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  • Eifersuchtsduett
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  • Zweites Dreigroschenfinale
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  • Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit menschlichen Strebens
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  • Salomonsong
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  • Ruf aus der Gruft
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  • Grabschrift
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  • Drittes Dreigroschenfinale
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  • Arie der Lucy (piano only)
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  • Cast

    • Singing Roles

      • Street Singer, Macheath (tenor)
      • J.J. Peachum (baritone)
      • Mrs. Peachum (mezzo-soprano)
      • Polly Peachum (soprano)
      • Tiger Brown (bass-baritone)
      • Lucy Brown (soprano)
      • Jenny (mezzo-soprano)
      • Constable Smith
      • Ensemble
    • Non-Singing Roles

      • Filch
      • The Rev. Kimball
      • The gang of thieves
      • Beggars, prostitutes, policemen
  • Instrumentation

    • Alto saxophone (fl, cl, bar. sax)
    • Tenor saxophone (sop. sax, bn, bass cl)
    • Trumpet
    • Trombone (double bass)
    • Banjo (cello, guitar, Hawaiian guitar, mandolin, bandoneon)
    • Timpani/percussion (tpt 2)
    • Harmonium (celesta, piano)

  • English

    • Ralph Manheim & John Willett (outside the USA and Canada)
    • Michael Feingold
    • Robert David McDonald & Jeremy Sams
  • French

    • Alexandre Pateau
    • Jean-Claude Hémery
  • Italian

    • Emilio Castellani

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    Suite from Die Dreigroschenoper for wind orchestra created by Weill.

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    Arranged for violin and piano by Stefan Frenkel (1929). Also available in a simplified arrangement.

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    Arranged for orchestra by Max Schönherr.

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    Arranged for saxophone quartet by John Harle (1982).

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    Arrangement for jazz orchestra with voice ad lib. by Hartwig von Platen (1929).

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  • Foxtrot-Potpourri (Tanzpotpourri II) aus der Dreigroschenoper 1929

    Arrangement for jazz orchestra with voice ad lib. by Hartwig von Platen (1929).

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  • Sechs Songs aus der Dreigroschenoper (Six Songs from Die Dreigroschenoper) 2002

    Arranged for piano by Marino Formenti (2002).

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    Arrangement for jazz orchestra and voice ad lib. by Jerzy Fitelberg (1928).

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  • The Judgment of Paris 1938

    Ballet compiled by Antony Tudor incorporating music from Die Dreigroschenoper.

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