Kurt Weill The Three Penny Opera

Plot Synopsis and Character Description of Die Dreigroschenoper

Jul 17, 2009 Tel Asiado

The Three Penny Opera, a German satire by composer Kurt Weill: opera plot summary, character list, and other Weill opera information.

Kurt Weill (March 2, 1900 – April 3, 1950) composed Die Dreigroschenoper (The Three Penny Opera), a German satire in three acts, libretto by Bertolt Brecht based on The Beggar's Opera by John Gay. It was premiered at Berlin, Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, August 31, 1928. The setting is in London in 1837.

Notable aria: "Mac the Knife" (Macheath)

Die Dreigroschenoper (The Three Penny Opera) by Kurt Weill is a satirical opera, one of the most popular to hit the German stage. It was based on the successful English ballad-opera, The Beggar's Opera by John Gay.

Character Roles of The Three Penny Opera

• Macheath, known as Mac the Knife (Tenor)
• Polly Peachum, Daughter of Mr and Mrs Peachum (Soprano)
• Jenny Diver, A whore and Mac's former lover (Soprano)
• Street Singer (Baritone)
• Mr. Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum, Polly's father (Baritone)
• Mrs. Peachum, Polly's mother (Mezzo-Soprano)
• Lucy, The Sheriff's daughter (Soprano)

Plot Synopsis of The Three Penny Opera

With recitative and spoken dialogue, and Overture

Prologue.

The street singer introduces the play with the "Ballad of Mac the Knife."

Act I. At the Peachum's Beggars' Shop and an Empty Stable

At the Peachum's beggars' shop, Mr and Mrs Peachum head a gang of beggars and petty criminals. Polly Peachum does not come home, having secretly married Mac the Knife. Polly's parents disapprove of their relationship and want the sheriff to arrest Mac.

In an empty stable, the Polly and Mac are toasted by members of Mac's gang. They reminisce their good old times and their buddies who went into the army.

Back to Peachum's beggars' shop, Polly recounts all the nice men she turned down, that she accepted Mac because he is not nice.

Act II. The Empty Stable, a Whorehouse, and the Jail Cell in the Old Bailey

At the empty stable, Mac realizes he and Polly are never going to be together. While Polly laments Mac's flight from the law, Mac takes up a prostitute and a former lover, Jenny, who is actually bribed by Mrs Peachum to betray Mac to the police.

At the whorehouse, Jenny cleans the glasses and makes the beds in the house of prostitution. With Mac now, they fondly remember the six months when they kept house. She then turns him in to the police.

In jail, Mac decides that only the rich live pleasantly. Polly and Mac's new girlfriend, Lucy, the sheriff's daughter, fight over Mac.

Act III. Peachum's Beggars' Shop and the Jail Cell in the Old Bailey

Back to Peachum's Beggars' Shop, Mr Peachum insists and threatens the sheriff, that Mac must be arrested, else the beggars and criminals will upset the coronation. Mac is returned to court, condemned to death.

Preparing for the gallows, Mac calls on his friends to save him, then forgives them for not doing so. As Mac is being led to the gallows, Mr Peachum informs the audience that since this is an opera, humanity will prevail over justice. In view of the Queen's coronation, the sheriff pronounces Mac free, instead, bestows a peerage on him. All propose that injustice be spared from persecution. The street singer reflects how the poor are generally forgotten.

Sources:

Martin, Nicholas Ivor. The Da Capo Opera Manual, New York: Da Capo Press, 1997

Riding, Alan Riding and L.D. Downer. Opera, DK Eyewitness Companions. London: Dorling Kindersley, 2006

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Weill Kurt, Opera Composer

Kurt Weill, The Three Penny Opera

Bertolt Brecht, Opera Librettist