''The Village Opera'' is a 1729

ballad opera The ballad opera is a genre of England, English ''comic opera'' stage play that originated in the early 18th century, and continued to develop over the following century and later. Like the earlier ''comédie en vaudeville'' and the later ''Sings ...

by the British writer Charles Johnson. It was part of a group of ballad operas produced in the wake of the great success of

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peach ...

's ''

The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of sati ...

''. The original Drury Lane cast included John Harper as Sir Nicholas Wiseacre, Benjamin Griffin as Sir William Freeman, Charles Williams as Freeman, Benjamin Johnson as Lucas, Joe Miller as Brush,

James Oates James Oates (died 1751) was a British stage actor. Possibly of Irish birth, he was a long-standing member of the Drury Lane company from 1718, and also appeared at the summer fairs in London including Southwark and Bartholomew Fair. He speciali ...

as File,

Edward Berry Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Berry, 1st Baronet, KCB (17 April 1768 – 13 February 1831) was a British Royal Navy officer primarily known for his role as flag captain of Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson's ship HMS ''Vanguard'' at the Battle of the Ni ...

as Hobinol,

Kitty Clive Catherine Clive (née Raftor; 5 November 1711 – 6 December 1785) Catherine ‘Kitty’ Clive (1711–1785, active 1728–1769) was a first songster and star comedienne of British playhouse entertainment. Clive led and created new forms of Engl ...

as Rosella,

Sarah Thurmond Sarah Thurmond or Sarah Lewis ( – 1762) was a British actress. Life Sarah Lewis was born in Epsom although the date is unknown. Her first appearances were at Drury Lane and Lincoln's Inn Fields at the end of 1711 in Greenwich where she met J ...

as Betty and Frances Cross as Lady Wiseacre.

Thomas Arne Thomas Augustine Arne (; 12 March 17105 March 1778) was an English composer. He is best known for his patriotic song " Rule, Britannia!" and the song " A-Hunting We Will Go", the latter composed for a 1777 production of '' The Beggar's Opera'', w ...

later wrote ''

Love in a Village ''Love in a Village'' is a ballad opera in three acts that was composed and arranged by Thomas Arne. A pastiche, the work contains 42 musical numbers of which only five were newly composed works by Arne. The other music is made up of 13 pieces bo ...

'' from a libretto based on Johnson's original. In the twentieth century

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten as o ...

composed his own version of Johnson's work.

References

Bibliography

* Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A History of Early Eighteenth Century Drama: 1700-1750''. CUP Archive, 1927. 1729 operas Ballad operas English-language operas Plays by Charles Johnson {{1720s-play-stub