The New Opera

The Beggar´s Opera is a satirical ballad. It was first performed in 1728, and written by John Gay. At first, he wanted the play to be performed in the popular playhouse Drury Lane. However, the owners were not willing, and, at the end it was performed in the Lincoln´s Inn Fields Theatre, thanks to John Rich, who was interested in the play. This play became so popular, that after the first few months John Gay had become very rich, and as a joke, it is said that John Rich, the manager of the theatre, became gay.

In a way, this play had such an impact in the society of the time because it was a total change from what had been preformed until then. To start with, it was the Italian opera that was in fashion then. Therefore, the language used in these was Italian. This fact affected the understanding of what was being said, and it began to be very uncomfortable for the audience, that could barely understand the actors. Moreover, the way in which the actors talked was as if they were reciting, that is, the actors would talk by singing throughout the whole play. This could be a little too heavy and slow for the audience, because it would make the action of the play go slower. The characters in these plays belonged to the high Italian class, to noble families. Therefore, it was difficult for the audience to identify themselves with them, because they did not belong to the high English classes or noble families.  The Beggar´s Opera contrasted enormously with this. Mainly, because it was meant to make fun of the Italian opera.

To begin with, in The Beggar´s Opera, the language barrier does not exist anymore, because it is represented in English. Not only that, the language used is very vulgar and typical of people that belong to the low class. Moreover, this language matched with the characters of the play, because now, instead of noble families being the main characters, it was more normal people that carry the action of the story. Normal people, and people that represent the corruption of the London streets at this time, criminals and prostitutes.  Another difference was the mixture between normal spoken discourse and little recitatives, or airs that was present in this play, and that contrasted with the continuous singing of the Italian operas. This made it much easier too, to keep up with the plot of the story. These airs were popular songs of the time that everyone knew, so this would also involucrate the audience and made them feel closer to what was happening in the play.

This play was not only a criticism against the Italian opera, but it was a way to make the Londoners realize the big problem that they had in their city. To start with, the amount of criminals that would threat their wellbeing, and the prostitutes, which were always surrounded by money problems, or others of the sort. It was also a clear criticism against Robert Walpole´s corruption policy. He was the first Prime Minister, and was criticized by many in his time. He was even compared to a very famous criminal called John Wild, like it can be seen in this play. Moreover, this man was also very important because he was the one who persuaded the Parliament to pass the Licensing Act in the year 1737. As a result, London´s theatres had to make sure that the plays that were going to be presented were going to be appropriate from his point of view. The writers that disapproved of this were among others Swift, Pope, and Fielding.    

Christmas Banned

To my surprise, I have learned that Christmas was banned in England while the Puritans were in power. Some historians say, that in 1647 it was Oliver Cromwell who decided to ban Christmas. He banned it because he thought it was immoral to feast and celebrate on such a holy day. However, others say that the Parliament decided to make the English people not celebrated it. Who is responsible for this, is not clear. However, what we do know is that people still celebrated it in their houses, although they had to be very careful not to get caught, because if they did they would get arrested. This prohibition kept on until the Restoration of the king Charles II, in 1660. This festivity, among others that were also banned during the Republic, was restored very fast. This can give us a hint of how popular it was at the time. In the United States, Christmas was banned too, because of the Puritans. In Boston, celebrating Christmas was banned form 1659 to 1681. That year, the ban was revoked, although celebrating Christimas in Boston did not become popular until the 19th century.

The Tatler and The Spectator

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, some people started to write differently than before. We can say that it was the beginning of Journalism as we know it today with the magazines “The Tatler” and “The Spectator”.  This type of journalism was a sociological study of the reality, in a way, because it was not so concentrated in the news, but more on the depiction of society, on gossip, on the traditions of the English people.

Aspects that influenced the creation of these magazines are, for example, the tradition of describing everything in seventeenth century literary works, especially the description of the characters. Also, thanks to the author Eduard Ward, and his work “London Spy”; this, by the way, was published in 18 installments. The first one was published in 1698.  It was considered to be a “complete survey” of the London of that time, and its people.  Therefore, this was a perfect predecessor of these magazines because it set an example for them. Moreover, “The Spectator” and “The Tatler” were written in an epistolary way, style that was going to be used a lot during this century.  

The first magazine to be published was The Tatler, in the year 1709. It was created by Richard Steele. In this magazine, they talked about news and gossip. Nowadays, we normally do not have both things together, but one magazine that talks about the news and others that talk about gossip. Anybody could get this information in the coffeehouses of the time, but this was a way to have all the gossip and news in one place, and available for everyone. It was distributed three times a week, and at the beginning, he did not charge for them, but after some time he asked for a penny. Steele’s style was simple. The main purpose of the author was to teach the people that belonged to the middle class how to behave, because this was a new class, and they did not know how to behave in a formal situation; also, how to carry out a conversation, how to dress accordingly to their status, etc. It was published for two years. Two months after quitting “The Tatler”, Richard Steele and Joseph Addison began writing “The Spectator”. 

The aims of the Spectator were “to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality”. Like we said Tuesday morning, in a way it is always good to listen to popular music and classical music, because you can get the best of both. In the magazine, they treated important aspects of life in London, and gossip that everyone was interested in knowing.

Also, another aim was “to bring philosophy out of the closets and libraries, and school and collages to dwell in clubs and assemblies”. Here we can see the lifestyle of the society of the time, because everyone would get together in clubs and assemblies to talk about important things, so debating about these aspects was not only related to schools and libraries any more. Therefore, learning starts to be placed in a much more casual atmosphere. This is a very important change in their society that still affects us today. 

            The magazine became so popular, that it had imitations in other countries like in Germany and France. 

Another important aspect is that Steele gave a lot of importance to women. As far as he could, he wanted to change their inferior situation. Addison´s style was sophisticated and precise. He was also very good in describing his characters. It is said that he was also able of understanding inner qualities and relationships. This made describing his characters very easy.