The Beggar's Opera (Gay/Pepusch)
from Gay: The Beggar's Opera (CDA66591/2)
1 If poverty be a title to poetry (Beggar/Player) [1'57]
2 Overture [3'13]
3 Through all the employments of life (Peachum) [0'59]
4 Sir, Black Moll hath sent word (Filch/Peachum) [1'30]
5 'Tis woman that seduces all mankind (Filch/Peachum) [1'43]
6 But 'tis now high time to look about me (Peachum) [2'05]
7 What of Bob Booty, husband? (Mrs Peachum/Peachum) [0'35]
8 If any wench Venus's girdle wear (Mrs Peachum/Peachum) [3'45]
9 If love the virgin's heart invade (Mrs Peachum/Peachum) [3'01]
10 Never was a man more out the way in an argument (Mrs Peachum) [0'23]
11 A maid is like the golden ore (Mrs Peachum) [0'42]
12 Come hither, Filch (Mrs Peachum/Filch) [2'17]
13 I know as well as any of the fine ladies (Polly) [0'32]
14 Virgins are like the fair flower in its lustre (Polly/Peachum) [2'01]
15 Our Poly is a sad slut! (Mrs Peachum/Peachum/Polly) [2'35]
16 Can love be control'd by advice? (Polly/Mrs Peachum/Peachum) [2'17]
17 O Polly, you might have toy'd and kissed (Mrs Peachum/Polly) [1'41]
18 I like a ship in storms was tossed (Polly/Peachum) [1'14]
19 Dear wife, be a little pacified (Peachum/Mrs Peachum) [0'53]
20 A fox may steal your hens, sir (Peachum) [1'06]
21 'Twas only Nimming Ned (Polly/Peachum/Mrs Peachum) [1'49]
22 Oh, ponder well! be not severe (Polly/Mrs Peachum) [1'19]
23 The turtle thus with plaintive crying (Polly/Mrs Peachum/Peachum) [1'44]
24 The thing, husband, must and shall be done (Mrs Peachum/Peachum) [0'49]
25 Now I'm a wretch (Polly) [1'34]
26 Pretty Polly, say (Macheath/Polly) [1'14]
27 My heart was so free (Macheath/Polly) [1'10]
28 Were I laid on Greenland's coast (Macheath/Polly) [1'13]
29 O what pain it is to part! (Polly/Macheath) [2'50]
30 The miser thus a shilling sees (Macheath/Polly) [1'10]
31 But pr'ythee, Matt, what is become of thy brother Tom? (Ben/Matt/Jemmy/Jack/Wat/Robin/Ned/Harry) [1'49]
32 Fill ev'ry glass, for wine inspires us (Matt/company) [0'54]
33 Gentlemen, well met (Macheath/Matt) [2'22]
34 Let us take the road (Matt) [1'46]
35 What a fool is a fond wench! (Macheath) [0'32]
36 If the heart of a man is deprest with cares (Macheath/Drawer) [2'25]
37 Dear Mrs Coaxer, you are welcome (Macheath) [2'18]
38 Youth's the season made for joys (Macheath/Jenny/Coaxer/Vixen/Brazen) [3'29]
39 Before the barn door crowing (Jenny/Macheath/Trull/Tawdry/Slammekin/Vixen) [1'51]
40 The gamesters and lawyers are jugglers alike (Jenny/Tawdry/Macheath) [1'17]
41 I seize you, sir, as my prisoner (Peachum/Macheath) [0'43]
42 At the tree I shall suffer with pleasure (Macheath/Peachum) [0'36]
43 Look ye, Mrs Jenny (Vixen/Coaxer/Slammekin/Trull/Jenny) [0'58]
44 Noble Captain, you are welcome (Lockit/Macheath) [1'32]
45 Man may escape from rope and gun (Macheath) [1'46]
46 You base man, you! (Lucy) [0'17]
47 Thus when a good huswife sees a rat (Luch/Macheath) [0'53]
48 How cruel are the traitors (Lucy/Macheath) [3'05]
49 The first time at the looking-glass (Macheath/Lucy) [1'09]
50 In this last affair, brother Peachum (Lockit/Peachum) [1'01]
51 When you censure the age (Lockit/Peachum) [2'37]
52 Whence come you, hussy? (Lockit/Lucy) [0'35]
53 Is then his fate decreed, sir? (Lucy/Lockit) [0'13]
54 You'll think e'er many days ensue (Lockit) [2'15]
55 Though the ordinary was out of the way today (Lucy/Macheath) [0'35]
56 If you at an office solicit your due (Macheath/Lucy) [0'41]
57 Where is my dear husband? (Polly/Macheath/Lucy) [0'52]
58 Thus when the swallow, seeking prey (Polly/Macheath/Lucy) [2'19]
59 How happy could I be with either (Macheath/Polly/Lucy) [0'50]
60 I'm bubbled (Polly/Lucy/Macheath) [1'00]
61 Cease your funning (Polly/Macheath/Lucy) [1'34]
62 Why how now, Madam Flirt? (Lucy/Polly) [0'38]
63 Where's my wench? (Peachum/Polly) [0'27]
64 No power on earth can e'er divide (Polly) [1'18]
65 I am naturally compassionate, wife (Macheath/Lucy) [1'33]
66 I like the fox shall grieve (Lucy) [2'01]
67 To be sure, wench (Lockit/Lucy) [1'03]
68 When young at the bar you first taught me to score (Lucy/Lockit) [2'42]
69 My love is all madness and folly (Lucy/Lockit) [1'23]
70 Peachum then intends to outwit me (Lockit) [0'56]
71 Thus gamesters united in friendship are found (Lockit/Lucy) [1'11]
72 Why, boy, thou lookest as if thou wert half starv'd (Lockit/Filch) [1'14]
73 I am sorry, gentlemen (Macheath) [0'17]
74 The modes of the court so common are grown (Macheath/Ben/Matt) [2'40]
75 The coronation account, brother Peachum (Lockit/Peachum) [1'29]
76 What gudgeons are we men! (Lockit/Peachum/Servant) [1'20]
77 Dear Mrs Dye, your servant (Peachum/Trapes/Lockit) [0'28]
78 In the days of my youth I could bill like a dove (Trapes/Peachum/Lockit) [4'57]
79 Jealousy, rage, love and fear (Lucy) [0'09]
80 I'm like a skiff on the ocean tossed (Lucy/Filch) [1'15]
81 Dear madam, your servant (Lucy) [0'17]
82 When a wife's in her pout (Lucy/Polly) [2'08]
83 A curse attends that woman's love (Polly/Lucy) [1'23]
84 Among the men, coquets we find (Polly/Lucy) [1'29]
85 Come, sweet lass (Lucy) [1'00]
86 All this wheedling of Lucy cannot be for nothing (Polly) [0'20]
87 Come, Miss Polly (Lucy/Polly) [0'51]
88 Set your heart to rest, captain (Lockit/Peachum/Lucy/Polly) [0'32]
89 Hither, dear husband, turn your eyes (Polly/Lucy/Macheath/Peachum) [1'45]
90 Which way shall I turn me? (Macheath/Polly) [0'59]
91 When my hero in court appears (Polly/Lucy) [1'14]
92 When he holds up his hand (Lucy/Lockit) [1'40]
93 Our selves, like the great, to secure a retreat (Lockit/Peachum) [1'27]
94 The charge is prepar'd; the lawyers are met (Macheath) [1'20]
95 Follow them, Filch, to the court (Polly/Lucy) [1'07]
96 O cruel, cruel, cruel case! (Macheath) [3'18]
97 Since laws were made for ev'ry degree (Macheath/Jailer) [1'02]
98 For my having broke prison (Macheath/Matt/Jailer) [1'02]
99 My dear Lucy, my dear Polly (Macheath/Polly/Lucy) [0'30]
100 Would I might be hang'd! (Lucy/Polly/Macheath/Jailer) [1'49]
101 But, honest friend (Player/Beggar) [1'21]
102 So, it seems, I am not left to my choice (Macheath/company) [0'38]
103 Thus I stand like the Turk (Macheath) [1'40]
149 minutes 28 seconds 103 tracks
‘I have never heard, and can't imagine, better performances … a delightful performance of this timeless opera’ (American Record Guide)
‘A treasure that belongs in every collection, be it opera, musical comedy, pop music or theater’ (Fanfare, USA)