EN 2140 Lecture Notes - Francesca Cuzzoni, Jonathan Swift, Highwayman
11 Sep 2013
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Document Summary
Great friend of jonathan swift and alexander pope who had helped him come up with the idea for the beggar"s opera. (1728) The world of the thieves and the highwaymen offers an extended satire of the parliamentary system suggesting that it is just robbery and gangsterism. The social system of the beggars is as elaborate and hypocritical as that of the upper class brecht translated exactly. Satirizing the world of music too: before the beggar"s opera was written, 2 sopranos. Francesca cuzzoni and faustina bordini had actually come to blows on stage. The play is a reflection of an overwhelming need for independence that was felt by the lower classes under the dictatorship of the corrupt system. Satirizing the whole social order as well as the arts that supported that order was what gay had in mind: satire starts to hurt the system/battles the system. He adds a bit of class on his behavior.
