SOURCE: "The Beggar's Opera in Theatre History" and "The Opera as Work of Art," in John Gay and the London Theatre, University Press of Kentucky, 1993, pp. 87-108; 109-27.

In the following excerpts, Winton examines the history of the writing and reception of The Beggar's Opera, focusing on Gay's close relationships with Pope and Swift. Winton suggests that Gay's innovative use of both classical works and English popular ballads created a uniquely English genre from the then-popular Italian opera.

Hearing of Stella's illness, Swift had departed for Dublin in September 1727. Before he left he had read scenes from The Beggar's Opera, which was finished, if we can trust the text and dating of Gay's letter to him,' by late October 1727. How long had it been in active preparation, one may ask, actually in the stage of composition, and what influenced Gay in writing it?

Many years before, in...