The Threepenny Opera is a German musical theater work with book and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht and music by Kurt Weill, known in German as Die Dreigroschenoper, which premiered on 31 August 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin. Based on Elisabeth Hauptmann's German translation of John Gay's eighteenth-century ballad opera The Beggar's Opera, the piece combines spoken dialogue with a jazz- and dance-inflected score to deliver a satirical critique of capitalist society through the story of Macheath, a criminal antihero entangled with the figures of London's underworld. The work achieved rapid and lasting international success and produced enduring musical standards, including Mack the Knife and Pirate Jenny, that have been recorded across numerous genres, making it one of the most widely performed and adapted works to emerge from Weimar-era German theater.
Facts
Classification
Original Language Composed, From (Year) Composed, From (Year) In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Germany, originated there.
- Also in Language Atlas: German, original language there.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: The Threepenny Opera
WikipediaWikipedia category, checked 2026-09-27
Category:Tony Award-winning musicals
Original language statement
The German-language version from 1928 entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.
Lead paragraph
The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper [diː dʁaɪˈɡʁɔʃn̩ˌʔoːpɐ]) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera The Beggar's Opera, and four ballads by François Villon, with music by Kurt Weill.
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