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
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Original Language Composed, From (Year) Composed, From (Year) Connections
Authored By
Source Wikipedia: The Threepenny Opera
In Genre
Drama, Genres Source Wikipedia: The Threepenny Opera
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Source Wikipedia: The Threepenny Operatier 2
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1. Wikipedia: The Threepenny Opera
WikipediaWikipedia category, checked 2026-09-27
Category:Tony Award-winning musicals
Lead
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.
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.
Authored By: Bertolt Brecht, Lead section
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
In Genre: Drama, Lead section
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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