Ballad Opera
18th-century English musical stage genre using popular tunes, e.g. The Beggar's Opera.
What it means
Ballad opera is an 18th-century English genre of musical theater that combines spoken dialogue with musical numbers. Rather than newly composed arias, its authors drew on already familiar tunes, ballads, folk songs, opera arias, and hymns, and set them to new, often satirical words.
In doing so, the genre deliberately positioned itself against Italian opera seria, which at the time dominated London's image of opera with elaborately composed music and highly paid star singers.
Musical use
The genre was launched in 1728 with The Beggar's Opera by the English poet John Gay, whose tunes were compiled and arranged by the German-born composer Johann Christoph Pepusch. The work satirized the politics and society of its day and became one of the greatest stage successes of 18th-century London.
Ballad opera should be distinguished from the German Singspiel, which similarly combines spoken text and song but relies mainly on newly composed music, and from opera seria, whose through-composed, serious arias formed the counterpart to the popular, satirical ballad opera.
Performance practice
When listening to a ballad opera, notice whether one of the tunes sounds familiar: much of the genre's appeal lay in audiences recognizing well-known songs set to new, often surprising words.