『ベガーズ・オペラ』とイタリア・オペラ : ジョン・ゲイとヘンデルの異文化交流

Abstract

John Gray's The Beggar's Opera is often said to be written in order to attack Italian opera,especially that of Handel. However John Gay had been close to Handel for sixteen years before The Beggar's Opera was produced in 1728. This article examines intercultural exchange between John Gay and Handel. Gay first met Handel at Burlington House in 1710. And then as a secretary to Aaron Hill,the theatre manager at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket in 1711.he observed the process of production of Rinald. the first opera Handel composed in London. John Gay worte a script for Acis and Galatea for Handel in 1718. Collaborating with Handel, Gay learned the technique to bring together words and music. Though The Beggar's Opera satirizes simile arias,a prison scene,impartiality to two heroines and recitative,it does not attack Handeｌ's operas. but the social context of English reception of Italian opera.