约翰·盖伊

条目

历史版本

约翰·盖伊Gay, John（1685～1732）英国诗人兼剧作家。出身于得文郡一古老的破落家族，曾在伦敦从绸缎商当学徒，但很早就放弃。不久与人合办《英国阿波罗》期刊。诗集包括《乡村游戏》（1713）、《琐事》（1716）。最有名的叙事歌剧是《乞丐歌剧》（1728），前后共演出六十二场，是当时演出最久的剧目。此剧的音乐是由佩普什（J C Pepusch, 1667～1752）所作，是一篇小偷和拦路强盗的讽刺故事，意在反映社会道德的堕落；此剧的成功象征了音乐戏剧史上的一个里程碑。后来被布莱希特（B Brecht）和韦尔（K Weill）改编成《三便士歌剧》（1928）。死后葬在西敏寺。

概述

Englishpoet and dramatist,friend of Pope and Swift. Gay is remembered for his play THE BEGGAR'S OPERA (1728), which was the basis for Kurt Weiland Bertolt Brecht's classical work Dreigroschenoper (1928, The threepenny Opera). The play was highly successful and enabled Gay to spent more money on gambling and drinking. Its sequel, POLLY (1729), was supposedly suppressed by the prime minister Robert Walpole, who thus only incited people to buy its printed version.

Let us drink and sport to-day,

--Ours is not to-morrow: