About the music (excerpt from Pirates' programme) Chosen by Gay himself, the Music to The Beggar's Opera is a medley of airs popular at the time: English, Scottish and Irish folk-songs, even one or two of French origin, interspersed with short arias by Italian and English composers (including Purcell) and a Handel march. The "satirical" aspect of the music will not, perhaps, greatly interest present-day audiences, but those of 1728 will have been aware of the novelty of hearing home-spun melodies instead of the recitative-cum-aria formula so typical of the Italian opera of the day. They will also have been reminded by the fight between Polly and Lucy of the tussle between two Italian prime donne that had occurred on the stage only a few months before. Since only the melodies are original, the folk-songs are a fair prey for any zealous arranger. For this production, the settings were largely inspired by Prof. Ed. J. Dent's excellent version (1940). The accompaniments have been set for a small group of players, to give the voices the best chance of conveying the words, which, for their comments on contemporary society and humanity in general, are as important as the dialogue. Our Luxembourg audiences will, we feel sure, accept our intended compliment in including an excerpt from the music of the Echternach procession. Like most of the other numbers, this is traditional music of popular origin and so is related in spirit to its new setting.