The Devil to Pay, or The Wives Metamorphos'd
(Also written The Devil to Pay, or The Wives Metamorphosed in some editions, and often )
An English ballad opera[1] by Charles Coffey (?-1745 ).
Contents
The text
The first, three act version of this work was written by Charles Coffey (?-1745 ), aided by John Mottley (1692-1750) and was based on Thomas Jevon's farce The Devil of a Wife, or, A Comical Transformation (1686). Apparently Coffey and Mottley were each responsible for half of the three acts, and it first performed at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, by His Majesty's Servants in 1731.
The original source text
The source of the opera , The Devil of a Wife, or, A Comical Transformation, by Thomas Jevon (1652–1688) , was in its turn based on a plot borrowed from a Philip Sidney story. First performed in 1686 at Dorset Garden, after which various versions , with added music, were performed in later years, including the Coffey and Mottley version of 1731.
Translations and adaptations of the Coffey work
In 1732 the libretto of a much shorter and more well-received one-act version of the Coffey libretto, edited by Theophilus Cibber, appeared in print. Initially called a "ballad opera", or simply "an opera", it was referred to as "a ballad farce" in later editions of the 19th century, usually only crediting Coffey as the author.
The shorter version became the most successful ballad opera of the 18th century after The Beggar's Opera.
Translated into German as Der Teufel ist Los, oder Die Verwandelten Weiber and performed in Berlin, 24 January 1743, it strongly influenced the development of the German Singspiel.
Performance history in South Africa
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jevon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Coffey
http://www.odl.ox.ac.uk/balladoperas/what.php
Facsimile of the 1732 one act edition, Internet Archive[2]
Facsimile of the 1748 one act edition, Internet Archive[ https://archive.org/details/deviltopayorwive1748coff]
http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2/
Facsimile version of the 1831 edition, Google eBook[3]
F.C.L. Bosman, 1928: pp. 151,
Go to ESAT Bibliography
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