John Gay (Barnstaple, Devon, Inglaterra, 1685 - Londres, 1732), poeta y dramaturgo.
Su obra más exitosa fue The Beggar's Opera. Que puedes ver en una buena versión antigua de la BBC en los enlaces 💦.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq7g_NRKHU0
💦 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1vwiPMrK5I
💦 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh57Wjqs-2A
💦 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeVx5vQVtvs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc5r7DMrCnE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU6p3Ubq42U
💗 Otros enlaces sobre el autor y su obra... Trataré de ir ofreciendo más enlaces..., aunque hay muchos autores sobre los que aún no he compartido nada...
https://datos.bne.es/persona/XX881052.html
https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/authors/pers00303.shtml
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DqRbvCpRm/
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-gay
https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Gay-British-author
https://allpoetry.com/John_Gay
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Este artículo del blog del Ayuntamiento de Barnstaple comienza hablando del retrato de John Gay en la sala principal del Guildhall (Ayuntamiento) de Barnstaple. El autor nació en esta localidad. Y continúa con detalles de su vida. Cuándo nació, cómo se llamaba la casa en la que vivía, su traslado a Londres, su éxito, su ruina tras invertir en una compañía...
Reproduzco aquí las palabras del artículo, porque no puedo poner un enlace que vaya directamente a él. Si pinchas en este enlace que adjunto, verás que hay muchos otros artículos, entre los que se encuentra el dedicado al poeta local John Gay. Por eso copio y pego algunos párrafos, por si no quieres andar buscando el artículo entre los otros.
https://www.barnstapletowncouncil.gov.uk/heritage-and-culture/heritage-blog/
Gay was an interesting man who led a fascinating yet turbulent life. He reached a high level of notoriety in his time, but very few people in Barnstaple know much about him.
John Gay grew up in “a large house, called the Red Cross, on the corner of Joy Street.” His great-grandfather, Antony Gay, served as Mayor, and Antony’s wife was the daughter of the merchant and three-time mayor Richard Beaple.
As an adult, Gay moved to London and began writing plays. The first, The Mohocks, faced censorship issues. The second, a comedy titled The Wife of Bath, was performed at the Drury Lane Theatre. The third, Rural Sports, was dedicated to Alexander Pope and began a lasting friendship with him (author of famous quote “to err is human, to forgive, divine”).
In 1713, Gay joined the Scriblerus Club with Pope, a group of authors who satirized society. In 1715, he produced The What D’Ye Call It?, a dramatic skit on contemporary tragedy that was so confusing it necessitated a ‘Complete Key to What D’Ye Call It’ to explain it.
In 1720, Secretary of State James Craggs advised Gay to invest in South Sea stock, part of the South Sea Company set up to reduce national debt, which generated income through the slave trade. The stock peaked in 1720 before collapsing, ruining thousands of investors. Ignoring friends’ advice, Gay invested all his money and lost everything in the ‘South Sea Bubble’, which then left him dangerously ill. While destitute, his friends continued to support and house him.
Seeking royal patronage, Gay wrote Fifty-one Fables in Verse for the six-year-old Prince William, although the work subtly criticized courtiers and court honours. His next work, The Beggar’s Opera, satirized the Whig statesman Robert Walpole and other politicians. It portrayed the prostitutes and thieves of Newgate, allegorizing the ruling class. Initially intended to have no musical accompaniment, a week before opening, theatre director Johan Christoph Pepusch was asked to write a formal French overture and arrange 69 songs. He did so in a week.
The Beggar’s Opera was a huge success, running for sixty-two nights and popularizing characters like Polly Peachum and Captain Macheath. Gay wrote a sequel, Polly, which was banned by the Lord Chamberlain, ironically boosting its publication sales in 1729.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gay
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beggar's_Opera

