In a letter to Ronald Duncan dated [mid-January 1948] Britten writes: '...& haven't started Beggar's Opera yet'; again in a letter to Anthony Gishford dated 20 May 1948 he writes: '...I have at last finished the music'.
Undated, annotated manuscript with crossings out in Britten's hand, apart from two non-holograph sections (pages 123r-127v and 138r-139v) written out by Britten's then assistant, Arthur Oldham in black ink. Stuck inside the front cover is a page of typescript 'SPECIAL NOTES' by Rosamund Strode relating to various anomalies in the score, dated May 1979.
1 manuscript; 187 pages [1r-15r, 16r-17r, 18r-20r, 21r-22r, 23r-25r, 26r-31r, 32r-37r, 38r-41r, 42r-43r, 44r-51r, 52r, 53r-62r, 63r-70r, 71r-72r, 73r-81r, 82r-86r, 87r-88r, 89r-90r, 91r-95r, 96r-100r, 101r-114r, 115r-122r, 123r-134r, 135r-141r, 142r-143r,
Bound volume; Blue and black ink and pencil with annotations in pencil, red and blue crayon and blue ink; 29.3 x 37.2 cm. See Title Page of Collected Volume.
This item has been digitised and is available on the British Library website at: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_60600
Archive
https://www.bpacatalogue.org/archive/BBM-the_beggars_opera-1-8
