Charles Coffey

Charles Coffey, born in Ireland in the late 17th or early 18th century, died in London, 13 May 1745, was an Irish playwright, opera librettist and arranger of music.

Following the initial failure of his ballad opera The Beggar’s Wedding (Dublin, Smock Alley Theatre, 24 March 1729) - a work capitalising on the success of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728) - he moved to London, where the work opened at the Haymarket on 29 May 1729. In an abbreviated form as Phebe, or The Beggar's Wedding it became highly successful, although it was not to be heard in Dublin before 1754. His fifth ballad opera, The Devil to Pay, or The Wives Metamorphos'd (1731) became the most successful ballad opera of the 18th century after The Beggar's Opera. In a German translation as Der Teufel ist los, oder Die verwandelten Weiber (Berlin, 24 January 1743) it strongly influenced the development of the German Singspiel.

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