This 1728 John Gay "opera" put satiric lyrics to the tunes of popular songs
Gay chose popular simple tunes to mock what many British believed to be the... [DOC] [TLE] here [PAR] John Gay (1685-1732) Invents a Generic Hybrid The Beggar's Opera opens 29 
Jan 1728 ... and Pope of the Scriblerius Club offering an ancient critique of 
modern corruption ...