[For a complete Dramatis Personae see TPO01.txt] Transcribed using MOZART by Michael Bednarek, May 2003 http://mcmbednarek.tripod.com/ 6. SEERŽUBERJENNY The tempo direction in the score (1/4=92) seems way too fast. In fact, this number should probably be sung with the tempo changing as the text demands it, more like a French chanson. This song is here presented by Polly to the wedding guests as she remembers having heard it once in a cheap pub in Soho; ironically, it was Macheath's lover at the time, Jenny, who sung it then. We will hear her sing it again later in the opera (after No. 12). The contrast between the sprechgesang and the broad and melodious refrain acurately depicts Jenny's situation, stuck in this filthy hotel but dreaming of terrible revenge. There is also another famous aria in the world of opera where a wronged girl dreams in vain of a ship arriving and carrying her away: "Un bel di" in Puccini's "Madama Butterfly".