Great hopes Berg cultivated about a stage work (3,7,5)
I believe the answer is:
the beggars opera
'a stage work' is the definition.
(opera by Johann Christoph Pepusch and John Gay)
'great hopes berg cultivated about' is the wordplay.
'cultivated' is an anagram indicator.
'about' becomes 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers).
'great'+'hopes'+'berg'='greathopesberg'
'greathopesberg' anagrammed gives 'thebeggarsoper'.
'thebeggarsoper'+'a'='THE BEGGARS OPERA'
(Other definitions for the beggars opera that I've seen before include "Gay work" , "Gay musical" , "Gay entertainment" .)