Sir John in Love is an opera in four acts by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The libretto, by the composer himself, is based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of WindsorKennedy, Michael. Sir John in Love. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997, p. 406. and supplemented with texts by Philip Sidney, Thomas Middleton, Ben Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher. The music deploys English folk tunes, including "Greensleeves". Originally titled The Fat Knight,Kennedy, Michael, The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Oxford University Press (1964), p. 218. the opera premiered at the Parry Opera Theatre, Royal College of Music, London, on 21 March 1929. Its first professional performance was on 9 April 1946 at Sadler's Wells Theatre.
Composition and performance history Vaughan Williams first wrote music for a Shakespeare play in 1913 as music director of the Frank Benson company at Stratford-upon-Avon, composing for five plays - including The Merry Wives of Windsor (where he incorporated 'Greensleeves') and Henry IV, Part 2, although the latter contained no music for Falstaff.Kennedy, Michael. VW, Verdi and the Bard - Michael Kennedy on Vaughan Williams's Falstaff opera. Opera, Vol.57 No.3, March 2006, p. 278-283. His recollection of that season at Stratford may have influenced his choice of The Merry Wives as the subject for what was his second opera (after Hugh the Drover, 1924), but he would also be aware of his friend Gustav Holst's 1924 opera At the Boar's Head, in which the text, compiled from the tavern scenes in Henry IV, made heavy use of English folk songs.
Vaughan Williams adapted The Merry Wives mainly keeping Shakespeare's words, although where the drama demanded an aria or chorus, he used material from other Shakespeare plays (such as Much Ado About Nothing) or from other Elizabethan poets - including Ben Jonson and Thomas Campion as well as 'Greensleeves', sung by Mistress Ford as she awaits a visit from Falstaff, and later for an orchestral interlude.
After the premiere at the Royal College of Music in 1929 it was revived there in 1939.Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) List of operas with details of first performances and important revivals. Opera, November 1972, Vol. 23 No. 11, p. 967. The Sadler's Wells production of 1946 was followed by a New Opera Company production in the same theatre in July 1958 with John Dobson, Eric Shilling, John Cameron, Donald Francke, Adrian de Peyer and Peter Hemmings among the cast, conducted by Brian Priestman. The work was revived by the Kentish Opera Group in 1963 in Orpington conducted by Audrey Langford.Jacobs, Arthur. Sir John in Love. Kentish Opera Group, July 24. Opera, September 1963, Vol. 14 No. 9 p. 642.
In February 1956 a BBC studio recording with minor cuts was broadcast, with Stanford Robinson conducting the Sadler’s Wells Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra, and the cast included Roderick Jones as Falstaff, Heddle Nash as Shallow, Parry Jones as Sir Hugh Evans, Denis Dowling as Page, John Kentish as Bardolph, Forbes Robinson as Pistol, April Cantelo as Anne Page, James Johnston as Fenton, Pamela Bowden as Mrs Quickly, Owen Brannigan as The Host and John Cameron as Ford; this was issued on CD by Lyrita in 2016.Webber, Christopher. Review of Sir John in Love, Vaughan Williams - Lyrita REAM.2122. Opera, Vol. 67 No. 8 p. 1052.
Performances of the opera have remained rare, but include 1978 and 1988 productions by the Bronx Opera (New York City) and a 1997 Barbican concert performance conducted by Richard Hickox with Donald Maxwell as Falstaff. The opera received a major UK production in 2006 at English National Opera (ENO), which was ENO's first production of the work, conducted by Oleg Caetani, produced by Ian Judge, with Andrew Shore in the title role. In August 2010, the Australian Shakespeare Festival, an initiative of the University of Tasmania, gave a professional concert presentation of the opera conducted by Myer Fredman. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland gave four performances of the work in May 2015. In January 2017, the Bronx Opera performed the work as part of their 50th anniversary season. In August 2023 the opera was performed in a semi-staged production at Bard College in the US as part of the Bard SummerScape Music Festival.
Ten folk melodies are quoted - just over 15 minutes - in an opera lasting 130. An old chanson 'Vrai dieu d'amour' is sung by the Frenchman Dr Caius. Vaughan Williams added a Prologue for 1933 Bristol production but this was subsequently withdrawn, and five choruses were published as a cantata In Windsor Forest in 1931.
Winton Dean argues that "the folky idiom of the music" is not suited to the play, which ideally requires "a quicksilver deftness if it is not to become tedious".Dean Winton. Shakespeare and Opera. In: Shakespeare in Music - A Collection of Essays. Macmillan, London, 1966, p.127.
Roles +RoleVoice typePremiere cast (amateur)21 March 1929Conductor: Malcolm SargentPremiere cast (professional)9 April 1946Conductor: Lawrance CollingwoodSir John FalstaffbaritoneLeyland WhiteRoderick JonesAnne PagesopranoOlive EversVera TerryMistress PagesopranoMay MooreAnna PollakMistress Fordmezzo-sopranoVeronica MansfieldMinnia BowerMistress QuicklycontraltoHilda RickardValetta IacopiFentontenorA. Bamfield CooperRonald HillDoctor Caiushigh baritoneDouglas TichenerEric ShillingFrank FordbassClifford WhiteHowell GlynneRobert Shallowtenor or baritoneAlfred WalmsleySir Hugh EvansbaritoneAlbert KennedyMaster SlendertenorPhilip WardSimpletenor or baritoneWilliam HerbertMaster George PagebaritoneThomas DanceNorman PlattBardolphtenorHoward HemmingCorporal NymbaritoneCharles HolmesAncient PistolbassGeorge HancockRugbybassFrederick LloydThe Host of the 'Garter Inn'baritoneJohn GreenwoodRobinnon-singingJames FlackJohnbaritoneJohn HusonRobertbaritoneJohn Gibson
Synopsis Act 1 Outside Page's house, Justice Shallow and Parson Evans are angry at Sir John Falstaff and his men for getting Abraham Slender drunk and stealing his wallet. Slender is trying to compose a sonnet to express his affection for Anne Page, but cannot get past the line "O sweet Anne Page". Falstaff enters, dismissive of the anger of Shallow and Evans towards him. Anne Page, Mistress Page and Mistress Ford then arrive.
Remaining outside, Evans and Shallow conspire to arrange a match between Slender and Anne Page, and send Simple, Slender's servant, to Mistress Quickly to obtain her assistance. Anne Page then directs the men towards dinner. Left alone, she ponders her mother's wish for her to marry Dr. Caius, whom she does not desire. However, her true love, Master Fenton, then arrives. Anne Page and Fenton sing a duet, but Master Page drives off Fenton, as he thinks that Fenton is only after Anne Page's dowry. Master Page is himself inclined more towards Slender as a match for Anne.
As Fenton hides, Dr. Caius, his servant John Rugby, and Mistress Quickly appear. Caius hopes for Mistress Quickly's assistance in winning over Anne Page. Simple tries to deliver the letter from Slender, but Caius intercepts it, and after reading it, thinks that Evans also has designs on Anne Page. After Caius, Rugby and Simple depart, Fenton appears and gives Mistress Quickly a ring for Anne and some gold for herself, to assist him in winning Anne Page. The gold directs Mistress Quickly to place Fenton at the top of the list of suitors for Anne Page.
In the inn, Falstaff notes that he is facing hard financial times. He comes up with a scheme to seduce Mistresses Ford and Page and swindle them of some money. Falstaff writes identical love letters to Mistresses Ford and Page, but his henchmen Nym and Pistol refuse to be part of this scheme. Falstaff then instructs his page Robin to deliver the separate letters.
Nym and Pistol then decide to inform Master Ford of Falstaff's scheme. Ford enters, already feeling jealousy and suspicion of his wife's fidelity. When Nym and Pistol tell Ford of Falstaff's plan, Ford resolves to visit Falstaff in disguise to see how far Falstaff's plot proceeds. The merry wives, Mistresses Ford and Page, sing of cuckoos in counterpoint to Ford's rage.
Act 2 Scene 1: A room in Page's house
In Page's house, Mistress Page reads the letter to her from Falstaff. Mistress Ford then arrives with her own letter from Falstaff. The merry wives compare the letters and see that they are identical except for the names. They vow revenge on Falstaff for his attempted treachery. They engage Mistress Quickly to deliver a message to Falstaff that he should go to Alice Ford's house between ten and eleven that night.
Scene 2: The parlour of the Garter Inn
Bardolph announces to Falstaff the arrival of a visitor, Master "Brook", who is Ford in disguise. "Brook" affects to be in love with Mistress Ford, but that she has a reputation for fidelity. He offers Falstaff money to see if Falstaff can seduce Mistress Ford on his behalf. "Brook" is shocked to learn that Falstaff already has a planned assignation with Mistress Ford that night. After Falstaff leaves, Ford tears off his disguise and rages against his wife's apparent infidelity.
Act 3 Scene 1: A footpath near Windsor
Fenton asks for the Inn Host's assistance to win Anne Page. Anne arrives, initially expressing some doubts because of Fenton's past association with Falstaff, but he convinces her of his true love. She then tells him of her mother's plan to marry her off to Caius, and her father's plan to marry her off to Slender. Her intention, however, is to marry Fenton, and the Inn Host plans to find a priest to officiate a ceremony between them.
Scene 2: A field near Windsor
Caius enters, with plans to challenge Evans to a duel over Anne Page. Caius, along with Ford, Shallow, Slender and the Inn Host, meet Evans by the river bank for the duel. However, the duel between Caius and Evans gradually peters out, until the Host asks them for mutual forgiveness to each other and reconciliation at the Inn over a pint. Ford then invites the company to his house, intending to show them a "monster".
Scene 3: A room in Ford's house
At Ford's house, the merry wives, with Mistress Quickly present, are setting the trap for Falstaff, in the form of a laundry hamper. Mistress Ford instructs her servants to dump the contents of the hamper into a ditch on her command. All except Mistress Ford hide, who sings "Greensleeves" in preparation for Falstaff's arrival. Falstaff appears, but before he can start in earnest on the seduction, Mistress Quickly bursts in to warn of Mistress Page rushing over to the house. Mistress Page suddenly comes in to let everyone know that Master Ford is en route to the house in a jealous rage, which to her is part of the scheme to dupe Falstaff, except that Ford truly is on his way to the house, of which no one is aware. The only place for Falstaff to hide is the laundry basket. Falstaff therein hides, and then Ford and his followers suddenly show up, in search of the "monster" alluded to earlier. Mistress Ford directs her servants to remove the laundry basket, which they do, under great strain because of Falstaff's weight. Ford only succeeds in finding Mistress Page hidden behind a curtain.
Act 4 Scene 1: A room in Ford's house
Ford asks forgiveness from his wife, which she grants. The Fords and Pages then plot a final revenge on Falstaff, by luring him to Windsor Forest, where legend has it that Herne the Hunter haunts Herne's Oak, and fairies torment unaware travellers. Mistress Page intends to dress as the fairy queen, and with the help of local children, will taunt Falstaff. Mistress Page tells Caius that Anne will be wearing green, to allow him to find her. In turn, Master Page informs Slender that Anne will be wearing white.
Scene 2: Windsor Forest