Editing Ralph Vaughan Williams (section)

===Stage works===
Vaughan Williams was wary of conventional labels; his best known ballet is described on the title page as "a masque for dancing" and only one of his operatic works is categorised by the composer simply as an opera. For some of his theatre pieces that could be classed as operas or ballets, he preferred the terms "masque", "romantic extravaganza", "play set to music", or "morality".{{refn|Applied by the composer to, respectively, ''On Christmas Night'' and ''The Bridal Day''; ''The Poisoned Kiss'', ''Riders to the Sea'' and ''The Pilgrim's Progress''.<ref name=grove/><ref>Kennedy (1980), pp. 415, 420 and 427</ref>|group= n}}

In a 2013 survey of Vaughan Williams's stage works, Eric Saylor writes, "With the possible exception of [[Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]], no composer's operatic career was less emblematic of his success elsewhere."<ref name=s157>Saylor, p. 157</ref> Although Vaughan Williams was a regular opera-goer, enthusiastic and knowledgeable about works by operatic masters from [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] to Wagner and [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]], his success in the operatic field was at best patchy. There is widespread agreement among commentators that this was partly due to the composer's poor choice of librettists for some, though not all, of his operas.<ref>Kennedy (1980), pp. 179 and 276; and Saylor, pp. 157 and 161</ref> Another problem was his keenness to encourage amateurs and student groups, which sometimes led to the staging of his operas with less than professional standards.<ref name=s157/> A further factor was the composer's expressed preference for "slow, long ''tableaux''", which tended to reduce dramatic impact, although he believed them essential, as "music takes a long time to speak—much longer than words by themselves."<ref>Cobbe, p. 73</ref>

''Hugh the Drover, or Love in the Stocks'' (completed 1919, premiere 1924) has a libretto, by the writer and theatre critic Harold Child, which was described by ''[[The Stage]]'' as "replete with folksy, Cotswold village archetypes".<ref name=stage>Gutman, David. [https://www.proquest.com/docview/850701387 "Hugh the Drover"], ''The Stage'', 25 November 2010, retrieved 13 October 2015 {{subscription}}</ref> In the view of the critic [[Richard Traubner]] the piece is a cross between traditional ballad opera and the works of Puccini and Ravel, "with rhapsodic results." The score uses genuine and pastiche folk-songs but ends with a passionate love duet that Traubner considers has few equals in English opera.<ref>Traubner, Richard. [https://www.proquest.com/docview/1783409 "Vaughan Williams: Riders to the Sea and Hugh the Drover"], ''Opera News'', 17 February 1996, p. 40 {{subscription}}</ref> Its first performance was by students at the Royal College of Music, and the work is rarely staged by major professional companies.<ref name=stage/>

''Old King Cole'' (1923) is a humorous ballet. The score, which makes liberal use of folk-song melodies, was thought by critics to be strikingly modern when first heard. Kennedy comments that the music "is not a major work but it is fun." The piece has not been seen frequently since its premiere, but was revived in a student production at the RCM in 1937.<ref>"Royal College of Music", ''The Times'', 2 December 1937, p. 12</ref>

''On Christmas Night'' (1926), a masque by [[Adolph Bolm]] and Vaughan Williams, combines singing, dancing and mime. The story is loosely based on [[Charles Dickens|Dickens]]'s ''[[A Christmas Carol]]''.<ref name=k415>Kennedy (1980), p. 415</ref> The piece was first given in [[Chicago]] by Bolm's company; the London premiere was in 1935. Saylor describes the work as a "dramatic hodgepodge" which has not attracted the interest of later performers.<ref name=saylor163>Saylor, p. 163</ref>

The only work that the composer designated as an opera is the comedy ''Sir John in Love'' (1924–1928). It is based on [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor]]''. Folk-song is used, though more discreetly than in ''Hugh the Drover'', and the score is described by Saylor as "ravishingly tuneful".<ref>Saylor, p. 159</ref> Although versions of the play had already been set by [[Otto Nicolai|Nicolai]], Verdi, and Holst, Vaughan Williams's is distinctive for its greater emphasis on the love music rather than on the robust comedy.<ref>Kennedy (1980), p. 218</ref> In 1931, with the Leith Hill Festival in mind, the composer recast some of the music as a five-section cantata, ''In Windsor Forest'', giving the public "the plums and no cake", as he put it.<ref>Kennedy, Michael (1981). Notes to EMI CD CDM 5 65131 2, OCLC 36534224</ref>

''[[The Poisoned Kiss]]'' (1927–1929, premiered in 1936) is a light comedy. Vaughan Williams knew the [[Savoy operas]] well,<ref>Vaughan Williams (1964), pp. 289, 315 and 334</ref> and his music for this piece was and is widely regarded as in the [[Arthur Sullivan|Sullivan]] vein.<ref>Hughes, pp. 232–233; and Greenfield, Edward. "Vaughan Williams: ''The Poisoned Kiss''", ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'', January 2004, p. 77</ref> The words, by an inexperienced librettist, were judged to fall far short of [[W. S. Gilbert|Gilbert]]'s standards.<ref>[[John Warrack|Warrack, John]]. "Vaughan Williams's ''The Poisoned Kiss''", ''[[The Musical Times]]'', June 1956, p. 322 {{JSTOR|937901}}{{subscription}}</ref> Saylor sums up the critical consensus that the work is something between "a frothy romantic comedy [and] a satirical fairy-tale", and not quite successful in either category.<ref>Saylor, p. 161; and Clements, Andrew. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:EGLL&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0FEBED8E507A47FD&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "Flower power: Vaughan Williams's botanically themed opera reeks of tweeness"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818050242/http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid%2Fiw.newsbank.com%3AUKNB%3AEGLL&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=0FEBED8E507A47FD&svc_dat=InfoWeb%3Aaggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA |date=18 August 2021 }}, ''The Guardian'', 7 November 2003</ref>

[[File:Blake-Job's-Comforters.jpg|alt=19th century engraving showing the Old Testament character Job, and his hypocritical comforters|thumb|upright=1.0|left|[[William Blake]]'s engraving of [[Job (biblical figure)|Job]] and his comforters]]
''Job: A Masque for Dancing'' (1930) was the first large-scale ballet by a modern British composer.<ref>Kennedy, Michael (ed). [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t237/e788 "Ballet"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020183845/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199578108.001.0001/acref-9780199578108 |date=20 October 2021 }}, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'', 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, retrieved 13 October 2015 {{subscription}}</ref> Vaughan Williams's liking for long ''tableaux'', however disadvantageous in his operas, worked to successful effect in this ballet. The work is inspired by [[William Blake]]'s ''[[William Blake's Illustrations of the Book of Job|Illustrations of the Book of Job]]'' (1826). The score is divided into nine sections and an epilogue, presenting dance interpretations of some of Blake's engravings.<ref>Weltzien, pp. 335–336</ref> The work, choreographed by [[Ninette de Valois]], made a powerful impression at its early stagings, and has been revived by the [[Royal Ballet]] several times.<ref name=saylor163/><ref>[http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/Work.aspx?work=844 "Job"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102812/http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/Work.aspx?work=844 |date=4 March 2016 }}, Royal Opera House performance database, retrieved 13 October 2015</ref> Kennedy ranks the score as "one of Vaughan Williams's mightiest achievements", and notes that it is familiar in concert programmes, having "the stature and cohesion of a symphony."<ref>Kennedy (1980), pp. 221 and 224</ref>

In Kennedy's view the one-act ''Riders to the Sea'' (1925–1931, premiered 1937) is artistically Vaughan Williams's most successful opera; Saylor names ''Sir John in Love'' for that distinction, but rates ''Riders to the Sea'' as one of the composer's finest works in any genre.<ref>Kennedy (1980), p. 427; and Saylor, p. 159</ref> It is an almost verbatim setting of [[J. M. Synge]]'s 1902 play of the same name, depicting family tragedy in an Irish fishing village. Kennedy describes the score as "organized almost symphonically" with much of the thematic material developed from the brief prelude. The orchestration is subtle, and foreshadows the ghostly finale of the Sixth Symphony; there are also pre-echoes of the ''Sinfonia antartica'' in the lamenting voices of the women and in the sound of the sea.<ref>Kennedy (1997) pp. 427–428</ref>

''The Bridal Day'' (1938–1939) is a masque, to a scenario by Ursula, combining voice, mime and dance, first performed in 1953 on [[BBC]] television. Vaughan Williams later recast it a [[cantata]], ''Epithalamion'' (1957).<ref>Kennedy (1980) pp. 421 and 431</ref>

''The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1951), the composer's last opera, was the culmination of more than forty years' intermittent work on the theme of Bunyan's religious allegory. Vaughan Williams had written incidental music for an amateur dramatisation in 1906, and had returned to the theme in 1921 with the one-act ''The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains'' (finally incorporated, with amendments, into the 1951 opera). The work has been criticised for a preponderance of slow music and stretches lacking in dramatic action,<ref name=k428>Kennedy (1997), p. 428</ref> but some commentators believe the work to be one of Vaughan Williams's supreme achievements.<ref name=grove/> Summaries of the music vary from "beautiful, if something of a stylistic jumble" (Saylor) to "a synthesis of Vaughan Williams's stylistic progress over the years, from the pastoral mediation of the 1920s to the angry music of the middle symphonies and eventually the more experimental phase of the ''Sinfonia antartica'' in his last decade" (Kennedy).<ref name=k428/><ref>Saylor, p. 174</ref>