R. Vaughan Williams - Sir John in Love

This four-act comic opera celebrating Shakespeares Sir John Falstaff was given it first professional performance in 1946. The libretto, written by the composer, is based on The Merry Wives of Windsor and interpolates texts by contemporaries of Shakespeare such as Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and Thomas Campion. The work contains English folksong material and fine examples of the composers orchestral lyricism and dramatic flair. Music from the opera was later adapted to form the cantata In Windsor Forest and the Fantasia on Greensleeves. For this comprehensive new edition, the editor (and conductor) David Lloyd-Jones has drawn on all available sources, providing an authoritative full score with critical commentary. The performance materials are newly-engraved.

? bœ { q = q œ & œ œ

? bœ { q = q œ & œ œ ‰ Ó & 281/546 Fals., nn. 2, 3: in aut and msfs both are G, but these have been altered to F in vs ? œbœ œ œ ˙ œ ‰ Œ 282/551 Tutti: after this bar in aut and msfs there is a five-bar cut (a repetition of bb. 503–7), which was made so late that it caused a large blank in later copies of vs with the note ‘Composer’s cut’ 288/580 Vcl., nn. 3, 4: the rhythm has been altered from even crotchets to conform To with the reading of Vla. and vs ? 289/584 Tempo: bAnimato œ œadded œ to aut by RVW, possibly { suggesting q = q one in a bar 292/599ff Ford: here œ RVW seems to have made an unfortunate & œ œ ‰ Ó shortening of the text & of MWW. In F, Ford says, ‘She dwells so securely on the excellency of her honour that the folly of my soul dares not present itself. She is too bright,’ ? etc. 295/615 Tempo: Moderato in aut, msfs, and vs; RVW has altered msfs to Allegro moderato 297/625 Tempo: in msfs, MS has added ‘Meno’ with ‘Tempo’ in b. 626 299/634 Fals.: the quaver rest, present in aut and msfs, is missing in vs 301/644 Fals., n. 3: F# in vs 301/648 Tempo: ritard. added to msfs by RVW and MS 302/650 Tempo: Andante con moto in aut and vs but Allegretto added to msfs by RVW, again possibly suggesting one in a bar 305/687 Ford, n. 2: F in vs 309/712ff Host: in vs, this and later lines were first given to Bardolph, with ‘bully’ changed to ‘master’. This was clearly due to the matter of casting in the original RCM production, for Bardolph, as already said, now a tapster at the Garter Inn, should not be playing a role in this concerted plot to ‘kill de Jack priest’. Restored to the Host, as in the original pages of aut, with his characteristic text, until the end of the act. 313/736 Host: in sources ‘thou hast’, but this is a question, and the ‘hast thou’ of MWW has been preferred 313/737 Host: ‘Sir John’ pencilled into msfs by RVW 316–20/ Tutti: this section, roughly sketched in aut, 751–78 has been recopied in msfs by RD, who has introduced certain small revisions 320/776–9 S.D.: in aut, RVW has revised the rhythm of the S.D. to agree with the singers, w-wind, and horns. For some reason, this did not get into RD’s recopying of this page in msfs. 320/793 Vln. I, II, n. 1: fp cresc. in vs œ œ œ ‰ Ó Act III Scene I (Interlude) ˙ œ j ‰ U ˙ œ j ‰ ˙ œ j ‰ Œ Œ taken from int b œ œ ˙ œ j ‰ Œ U œ œ œ ‰ Ó 346/135–6 Vln. I, II: 346/136 Tutti: at the end of this bar, a conductor (Robert Percival?) has noted in msfs ‘Comma’, and made a two-stroke break 347/137 Anne: in msfs a conductor (presumably Percival) has added ‘my father says’ after ‘Ah, mine Host’, as in mww, though no notation is suggested. This is a sensible alteration, and is post int. 382/355 Tempo: the later addition of moderato to the original Allegro probably invalidates the metronome mark 383/381 Vla., Vcl.: slur taken from int 387/400–01 Tutti: 388/405 Tempo: in msfs the word pesante, which appears in int, has been crossed out 389/407–8 Host: in aut and msfs, the words ‘I mun’ (also given in int), has been crossed out and replaced with ‘Thou shalt’ by the same conductor who wrote in b. 137; oup adopts 390/416–17 Host: these bars are empty in aut. In msfs a conductor (Percival?) has added ‘Farewell’, and this is printed in int, though the Host continues to sing three bars later and is then directed to go off stage. It is suggested that ‘Farewell’ be ignored. ˙ œ j ‰ U ˙ œ j ‰ ˙ œ j ‰ Œ Œ taken from int Scene II 394/10ff Evans: lines taken from the metrical version of Psalm 137 by Sternhold and Higgins 397–8/24ff Evans: lines taken from Marlowe’s song ‘Come live with me and be my love’ 401/37 Tempo: in msfs, MS has noted ‘Not too fast’ 419/108 Ford: in mww, ‘for it is as positive’; the ‘as’ is surely needed in this position 423/122 Tempo: Allegro from vs; in aut and msfs Allegro moderato 426–56/ Tutti: this 120-bar orchestral interlude (longer 133–253 in vs), written to allow for the elaborate scene change at the ill-equipped RCM theatre, gave RVW some trouble, and the occasion to experiment with repeats. Bars 150–229 were an insert that was later cut, though they are retained in vs. 429/149 Tutti: following this bar in vs, there are five modulating bars followed by 55 in Allegretto triple time. There is, however, a note which Perusal Score Not for Performance xii

Scene III states: ‘After the publication of the vocal score the composer made this cut [shown] permanent and the music of this passage does not appear in the full score and instrumental parts.’ This explains the absence of rehearsal figures 6a, 6b, and 6c. Photocopies of the cut music are available from OUP. 467/288 Tempo: originally Lento in aut and msfs; changed in msfs to Moderato by RVW. Andante moderato in vs. 467/289ff Mrs F.: the words of this version of ‘Greensleeves’ are taken from the miscellany A Handful of Pleasant Ditties of 1584, though the spelling has been modernized, presumably by RVW 470/313 Tempo: in msfs, MS has written ‘almost same beat’ 502/484 Str.: the crotchet in aut and msfs has been extended by a quaver, as in vs 516/572 Tempo: in msfs, MS has written ‘flowing’ 518/589 Mrs Q.: in aut and msfs, ‘Mrs Quickly with alto’. In vs, however, she (like Mrs Ford) is not required to sing because she is attending to Mrs Ford (see SD). 527/651 Tutti: lunga taken from vs Act IV 531–2/1–12 Str.: the double set of slurs is shown in aut Scene I 557/163 Tempo: in aut, ‘not too slow’ (RVW) 568/225 Tempo: in msfs, ‘not too slow’ (RVW), yet Adagio molto in vs 575/277 Vla., Vcl.: second half of the bar dotted in vs, but not in the Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves’ of 1934; see also b. 296 of Act III Scene II 603/447 Rattles: ‘onstage’ in aut, but ‘offstage’ (as in chorus and SD) in vs 608/463 Tempo: in aut and msfs, in addition to the Molto adagio marking, RVW has added ‘very slow’ 608/463 In Q and F, the role of the Queen of the Fairies is given, most improbably, to Mistress Quickly (speaking in perfect English). This was doubtless due to the casting of the same boy actor in both roles. The more sensible alteration to Anne Page, one adopted by RVW, was first proposed by William Harness in his 1825 edition of the Dramatic Works. 610/469 Tempo: having written ‘very slow’ in b. 463 in msfs, here RVW writes ‘not too slow’ 611/472 Tempo: at the end of this bar in aut and msfs there is a pause sign over the double bar. This is absent from vs. 632/564 Tempo: in msfs, RVW has twice written ‘poco accel.’ 632/566 SD: ‘Enter Fenton’ has been added, as it was included in an earlier passage that was later cut 633/567 Tutti: the paused 1/4 bar is the result of a previous cut passage (shown in vs) 638/582 Tempo: both aut and msfs show q. = q., but it is hard to find any sense in the direction 648/611 Tempo: in msfs, MS has written ‘on’ 652/629 Fl.: f in aut and msfs, but p in vs, which has been preferred 663–4/673–4 Orch.: pp taken from vs 687/756 Anne: in msfs, RVW has written ‘Slow’ 688/757 Tempo: in aut, msfs, and vs, a pause over the fourth beat, but deleted in msfs by MS, with a note ‘no pause here’ 688/760 Tempo: in msfs, MS has changed Allegretto to ‘Moderato’ 690/775 Tempo: Maestoso taken from vs 695809ff Ob., Cl., Bsn., Vla.: ‘ad lib.’ are already present in aut. The parts are shown in smaller type in vs. The same applies to bb. 843ff. œ j ‰ U ˙ œ j ‰ ˙ œ j ‰ Œ Œ Perusal Score Not for Performance & œ œ ‰ Ó œ œ œ ‰ Ó œ œ To b œ œ ˙ œ j ‰ U Œ = q xiii