Composer of the Week - Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) - The Stage Works - Shakespearean Portraits

Donald Macleod looks at Vaughan Williams's works on Elizabethan and Tudor themes as well as the chequered performance history of his operas. Was it possible that the composer may have lacked a commercial edge, given that his private wealth meant he could 'indulge his fancy' in writing operas without having to worry if they did badly at the box office? While Sir John in Love had been germinating in his mind since his stint at the RSC as a musical director in 1913, his Five Tudor Portraits were suggested to him by Elgar, who recommended Skelton's verse to him as 'pure jazz'.