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With its sitcom-like cast of characters centred around the corpulent, ageing and impecunious knight Sir John Falstaff (whose deluded self-belief in his irresistible attractiveness to the ladies is his undoing), The Merry Wives of Windsor has obvious operatic potential. By the time Ralph Vaughan Williams made his attempt at Shakespeare's comedy, Otto Nicolai had made a popular German language version and, in Italian, Verdi's Falstaff had become the market leader. But nothing daunted and with a fair degree of chauvinism – he dismissed Boito's libretto for Verdi as 'medicated Shakespeare’ – RVW set about composing a four-act, folk song-saturated score, setting his own faithful-to-Shakespeare libretto.

Sir John in Love premiered as 'The Fat Knight' in a 1929 student production at the Royal College of Music but didn't receive its first professional outing until 1946. Since then the number of UK opera house productions of Sir John can be counted on the fingers of one hand. So Radio 3's Vaughan Williams 150 celebrations is the perfect time for another chance to hear this 2006 archive recording made at English National Opera, with its fine ensemble cast led by baritone Andrew Shore in the title role.

Presented by Flora Willson in conversation with Kate Kennedy.

Acts 1& 2

7.40 pm
Interval

7.55 pm
Acts 3 & 4

Sir John Falstaff ..... Andrew Shore (baritone)
Mrs. Ford ….. Jean Rigby (mezzo-soprano)
Mr. Ford ….. Alastair Miles (bass)
Mrs. Page ….. Marie Mclaughlin (soprano)
Mr. Page ….. Russell Smythe (baritone)
Anne Page ….. Sarah Fox (soprano)
Fenton ….. Andrew Kennedy (tenor)
Mrs. Quickly ….. Sally Burgess (mezzo-soprano)
Host of Garter Inn ….. Nicholas Folwell (baritone)
Slender ….. Christopher Gillett (tenor)
Dr. Caius …. Robert Tear (tenor)
Sir Hugh Evans ….. Iain Paterson (bass)
Bardolph ….. Peter Kerr (tenor)
Nym ….. Paul Napier-Burrows (bass)
Pistol ….. Graeme Danby (bass)
Rugby ….. Mark Richardson (bass)
Peter Simple ….. Richard Coxon (tenor)
Shallow ….. Stuart Kale (tenor)

English National Opera Orchestra & Chorus
Oleg Caetani (conductor)