Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Jack Gordon

Dear Gordon

You put your finger on the chief difficulty of my second Interlude (the scene with Fenton, Anne & chorus) the other day when you pointed out that that scene would require a full stage and would thus make practical difficulties coming immediately before the Falstaff – Quickly scene – And you have probably already anticipated the idea which came to me this morning that this Interlude should be the 1^st scene of Act II – the 2^nd scene would then be the Letter scene and the rest of the act follows as printed.
Am I right in supposing that you would then be able to have a full stage for the Fenton – Anne Scene, followed by a front scene for the Letter Scene during which the stage could be set for the interior of the ‘Garter’[?]  This would have the additional advantage of letting the interview of Quickly & Falstaff follow immediately on the Letter Scene as it really should do.
You have probably thought of all this already and I only write to say that I quite approve.  It would of course involve writing some new music to take the curtain up on this new beginning of Act II – but this I think could easily be done if you wanted it.¹

Yrs

R Vaughan Williams

1. This letter appears to concern amendments to Sir John in Love (Prologue, Episode and Interlude, Catalogue of Works 1928/3a) of which the Prologue had been first written for a performance at Bristol in 1933 while the Episode and Interlude appear to have been written for a possible performance at Sadlers Wells in the 1934-35 season which did not materialise. All three were published by Oxford University Press in 1936. The year must be 1933 since VW refers to the matter in a letter to OUP received by them on 4th January 1934. See VWL1122.