Hugh the Drover

"Hugh the Drover" (or "Love in the Stocks") is an opera in two acts by Ralph Vaughan Williams to an original English libretto by Harold Child. According to Michael Kennedy, the composer took first inspiration for the opera from this question to Bruce Richmond, editor of "The Times Literary Supplement", around 1909-1910 [Michael Kennedy, Liner notes to Hyperion recording of "Hugh the Drover". Hyperion Records, 1994.] :

"I want to set a prize fight to music. Can you find someone to make a libretto for me?"

Vaughan Williams worked on the opera for a number of years, before and after World War I. The work did not receive its first performance until 4 July 1924 at the Royal College of Music, London, in performances described as "private dress rehearsals". The "professional premiere" was at His Majesty's Theatre on 14 July 1924. Vaughan Williams continued to revise the libretto and the opera over the remainder of his life. The final version was performed in 1956 and published in 1959.

The opera has set numbers with recitative. It has been described a modern example of a ballad opera. [William Kimmel, "Vaughan Williams' Choice of Words". "Music & Letters", 19(2), 132-142 (1938).] Contemporary comment noted the use of humour and the role of the chorus in the work, in the context of developing English opera. [Maisie Radford, "A Comparative Study of Indigenous Forms of Opera". "Music & Letters", 7(2), 106-113 (1926).]

Roles

*Mary, (soprano)
*Aunt Jane, (mezzo-soprano)
*Hugh the drover, (tenor)
*John the butcher, (baritone)
*Sergeant, (baritone)
*Constable, (bass)
*A cheap-jack, (tenor)
*Shellfish seller, (bass)
*Primrose seller, (soprano)
*Showman, (baritone)
*Ballad seller, (tenor)
*Susan, (soprano)
*Nancy, (mezzo-soprano)
*William, (tenor)
*Robert, (baritone)
*Turnkey, (tenor)
*Fool, (tenor)
*Innkeeper, (baritone)

ynopsis

The opera takes place in the Cotswolds in 1812.

"Act I"
Setting: The outskirts of the town

A fair is taking place; the people of the town have turned out; vendors hawk their wares. A showman presents an effigy of Napoleon Bonaparte and rouses the crowd to a fever-pitch of patriotic zeal.

Mary, the daughter of the local constable, appears with her aunt. Her father wants to marry her to John the butcher, a crass, overbearing man whom she does not love. When John roughly takes Mary’s arm to walk through the fairgrounds with her, she resists. He threatens her in turn, but when a troop of morris men passes through, the crowd follows along and John is pulled along with them, leaving Mary alone with her aunt.

As Mary sings of her dreams of freedom, a young man appears and tells her of his life on the open road. He is Hugh the Drover, a driver of animals, who makes his living by providing horses for the army. Mary is fascinated by his words, and Hugh tells her that he was fated to love her. The two declare their love for each other and embrace.

The crowd returns and the showman organizes a prizefight, inviting all the men to challenge John the butcher. Hugh agrees to box, but only if the prize is Mary herself. He beats John in the match, only to have John spitefully accuse him of being a French spy. The crowd turns against Hugh and he is led off to the stocks.

"Act II"
Setting: The town square

It is early morning. A troop of soldiers has been sent for, to take Hugh into custody. Meanwhile, he remains a prisoner in the stocks.

Mary stealthily comes to rescue him, having stolen the key to the stocks from her father. She frees him, but before they can escape, they hear John and his comrades approaching. Each refuses to leave without the other, and they both get into the stocks (which are large enough to hold two), draping Hugh’s cloak over their bodies. When they are exposed, Mary’s father disowns her and John refuses to marry her. The soldiers arrive, and their sergeant recognizes Hugh as an old friend who once saved his life. Instead of arresting him, they acclaim him as a loyal Briton – but take John the butcher for a soldier and march off with him.

Hugh and Mary reaffirm their love. Hugh asks Mary to join him, and she at first is hesitant, as is Aunt Jane to lose her. However, Mary finally says 'yes', and she and Hugh bid the town farewell to begin their life together.

elected recordings

* HMV SLS 5162: Sheila Armstrong, Robert Tear, Helen Watts, Michael Rippon; Ambrosian Opera Chorus; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Charles Groves, conductor (first recording) [Hugh Ottaway, Review of recording of "Hugh the Drover". "Musical Times", 120(1642), 1011 (1979).]
* Hyperion (original code CDA66901/2, reissue code CDD22049): Rebecca Evans, Bonaventura Bottone, Sarah Walker, Richard van Allan, Alan Opie, Neil Jenkins, Harry Nicoll, Karl Morgan Daymond, Adrian Hutton, Julia Gooding, Wynford Evans, Jenny Saunders, Alice Coote, Lynton Atkinson, Paul Robinson, John Pearce, Paul Im Thurm, Robert Poulton; Corydon Singers; The New London Children's Choir; Corydon Orchestra; Matthew Best, conductor

References