Letter: In time with a Vaughan Williams opera

In his perceptive critique of Vaughan Williams' delightful Sir John in Love, currently revived in concert, Michael White seems to imply that the opera's first professional staging did not occur until the late 1950s ("A celebration of the English spirit", Real Life, 17 November). In fact it took place at Sadlers Wells in 1946 or 1947. I was there, sitting next to the composer himself. Despite the enthusiastic response to Sir John, Vaughan Williams seemed pensive. He might have been wondering why it had taken so long for his work to reach one of our national opera houses.

Michael Graham-Dixon

Oxford