At The Boar's Head

At the Boar's Head is an opera in one act by the English composer Gustav Holst, his op. 42. Holst himself described the work as "A Musical Interlude in One Act". The libretto, by the composer himself, is based on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2.

Holst devised the idea for this opera in 1924, whilst convalescing from an illness. During this period, he alternated between reading Henry IV, Part I and an edition of John Playford's The English Dancing Master, as well as folk melodies collected by Cecil Sharp and others. Holst noticed that the rhythm and metre of Shakespeare's lines matched the tunes in the Playford, as well as the tunes that Sharp and others had collected. He then decided to set a number of those melodies to a story assembled from episodes set at the Boar's Head Inn from the two parts of Henry IV. Three of the melodic passages are original, including a recitative for Prince Hal and a setting for the sonnets. Otherwise, Holst devised his score from reworking the collected folk tunes. Imogen Holst summarised the folk tunes which her father used in the score as follows:

• John Playford, The English Dancing Master: 28 country dance tunes
• Cecil Sharp, published editions: 4 morris tunes, 1 traditional country dance
• Chappell, Popular Music of the Olden Time: 3 ballads
• G.B. Gardiner, manuscript collection: 2 folksongs

The opera received its first performance at the Palace Theatre in Manchester on 3 April 1925, by the British National Opera Company, with Malcolm Sargent conducting. A performance at the Golders Green Hippodrome followed on 20 April 1925, with the following singers among the cast:

• Norman Allin (Falstaff)
• Constance Wills (Doll Tearsheet)
• Tudor Davies (Prince Hal)

Holst's opera was part of a double bill with Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. The first US performance was in February 1935 in New York City, at the MacDowell Club, conducted and directed by Sandor Harmati.

Contemporary audiences overall gave the opera a lukewarm reception. Imogen Holst said of the opera that it contained "very little relief from the onslaught of the counterpoint". Hugh Ottaway has commented that another reason for the failure of the opera was that the music did not add sufficiently to the original texts.