▁his ▁theatre ▁pieces ▁that ▁could ▁be ▁class ed ▁as ▁oper as ▁or ▁bal lets , ▁he ▁preferred ▁the ▁terms ▁" mas que ", ▁" rom antic ▁extra v ag anza ", ▁" play ▁set ▁to ▁music ", ▁or ▁" mor ality ". ▁ ▁In ▁a ▁ 2 0 1 3 ▁survey ▁of ▁V aug han ▁Williams ' s ▁stage ▁works , ▁Eric ▁S aylor ▁writes , ▁" With ▁the ▁possible ▁exception ▁of ▁T cha ik ov sky , ▁no ▁composer ' s ▁oper atic ▁career ▁was ▁less ▁em blem atic ▁of ▁his ▁success ▁elsewhere ." ▁Although ▁V aug han ▁Williams ▁was ▁a ▁regular ▁opera - go er , ▁enthus i astic ▁and ▁knowledge able ▁about ▁works ▁by ▁oper atic ▁master s ▁from ▁Moz art ▁to ▁Wagner ▁and ▁Ver di , ▁his ▁success ▁in ▁the ▁oper atic ▁field ▁was ▁at ▁best ▁patch y . ▁There ▁is ▁w ides p read ▁agreement ▁among ▁comment ators ▁that ▁this ▁was ▁partly ▁due ▁to ▁the ▁composer ' s ▁poor ▁choice ▁of ▁libre tt ists ▁for ▁some , ▁though ▁not ▁all , ▁of ▁his ▁oper as . ▁Another ▁problem ▁was ▁his ▁ke enn ess ▁to ▁encou rage ▁am ateurs ▁and ▁student ▁groups , ▁which ▁sometimes ▁led ▁to ▁the ▁st aging ▁of ▁his ▁oper as ▁with ▁less ▁than ▁professional ▁standards . ▁A ▁further ▁factor ▁was ▁the ▁composer ' s ▁expressed ▁preference ▁for ▁" slow , ▁long ▁table aux ", ▁which ▁t ended ▁to ▁reduce ▁dram atic ▁impact , ▁although ▁he ▁believed ▁them ▁essential , ▁as ▁" music ▁takes ▁a ▁long