for 5 soloists, women"s chorus, and orchestra This one act opera, from a play by J.M. Synge, is the story of a family"s lament for sons lost at sea off the Donegal coast. It"s notable for the orchestral portraits of the sea and the wind, which ultimately lead to the Sinfonia Antartica, and many think it Vaughan Wililams"s finest theatrical work.