DELIUS' LAST MOUNTAIN JOURNEY in Norway

 The book "Delius and Munch" by John Boulton Smith (1983) provides another perspective on Delius' life through
examining his correspondence with Edvard Munch, the Norwegian artist.

One interesting comment is on page 127:

"Dr. Eric Fenby has told the story how Delius, seated in a chair lashed to poles, was carried a seven hours' ascent up a nearby mountain to see the sunset, Grainger bearing one end and Jelka and two servants the other.  The event is still remembered in Lesjaskog, where the chair still exists."

Dr. Andrew Joseph Boyle states:
There is a good description of the trip in a letter from Jelka to a friend. It is quoted by Carley in "The Percy Grainger
Companion" (ed. Lewis Forman) on pg. 40. And the chair itself is pictured on pg. 43. Carley told me that when he was there in 1976 he tried to buy the chair from the farm, but the owners weren´t interested in selling. I tried the same on my first visit to
Lesjaskog in the summer of 1980. With just as little success. The simple chair in question is a standard "folksy" design much
replicated in country areas of the east of Norway.   It´s worth noting that according to Jelka it was impossible to get any Norwegians to help. Grainger took the front and Jelka and Delius´s female nurse brought up the rear.

Pictures (courtesy of Dr. Andrew Joseph Boyle):

The chair that was used to carry Delius up the mountain

A scene from a re-enactment of the journey (from a Norwegian television film)

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