"WHAT HE SAID"
A COLLECTION OF QUOTES BY FREDERICK DELIUS
(Compiled by Bill Thompson)
Emotion is the flesh and the blood
of music.
1
Nothing is so wonderful as elemental
feeling; nothing is more
wonderful in
art than elemental feeling expressed intensely.
2
Music is a cry of the soul. It is
a
revelation, a thing to be reverenced. 3
Music is an outburst of the soul. It is
addressed and should appeal instantly to the soul of the listener. 4
It is only that which cannot be
expressed otherwise that is worth
expressing
in music. 5
The only way for any man to write
music is to follow the line of his
own
feelings. 6
Always stick to your likings - there
are profound reasons for them. 7
The real musical genius writes for no other purpose but to express his own soul, and in so doing finds life's greatest satisfaction and joy. 8
Give vent to the expression of your
feelings in your own way, and
you will
eventually find it. 9
Music is a way of expressing one's
feelings; and one ought to follow
one's
own inclinations entirely, otherwise one will never attain to any
intensity of
expression or emotion - the two essential things in music.
10
No composer whose chief idea is to
be brilliant or startling ever
lasts.
Cleverness counts for very little, in my opinion. 11
I believe that harmony is entirely a
matter of instinct. 12
In music, which ought to be the
expression of emotion, only that
which is
based on emotion is capable of development, and nothing based on
technique or
on anything objective will develop into anything but mere
intellectuality. 13
You can't make music out of
theories. When a man has to write about
his
methods of composition you may be sure he has nothing to say. 14
Form is nothing more than imparting
spiritual unity to one's
thought. It is
contained in the thought itself, not applied as something that already
exists. 15
(The
Negroes) showed a truly
wonderful sense of musicianship and harmonic resource in the
instinctive way in
which they treated a melody, and, hearing their singing in such
romantic
surroundings, it was then and there that I first felt the urge to
express
myself in music. 16
SOURCES:
1) A Delius Companion,
Christopher Redwood, ed. (John Calder, 1980), p. 21 (Delius as quoted
by Gerald
Cumberland)
2) Redwood, p. 22 (Delius letter to C.W. Orr)
3) Redwood, p. 38 (from "The Present Cult" essay by Delius)
4) Eric Fenby, Delius As I Knew Him (G. Bell & Sons, 1981), p. 197
5) Redwood, p. 39 (from "The Present Cult" essay by Delius)
6) Redwood, p. 42 (from "The Present Cult" essay by Delius)
7) Redwood, p. 61 (Delius letter to C.W. Orr)
8)
9) Redwood, p. 58 (Delius letter to C. W. Orr)
10) Ibid., p. 58
11) Ibid., p. 58
12) Ibid., p.58
13) Ibid., p. 61
14) Ibid., p. 61
15) Fenby, p. 200
16) Philip Jones, The American Sources of Delius' Style (Garland, 1989), p. 164