Frederick
Delius (1862-1934)
Fritz Theodor Albert Delius was born in
Bradford, Yorkshire, England, on January 29, 1862. His father Julius
was a wool merchant, and although he never considered music a proper
livelihood, he encouraged its performance in the home. Young Fritz
played piano and violin quite well. But off he went to college, after
which he worked in his father's wool business for over three years as a
travelling representative, visiting Sweden, Germany and France. His
travelling around, and his frequent straying to romantic places like
Norway and the French Riviera, resulted in a cosmopolitanism (and even
an occasional anti-England bias) that was to stay with Delius for the
rest of his life.
Delius' interest in music continued to
consume his thoughts, to the neglect of his wool-biz representative
duties. His frustrated father allowed Fritz to move to Florida, USA, to
manage his orange plantation (Solano Grove, south of Jacksonville). The
young romantic Delius was to absorb the unique natural beauty along the
St. Johns River, as well as the rich harmonic vocal improvisations of
the local black slaves. He obtained a piano, met local music teacher
Thomas Ward, and immersed himself in music, again to the neglect of his
father's business. Delius was to later write: "In Florida, through
sitting and gazing at Nature, I gradually learnt the way in which I
should eventually find myself....(and) hearing (the Afro-Americans')
singing in such romantic surroundings, it was then and there that I
first felt the urge to express myself in music."
After leaving Florida in 1885, Delius
taught music lessons in Danville, Virginia for a year. But Fritz was
ready for more serious musical pursuits, and his friendship with the
Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg was instrumental in finally convincing
his father to allow him to leave Florida and pursue music studies at
the Leipzig Conservatorium from 1886-88. For the next 10 years or so,
Delius lived in Paris, befriending many artists, writers, and musicians
- indeed, this was another pivotal period in his life, in that so much
of his output was to be influenced greatly by the literature and art to
which he was exposed at this time.
Thus began an extraordinary life of constant composing, hiking through
his beloved Norwegian mountains, marriage to the artist Jelka Rosen,
settling in the French town of Grez-sur-Loing, and an ever-increasing
group of friends and admirers. (It was in 1902 that he anglicized his
name to "Frederick").
His work was temporarily suspended by
the
First World War, during which time he and Jelka had to leave Grez and
reside in England and Norway. But afterwards, composition continued
until the mid-1920s, when the symptoms of his previously-contracted
syphilis forced his retirement from composition. Ailing with pain,
blindness, and paralysis, Delius remained in Grez with his devoted and
angelic wife Jelka, and a steady stream of visitors and admirers. By
this time, Delius had composed numerous tone poems, songs, six operas,
a Mass, a Requiem, incidental music, concerti for violin/cello/piano,
violin and cello sonatas, and two string quartets, amongst other works.
The arrival in 1928 of young
ammanuensis
Eric Fenby facilitated the composition and completion of several
wonderful Delius works. This truly heroic accomplishment was portrayed
in both Fenby's book "Delius As I Knew Him" and Ken Russell's BBC film
"Song of Summer". From this period comes arguably some of the most
poignant and profound works by this unique composer. The conductor Sir
Thomas Beecham was to embrace the work of Delius, championing it
whenever he could, culminating in a 6-concert Festival of Delius' music
held in England in1929, which Delius attended with great pride and
satisfaction. He was to tell Eric: "I have only one wish as far as my
best music is concerned - I want Thomas to record it all". Delius died
in 1934.
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Delius' music is lush, impressionistic,
rhapsodic, with meanderingly elusive and very rich chromatic harmonies.
His primary concern was beauty and flow in his music. Sir Thomas
Beecham stated that Delius was "the last great apostle in our time of
romance, emotion, and beauty in music". His primary influences were
Grieg, Wagner, Chopin, Debussy, and R. Strauss. His music is instantly
recognizable and has been extremely influential to 20th-century
composers, both in the classical and jazz genres. He is best known for
his gorgeous tone poems (e.g., On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring,
Summer Night on the River, Brigg Fair, Walk to the
Paradise Garden, etc.) and his works for voice(s) and orchestra
(e.g., Sea Drift, Songs of Farewell, Songs of Sunset,
A Mass of Life,
etc.). A recommended starting place for exploring the unique world of
Delius' music is the 2-CD set "Beecham Conducts Delius" (EMI CDS 7
47509 2) - also recommended is the 2-CD set "Delius - Orchestral Works"
conducted by Sir John Barbirolli (EMI Classics ZDMB 5 65119 2).
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For a chronological listing of all of
Delius' works, go to:
Chronological
List of Delius Compositions
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For a comprehensive cross-reference guide to
Delius musical works and the literature on which they were based:
Delius
Music/Literature Cross-Reference
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For a listing of books (with brief reviews and
recommendations) and Delius societies/organizations, go to:
Delius
Books
and Societies.
For a fully-comprehensive Delius resource (links, images, soundsamples,
etc.), go to:
Bill Thompson's superb Music of Frederick
Delius website.
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The Frederick Delius Discussion Group
was launched to
facilitate discussion and news/information posting with regard to
Delius
and his music - recordings, books, performances, societies, festivals,
etc.. For more information: Delius
Discussion
Group.
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