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Frederick Delius

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#1 ·


Frederick Delius was an English composer who forged a unique version of the Impressionist musical language of the early twentieth century. He was born in Bradford, England, in 1862, and died in Grez-sur-Loing, France, in 1934. He did not come from a musical family; rather, his father owned a wool company and hoped that his son would follow a career in business. Delius, however, wanted to study music, and though his father did not approve of music as a profession, he did not discourage music-making as a pastime; thus, Delius was allowed to study the violin and the piano. To his father's dismay, he also spent much of his youth sneaking away from school to attend concerts and opera performances. When he completed school, he went to work for his father in the family business. In 1884, he left England for Florida, where he worked on a plantation as an orange grower. While in Florida, he began studying music with Thomas Ward, a musician and teacher from Jacksonville. Delius proved to be a failure as an orange grower, and began supporting himself as a musician. In 1886, his father arranged for him to spend a year and a half studying music in Germany at the Leipzig Conservatory. Though Delius would later insist that he learned very little of importance during his stay in Leipzig, it was there that he met Grieg, with whom he forged a lifelong friendship. Grieg convinced Delius' father to allow the young man to become a composer, and Delius, with the support of his formerly reluctant father, soon moved to Paris and began living the life of an artist.

Once in Paris, Delius began composing in earnest, and towards the end of the nineteenth century had already completed two operas, Irmelin and The Magic Fountain. In the first decade of the twentieth century, Delius married the painter Jelka Rosen and produced a number of important works, including the opera A Village Romeo and Juliet, the large-scale choral works Appalachia and A Mass of Life (based on the writings of Nietzsche), a piano concerto, and a number of songs and chamber pieces. His music was well-received throughout Europe, and Delius was quite successful up until World War I, when he was forced to leave France for England. Despite his renown in continental Europe, Delius was virtually unknown in his native England, and his stay there was marred by financial difficulties. After the war, Delius returned to France, where the syphilis he had contracted in Florida gradually caused him to become paralyzed and blind. Ironically, as Delius became increasingly infirm, his fame began to spread. This was due in large part to the efforts of English composer Sir Thomas Beecham, who championed Delius' music and organized a Delius Festival in 1929. Though terribly ill, Delius nonetheless still wanted to compose, and in 1928 enlisted the services of English musician Eric Fenby, to whom he dictated music (Fenby would later write a book about Delius). Towards the end of his life, Delius was made Companion of Honor by King George V of England, and was awarded an honorary degree in music by Oxford University. Before his death, Delius was able to hear his music over the radio and on record, but these accomplishments paled before the terrible deterioration of his health, and he died in seclusion.

(Article taken from All Music Guide)

What do you guys think of this very underrated composer? He was an English impressionist that produced some very outstanding and singular works in his time. He was a very unique composer.
 
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#2 ·
What do you guys think of this very underrated composer? He was an English impressionist that produced some very outstanding and singular works in his time. He was a very unique composer.
I agree about the uniqueness - he's often instantly recognisable, isn't he? And he's a composer that I've always felt I should be drawn to, and yet somehow I've never been able to get him to work for me. I think this is primarily because I never quite know what to do with the 'impressionist' style - I have the same sort of restricted response to Debussy. While I'm listening, I don't seem to have any feel for where we're going, or why. I hasten to point out that I'm talking here about limitations in my own responses - and not making any judgement on the music itself.

I can't claim to an extensive knowledge of his work - I've tended to work on the assumption that if I struggle with pieces like Brigg Fair and First Cuckoo, then there isn't much hope for me with the other stuff. That said, though, I do have some interesting historic recordings of the Harrison Sisters playing Delius: May Harrison playing the Violin Sonata no.1, with Arnold Bax on piano (how about that for a combination!!?), and Beatrice Harrison playing the Cello Sonata with Harold Craxton on piano. I know they both loved Delius's stuff, and he wrote work specifically for them, I believe. But despite my own love and admiration for Beatrice Harrison, which encourages me to keep trying, I don't make any headway. I wish it were otherwise.
 
#4 · (Edited)
The "impressionist" style is hard to get into if you're not willing to develop an ear for it. It isn't straightforward like Shostakovich, Rachmaninov, or Elgar. At least with the impressionist movement we're still dealing with tonality, but take somebody like Ravel he started using scales in his pieces like Aeolian, Phrygian, Dorian, and Mixolydian. The way he used them was very different at that time, but of course, Ravel wasn't just an impressionist, he made some other very straightforward pieces. Debussy also did some very different things in his music by using pentatonic and whole tone scales. There is also a very raw and abstract feeling to Debussy that I find very refreshing.

Delius' music is merely an extension of what was going on with Debussy and Ravel, but he blended chromatic and pentatonic type of tonalities together and also experimented with different kinds of rhythms like those found in Africa. Since he was English, there was also some of that aesthetic to his music as well.

Delius, like Debussy, Ravel, and all other composers labeled in this style of composing, is not for everyone. But I do like much of his orchestral works, they are just so beautiful in their execution of ideas and the overall atmosphere of his pieces are refreshing, especially after listening to Shostakovich or Bruckner all day!

But of all my favorite impressionist, Ravel is still my favorite. Not because of the meticulous structure found in his pieces, which was a glaringly obvious contrast to Debussy's more rawer approach, but because the most beautiful melodies that are found in his music, he is simply one of my favorite composers of all time.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I guess as we get older our tastes do change somewhat, but I've always been into the Romantic period.
So was I, for a very long time: weaned on Elgar, RVW, Sibelius; grew into Wagner and Puccini; later Massenet and his pals. So for a long time I thought I was a Late Romantic through and through. Yet these days, you're more likely to find me sighing with longing over Couperin, Charpentier, Rameau, Mondonville, or Handel - so I was completely wrong about myself. Or at least, only partly right.

I really don't want to admit it, and I never thought it would ever happen, but these days I can find Wagner a bit 'too much': sledge-hammer emotion, bullying me into acceptance of it, rather than seducing me into it. Fortunately, my love of Elgar remains unaltered.

This music to me has the most emotion or at least in my opinion it does.
I suppose that's part of the character of this big, complicated, and often hard-to-define thing called 'Romanticism'. It's no less true of painting than of music. Turner's 'Romantic' Fighting Temeraire seems to flood its canvas with emotion, while Watteau's 'Baroque' Fêtes Venitiennes may seem fanciful, frothy, artificial and contrived. But it isn't. It just doesn't wear its heart on its sleeve. The delicate subtlety of its formal relationships is doing its work quietly, all the time one is looking at it attentively, and the tears can come without warning or explanation, and without understanding from where they come.

And that is why one day I feel sure that Delius will get through: when I'm ready, even though I may not know it.
 
#14 ·
So was I, for a very long time: weaned on Elgar, RVW, Sibelius; grew into Wagner and Puccini; later Massenet and his pals. So for a long time I thought I was a Late Romantic through and through. Yet these days, you're more likely to find me sighing with longing over Couperin, Charpentier, Rameau, Mondonville, or Handel - so I was completely wrong about myself. Or at least, only partly right.

I really don't want to admit it, and I never thought it would ever happen, but these days I can find Wagner a bit 'too much': sledge-hammer emotion, bullying me into acceptance of it, rather than seducing me into it. Fortunately, my love of Elgar remains unaltered.

I suppose that's part of the character of this big, complicated, and often hard-to-define thing called 'Romanticism'. It's no less true of painting than of music. Turner's 'Romantic' Fighting Temeraire seems to flood its canvas with emotion, while Watteau's 'Baroque' Fêtes Venitiennes may seem fanciful, frothy, artificial and contrived. But it isn't. It just doesn't wear its heart on its sleeve. The delicate subtlety of its formal relationships is doing its work quietly, all the time one is looking at it attentively, and the tears can come without warning or explanation, and without understanding from where they come.

And that is why one day I feel sure that Delius will get through: when I'm ready, even though I may not know it.
I think the best music touches us regardless whether it's baroque, classicism, romantic, or 20th century.

If you find enjoyment in it and can relate to it in some way, it's only going to touch your heart eventually.

I completely wrote RVW off when I first heard him. I heard "Five Variants on Dives And Lazarus" and thought to myself "That's pretty..." but that was as far as it went, but as time went on, my appreciation and love for his music really grew, especially when I heard his "Concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra." That piece really just blew me away and still does. "Job" is also another piece that's just so beautiful to me. RVW's symphonies are also outstanding. The man has done some great work.

Elgar, on the other hand, I loved immediately. It didn't take much convincing to enjoy his music.
 
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#3 ·
To me, it's a matter of structure. On the second-to-second level the music of Delius can be beautiful and arresting, but overall it never seems to work for me. This is why for me the smaller works are the most successful. The larger works don't work for me unless the music is forced into a particular form, as it is in the Mass of Life. That work does seem to be rewarding.
 
#9 ·
I tell you who you'd love, JTech - that's Herbert Howells - if you're interested, I shall openly recommend his requiem.

Takes that beautiful mystic English music that you seem to love so much to the next level of harmonic interest and development. For once I'm not being ironic.
 
#10 ·
I tell you who you'd love, JTech - that's Herbert Howells - if you're interested, I shall openly recommend his requiem.

Takes that beautiful mystic English music that you seem to love so much to the next level of harmonic interest and development. For once I'm not being ironic.
Thanks Bach. You know I've read a lot about Howells and heard a lot of stuff about him. I'll definitely check him out.

Yeah, you're not being ironic, are you feeling okay? :D
 
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#12 ·
Yeah go lie down. You're not sounding like yourself.

I bet you and I would be friends in real life, especially since you're a composer. I'm a composer too, but I always considered myself an improviser first and foremost.

Perhaps one day I will be improvising a solo to one of your pieces? Who knows.
 
#15 ·
Resurrecting this thread....

My question is simple: why do you think people don't know much about Delius? Do you feel his music is an acquired taste? Is there something about his music that you just can't connect with?

I loved Delius when I first heard him mainly because he's coming very much from that Impressionist style as Debussy and Ravel, but to my ears he's doing his completely own thing with it. He definitely had an ear for unique harmonies.

It's a shame that he's not discussed more around here, but that can be said about many composers. Hardly nobody around here talks about Paul Dukas or Karol Szymanowski and that's a unfortunate. There are other composers besides the ones that all of us knows.

Listening to three different versions of say Delius' "In A Summer Garden" by Hickox, Barbirolli, and Mackerras is an interesting experience because I know this piece so well and like all interpretations some conductors accent or feel strongly about a certain measure that the other conductor doesn't and so forth.

That's the great thing about this music. It's open for different interpretations.
 
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#16 ·
I have only heard Delius' Two Aquarelles for string orchestra. They are, as had been stated above, quite impressionistic and full of light. However, they are not fully Delius, as he originally wrote them for choir and then had a colleague make this string arrangement. The work really stands out on the Naxos disc of English string music because, unlike the other composers on it (Britten, Holst, Vaughan Williams, Warlock) it doesn't seem to be heavily based on folk idioms or non-impressionist influences (eg. modernism like the Britten & Warlock).

Of what I've read about him here, Delius was (like his friend Grieg, to a degree) more comfortable with composing shorter, more compact pieces rather than writing in the larger symphonic forms. I think he also had this in common with Ketelbey, who was though a much lighter composer and even less willing to venture into the bigger genres. As the article says above, he did produce some larger scale works, but it for his smaller scale works that he is better known.

Very sad how he ended his days (syphilis/blindness). I remember seeing a print of a drawing of him by Augustus John in his final years. It captured his vulnerability well...
 
#24 ·
I have only heard Delius' Two Aquarelles for string orchestra. They are, as had been stated above, quite impressionistic and full of light. However, they are not fully Delius, as he originally wrote them for choir and then had a colleague make this string arrangement. The work really stands out on the Naxos disc of English string music because, unlike the other composers on it (Britten, Holst, Vaughan Williams, Warlock) it doesn't seem to be heavily based on folk idioms or non-impressionist influences (eg. modernism like the Britten & Warlock).
Delius actually borrowed ideas from and absorbed a lot of Black spiritual music while he lived in Florida. He blended African rhythms, melodies, and harmonies with more late-Romantic influences and impressionism and formed a very singular style.

I think the first step to understanding this genius' music is understanding his environment in which he wrote his music around and what music influenced him to start composing in the first place. He was a big Wagner fan, he was friends with Grieg, who ended up being an influence on him and who also gave him that push he needed to pursue composing, the Black music of America during the final years of the 1800s, and finally the music he heard when he finally settled in Paris, France. All of these factors played a role in his development as a composer.
 
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#17 ·
I would say the work that demonstrates Delius very well is [B]In A Summer Garden[/B], North Country Sketches, and [B]Florida Suite[/B].

I find they blend that Impressionistic style with more of his own personal experiences. Yes, I do agree that he seemed more comfortable composing more small pieces or shall I say symphonic poems, but like Ravel and Debussy, he was a master of color.

If you listen to him with an open ear and heart, than his music completely enraptures you with it's elegance and beauty.

He did do some large scale works like his Requiem and Mass For Life, but they don't quite live up to his symphonic pieces.

It is very sad what happened to him. He spent the last six or seven years of his life completely blind and paralyzed. He had a man stay with him the last years of his life who wrote his compositions for him. It's really a shame.
 
#18 ·
I find they blend that Impressionistic style with more of his own personal experiences. Yes, I do agree that he seemed more comfortable composing more small pieces or shall I say symphonic poems, but like Ravel and Debussy, he was a master of color.
The Master of Colour, even. I always have a feeling while listening to his music that every single note and chord is a differently coloured ray of light, or a flower - and that these also exude different fragrances. Getting synesthetico-poetic here... but that's what I mean.
 
#23 ·
Delius' religious and philosophical beliefs aside, he was a remarkable composer. What is truly astonishing to me is why isn't he listened to more? I mean he wrote some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard, but yet he gets very little recognition, especially nowadays.
 
#25 ·
What's also important with Delius is not to expect a lot of fortissimo playing, clear-cut rhythms and blaring fanfares. I think that's what many people consider soft or boring in his music, the absence of pomp and overt drama. Some say it lacks strength, because it's more flowing and blooming than pounding and sharp. I couldn't disagree more that those are weaknesses, and I think it's the originality, colour, rafinement and profound impact that are its prinicipal qualities. And who could say that Koanga lacks overt drama?
 
#26 ·
Absolutely, Lisztfreak. That's very true. He's kind of frowned upon because he didn't go for those huge, suspenseful type of climaxes and finales, but I think where he may lack, he makes up for with gorgeous beauty. I think people should really listen more closely to how everything works in his compositions. The melodies are there right in front of you, but they have a certain sadness to them. The harmonies he employed are also very interesting. I honestly feel that it's not that a conductor has trouble appreciating his music, it's that it may be tough to find the right orchestra who are equally enthusiastic.
 
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#29 ·
I was just listening to "Florida Suite" and "North Country Sketches" these are gorgeous pieces that I think newcomers to Delius' music would enjoy.

Has anyone heard these pieces? What are your impressions (no pun intended :cool:) of them?
 
#31 ·
Delius' music has become very important to me these past few months. I have realized that the more I listen to him, the more I understand him a lot better. He was kind of an enigmatic person in some regards, because his style wasn't really rooted in the Western Classical tradition, but rather an amalgamation of a lot of different kinds of music such as music he heard while he was working on an orange plantation in Florida. It was there he heard Black church music and spirituals. It was also in Florida where he received composition training. When he returned to Europe, he settled in Paris and became a permanent resident. This is where some of his best writing came about: "In A Summer Garden," "North Country Sketches," etc.

It's interesting that his music is rarely talked about on this forum as he was an important part of classical music's rich history. Nobody sounded like Delius and his music is certainly an acquired taste, but once you close off any pre-conceived notions of his style of composition, which is very impressionistic, you may have, then you can understand him better.
 
#32 ·
JTech82 said:
My question is simple: why do you think people don't know much about Delius? Do you feel his music is an acquired taste? Is there something about his music that you just can't connect with?
I just borrowed & listened to a Naxos Delius cd from the library. It has The Walk to the Paradise Garden, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, and American Rhapsody, among others.

I can hear the influence of Wagner, Debussy & Ravel, but Delius obviously had his own individual style. He was a good orchestrator, & I especially like his use of woodwinds when they are playing with the strings. But I have to say that I agree with some of Elgarian's comments above. The music, for me, suffers from 'sameness,' there seems little to distinguish the pieces from eachother. They all seem to tell the same story, if you wish. I have a similar problem with Takemitsu. It sounds like it is background music to a film, although I realise that these pieces were written before the advent of cinema & the techniques have probably been copied by film composers since then.

JTech82 said:
What's so great about Delius is on the surface it's really beautiful music, but with a deeper listening will reveal his vulnerability, a deep despair, and even sadness.
Mirror Image said:
I think people should really listen more closely to how everything works in his compositions. The melodies are there right in front of you, but they have a certain sadness to them.
These comments give me some hope that, upon repeated listenings, I will hear what you are hearing. How do you hear sadness & despair in Delius' pieces?

Mirror Image said:
I was just listening to "Florida Suite" and "North Country Sketches" these are gorgeous pieces that I think newcomers to Delius' music would enjoy.
I'll have to check these works out. I also like concertos very much, so I am interested in Delius' contributions to that genre. Any impressions?
 
#33 ·
I just borrowed & listened to a Naxos Delius cd from the library. It has The Walk to the Paradise Garden, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, and American Rhapsody, among others.

I can hear the influence of Wagner, Debussy & Ravel, but Delius obviously had his own individual style. He was a good orchestrator, & I especially like his use of woodwinds when they are playing with the strings. But I have to say that I agree with some of Elgarian's comments above. The music, for me, suffers from 'sameness,' there seems little to distinguish the pieces from eachother. They all seem to tell the same story, if you wish. I have a similar problem with Takemitsu. It sounds like it is background music to a film, although I realise that these pieces were written before the advent of cinema & the techniques have probably been copied by film composers since then.

These comments give me some hope that, upon repeated listenings, I will hear what you are hearing. How do you hear sadness & despair in Delius' pieces?

I'll have to check these works out. I also like concertos very much, so I am interested in Delius' contributions to that genre. Any impressions?
Ravel or Debussy wasn't an influence on Delius as far as I know, but I'm sure he had heard these composers music at some point, especially living in Paris. Wagner, Grieg, and Black church music he heard when he worked on an orange plantation while in Florida, was really the catalyst that got him going. He, as you may know, was good friends with Grieg, which he met when he returned from America to study in Leipzig.

His music is very unique and Wikipedia describes it as the following:

Delius's musical style is one of the most unusual in Western musical history. Characterized by a curious mixture of pentatonic figures and chromaticism, although still largely tonal, it reflects a move from the textbook post-romanticism of the years following the death of Richard Wagner (1883) to a style that was unique to Delius, blending Impressionism with the slightly older post-romanticism and northern European and African-American folk idioms. His use of luscious harmonies - mainly slow moving, and constantly evolving melody, with the frequent use of leitmotifs - is what prompted Sir Thomas Beecham to describe him as "the last great apostle of romantic beauty in music." His harmony and melody were influenced greatly by African-American music of the time, using blues harmony and melodic characteristics that would become distinctly jazz and blues 20 years later.

His best-known works include the brief orchestral piece On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring; Brigg Fair ('An English Rhapsody'); In A Summer Garden; North Country Sketches; A Mass of Life to Friedrich Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra; Florida Suite; Sea Drift, a setting of text by Walt Whitman, for baritone, chorus and orchestra; A Late Lark, setting of text by William Ernest Henley; Songs of Farewell, another setting of Whitman texts, for chorus and orchestra; Cynara and Songs of Sunset, both settings of texts by Ernest Dowson; Koanga, which as an opera with a black principal character antedates George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess by four decades and is roughly contemporaneous with Scott Joplin's Treemonisha; an atheist Requiem; four concertos: a violin concerto, a cello concerto, a double concerto for violin and cello, and a piano concerto (also somewhat Gershwinesque); the colourful, picturesque tone poem Paris: Song of a Great City; and the beautifully exuberant symphonic composition Life's Dance. Orchestral excerpts from his operas, for example La Calinda from Koanga - which originated in the Florida Suite - and The Walk to the Paradise Garden from A Village Romeo and Juliet, are also played and recorded reasonably often. There are a number of chamber works (three mature violin sonatas, a cello sonata and a string quartet).


You asked me where do I get the sadness and despair in Delius' pieces? I soon found this element in his music, which is quite prevalent in many of his compositions, to be beneath the surface of these works, especially in "In A Summer Garden," "North Country Sketches," and "Florida Suite." This feeling can also be found in his "Mass For Life" and his "Requiem." His concertos also have a certain degree of sadness.

Where I get this from is simple: reading about his life. The suffering he must have went through at many stages of life (he had syphilis as you probably know), which contributes to this feeling of emptiness. I also think there's something a lot deeper than this that happened to him perhaps while he lived in Florida. It's hard to tell really, but I can just feel that for Delius his music wasn't all "rose gardens and butterflies" if you know what I mean.

The more you read about the man, the more you come to the realization that composing was the only way he could keep his sanity as is the case with many composers. There's just something disturbing going on in Delius' music that warrants deeper listening.

About it suffering from sameness, I happily disagree. You never heard his "Dance Rhapsodies" or "Brigg Fair." Delius' music is slower, yes, than a lot of music, but don't be fooled by this, each listening will reveal another layer of truth.
 
#35 ·
I re-listened to some of the Naxos Delius disc, and yeah, his music does repay you somewhat with reppeated listenings.

I could clearly hear the Negro spiritual influence in American Rhapsody. Also, the outburst by the brass at the end playing Yankee Doodle Dandy reminded me very much of Ives. The way Delius treated the spiritual reminded me of Gershwin, and his orchestration of Copland. Undoubtedly, his music must have been known by these later composers.

I also heard some of the other pieces. Yes, there is a certain melancholy in the music, but to me it's kind of under the surface. His music seems to be almost ephemeral, here one minute but gone the next. There's a sense of the transcience of human life, and even frailty, but I don't want to get too arty farty here...
 
#36 ·
Yes, it's true that Delius does repay the listener in a big way. What's amazing about Delius is his music predates so much music and he's given very little credit, but he was a very innovative composer. It's like I have told you he was using jazz harmonies before jazz was even established as a musical form.

I think people are generally put off by his music, because of the unusual synthesis he created, which blended those desperate influences I mentioned in this thread. His music is without question an acquired taste music like Debussy or Janacek are acquired tastes, but I think there is so much to learn from what he composed.
 
#38 ·
I think it's funny that so many people are actually scared of admitting they like Delius like it's some kind of sin. Do we live in an age where beauty is no longer preferrable? I mean I enjoy Bartok and Stravinsky as much as the next person, but their sound worlds are a little too much for me after a while. I think as I get older, I'm wanting more out of music than just a "musical slugfest of dissonances."

Delius' life was anything but a picnic, but what amazes me is he was able to counter-balance that ugliness in his own life through remarkably beautiful music. I continue to be amazed by each listening at what an astonishing and inventive composer he truly was.

I have criticized a lot of composer's music on this forum, but I guess it's what we truly don't understand that we criticize or dismiss. From this point forward, I'll make it a point to not say anything terrible about another composer's music unless I've given it a chance and have spent a great deal of time with it (are you reading this Andre?).
 
#39 ·
I've just heard Delius' Piano Concerto on the radio. My first impression is that it's quite a poetic concerto, a bit like Schumann's. There's plenty of lyricism in this work, & I like how he lets the melodies just flow freely. It doesn't sound like he was too concerned with adhering to the rules of the sonata form or anything like that. I also thought that, under the surface, there was quite alot of darkness there. It would be quite easy to dismiss this work as simply a light one, but I think that would just show that one is listening superficially. The way the piano seemed to do it's own thing, quite independent of the orchestra on many occassions, reminded me of a person wandering alone in a vast landscape (whether it is hospitable or not, who knows?). Anyway, I think this work appeals to me more than the other ones by Delius I have heard, and I wouldn't mind buying it at some stage...
 
#40 ·
Yes, it's a great piece. You should hear his Violin and Cello Concertos next. Interesting thing I read somewhere that mentioned Delius not being satisfied with the Piano Concerto. I think it is a an interesting piece and a piece that shows great lyricism and individuality.

Having judged from what you've listened to so far Andre, you must check out his large scale choral work "A Mass Of Life." Truly one of the great choral works of the 20th Century. Delius, like Finzi and Britten, had an affinity for the human voice and many of his best works are choral. Also checkout "Songs of Farewell." Another outstanding piece of music.

Good to hear you've heard something that appeals to you. Delius is definitely an acquired taste. Most people think just because somebody wrote tonal music they're going to be accessible. This couldn't further from the truth. Delius' style is very unique and entirely his own I think.
 
#42 ·
Yes, he wrote a little bit for piano and harpsichord too (got this from Wikipedia):

Pensées Mélodieuses (no. 2, 1885)
Two Pieces for Piano (1889–90)
Dance for Cembalo (1919)
Five Pieces for Piano (1922–23)
Three Preludes for Piano (1923)
Zum Carnival
Badinage
Presto leggiero

I'm not interested in solo piano, so I'm sure how good these compositions are.
 
#46 ·
Delius is one of my favourite composers. His music definitely has a unique style, which I'm sure is a result of his peripatetic life. I would hesitate to call him an English composer; he was merely born in England (I was born in Germany but in no way would I consider myself German), and spent much of his life in other countries. I think I remember reading that he had a negative view of England and didn't like to be associated with it (please forgive my memory, his actual sentiments could have been better or worse). I would class him, uniquely, as an undefinable amalgamation of countries, a "citizen of the world".

Delius composed some of the most beautiful and moving music I have ever heard; of particular note are the Double Concerto for Violin and Cello (nonpareil sublimity, the zenith of opulence), and the lieder (I feel his highly poetic style of music is particularly suited to the song form, especially when combined with the lyricism of the french language), notably "La Lune Blanche". I also highly admire his Cello Concerto.

I agree with Lisztfreak that Delius also manages to illustrate a rich array of hues in his works; each note has a weight to it that is both decadently sweet and achingly melancholic. Perhaps this duality is a reflection of two elements of his life - the many whores of Paris, and the incapacitating disease which contracted from them.


Sadly some of his rarer works are very difficult to find, or haven't even been recorded within the last 50-60 years. One thing that I would like very much is to have a complete collection of his entire musical output.
 
#92 ·
Love Delius. Do not love his amanuensis!
I know you’ll never read this as you’ve been gone from TC for years, but...I don’t really understand the dislike for Eric Fenby. This man took a job that was absolutely brutal and out of goodwill and his own personal love for Delius’ music, he wanted to help him get his last works down on paper. This difficult task was no easy feat. All of the interviews I’ve read or watched with Fenby have been absolutely lovely. He was a kind-hearted man and a devoted champion of Delius. What’s there to hate? He also recorded a good bit of his music with great success. For example, I still consider his recording of Song of the High Hills to be the best performance I’ve heard on record (and I own all of them). I also feel this way about his performances of Songs of Sunset and Songs of Farewell. Such exuberant interpretations and you can hear his enthusiasm for Delius in every note. Anyway, I think he deserves a lot more credit for what he did and less nitpicking or dislike, because no one else was willing to stick his neck out for this composer quite like Fenby.
 
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