English composer Frederick Delius, (1862-1934), was famous for his masterpiece "A Mass of Life" requiem and the piece "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring." He deeply loved nature and his compositions reflected it. He belong to the late Romantic and Early 20th-century.
Early Years' Training and Influence
Frederick Delius was born on the 29th of January 1862 in Yorkshire. His father, a domineering German wool merchant, lent him money to set up a citrus-grower in Florida in the US before eventually studying music in Leipzig when he was 26 years old. There he met the Norwegian composer Grieg who greatly influenced his Romantic approach to composition.
Delius also assimilated influences of Wagner (in particular, Lohengrin) and Debussy, but found his own voice in Paris, in his music Song of a Great City. He lived mainly in France and married the German painter Jelka Rosen.
A meeting with the great English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, led the latter to conduct his masterpiece, A Mass of Life, in 1909.
The Nature Lover Composer
Frederick Delius's haunting, richly harmonious works include the opera A Village Romeo and Juliet, the choral pieces Appalachia, and Sea Drift, based on a poem by poet Walt Whitman and A Mass of Life; orchestral work In a Summer Garden; tone poems A Song of the High Hills and Summer Night on the River; and On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, considered to be his most famous work. Delius also composed chamber music and songs.
Although blind and paralyzed for the last ten years of his life, he continued to compose with the assistance of his music secretary, Eric Fenby.
In a broad historical perspective, the music of Frederick Delius belongs between the Late Romantic period spanning the end of the 19th-century and the early part of the 20th-century. Unlike other composers, his music or himself, did not really belong to any school or movement. One needs only to remember that he has given us a reminder to appreciate and enjoy nature’s beauty - its landscapes, seasons, wildlife and climates - translated through his music.
Works of Delius
- Florida Suite 1887
- Koanga, including 'La Calinda', opera 1896
- Paris, the Song of a Great City, nocturne for orchestra 1899
- A Village Romeo and Juliet, including 'Walk to the Paradise Garden', opera 1901
- Appalachia, for voices and orchestra 1902
- Sea Drift, for baritone and orchestra 1905
- A Mass of Life, for soloists, chorus and orchestra 1905
- Brigg Fair: And English Rhapsody 1907
- In a Summer Garden 1908
- Fennimore and Gerda, opera 1910
- Song of the High Hills 1911
- Summer Night on the River 1911
- On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring 1912
- Violin Concerto 1916
- A Song of summer 1930
For more information, visit the Official Frederick Delius Website
Sources:
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Edition, edited by Stanley Sadie (2000)
The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham (2002)
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