Frederick Delius

Started by tjguitar, May 14, 2007, 05:44:52 PM

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J

I see the entire concert posted on YouTube and will definitely give it a listen.  There's not many new recordings of Delius nowadays.  What we truly need is a comprehensive and definitive biography.

Roasted Swan

Quote from: J on December 03, 2023, 06:55:17 PMI see the entire concert posted on YouTube and will definitely give it a listen.  There's not many new recordings of Delius nowadays.  What we truly need is a comprehensive and definitive biography.

I hadn't seen there was a video.  My understanding (I might well be wrong) is that the CD performance is in effect a studio recording made alongside those same concert performances that are online.  Also, the online video features this slightly odd concept of the "Choir of the Earth" where singers from around the world sent in their individual performances of choral lines which have then been stitched onto this existing performance.  What you hear on the CD's does NOT include this Choir of the Earth and I'm not sure you hear much of an "extra" chorus on this video either - but I've just dipped in so perfhaps its elsewhere in the piece....?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg0aA0or6RU

Scion7

Quote from: J on December 03, 2023, 06:55:17 PMWhat we truly need is a comprehensive and definitive biography.

books on delius
M. Chop: Frederick Delius (Berlin, 1907)
H. Haym: Delius, A Mass of Life: Introduction to the Words and Music (Leipzig and Vienna, 1913; Eng. trans., 1925)
P. Heseltine: Frederick Delius (London, 1923, 2/1952/R)
R.H. Hull: Delius (London, 1928)
C. Delius: Frederick Delius: Memories of my Brother (London, 1935)
E. Fenby: Delius as I Knew him (London, 1936, 2/1948/R, 3/1966, 4/1981)
N.T. Hunt: Frederick Delius: a Concert-Goer's Introduction to the Life and Music of a Great Composer (Brighton, c1945)
A. Hutchings: Delius (London, 1948)
A.K. Holland: The Songs of Delius (London, 1951) [articles repr. from MO, lx (1936–7)]
T. Beecham: Frederick Delius (London, 1959, 2/1975)
A. Bottomley, ed.: Frederick Delius 1862–1962 (Bradford, 1962) [programme book for the Delius Centenary Festival]
Frederick Delius: Centenary Festival Exhibition (Bradford and London, 1962)
G. Jahoda: The Road to Samarkand: Frederick Delius and his Music (New York, 1969)
M. Walker and S. Upton: Frederick Delius: a Discography (London, 1969) [Delius Society Newsletter, no.24]
E. Fenby: Delius (London, 1971)
L. Carley and R. Threlfall: Delius and America (London, 1972) [exhibition catalogue]
A. Jefferson: Delius (London, 1972)
R. Lowe: Frederick Delius 1862–1934: a Catalogue of the Music Archive of the Delius Trust, London (London, 1974, 2/1986)
L. Carley: Delius: the Paris Years (London, 1975)
C. Palmer: Delius: Portrait of a Cosmopolitan (London, 1976)
C. Redwood, ed.: A Delius Companion (London, 1976, 2/1980)
F. Tomlinson: Warlock and Delius (London, 1976)
L. Carley and R. Threlfall: Delius: a Life in Pictures (London, 1977, 2/1984)
R. Threlfall: Frederick Delius (1862–1934): a Catalogue of the Compositions (London, 1977)
D. Redwood: Flecker and Delius: the Making of 'Hassan' (London, 1978)
A. Eggum and S. Biørnstad, eds.: Frederick Delius og Edvard Munch (Oslo, 1979) [exhibition catalogue; Eng. and Nor. text]
R. Lowe: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Letters in the Delius Collection of the Grainger Museum (London, 1981)
S. Banfield, ed.: The Fourth Delius Festival: 8–14 March 1982 (Keele, 1982) [programme book]
L. Carley: Delius: a Life in Letters, i: 1862–1908 (London, 1983; Cambridge, MA, 1984), ii: 1909–1934 (London and Brookfield, VT, 1988)
J.B. Smith: Frederick Delius and Edvard Munch: their Friendship and their Correspondence (Rickmansworth, 1983)
Delius 1862–1934, compiled by The Delius Trust (London, 1984, 2/1992, 3/1998) [50th anniversary brochure]
M. Cahill: Delius in Danville (Danville, VA, 1986)
R. Threlfall: Frederick Delius: a Supplementary Catalogue (London, 1986)
R. Threlfall: Frederick Delius, Complete Works: Editorial Report (London, 1990)
L. Carley: Grieg and Delius: a Chronicle of their Friendship in Letters (London, 1993)
R. Threlfall: Delius: a Musical Notebook (London, 1993)
R. Threlfall: Delius' Musical Apprenticeship (London, 1994)
D.C. Gillespie: The Search for Thomas F. Ward, Teacher of Frederick Delius (Gainesville, FL, 1996)
S. Lloyd, ed.: Fenby on Delius (London, 1996)
L. Carley, ed.: Frederick Delius: Music, Art and Literature (Aldershot, 1998)
B. Smith: Delius and Warlock: a Friendship Revealed (Oxford, 1999)
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Scion7

Additionally,

The Music of Frederick Delius_Style, Form & Ethos-Jeremy Dibble (2021)
Delius & his Music-Martin Lee-Browne, Paul Guinery (2014)
Delius and Norway-Andrew Boyle (2017)
Delius and the Sound of Place-Daniel Grimley (2018)
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Irons

You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

Scion7

When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

J

Quote from: Irons on December 04, 2023, 06:55:11 AMJ. Now you know! ;)

The early Chop and Hull books listed I was not aware of.  Still, for all that extensive literature, a "comprehensive and definitive biography" is not among it, - not even close, - and might never be done,though I would think sufficient documentation exists.  I mean something comparable to (say) Swafford's volume on Brahms, - that would be my own personal ideal.

If I was choosing just a few from these lists for the Delius lover, think I'd select Jahoda's  "Road to Samarkand", which makes no scholarly pretensions but tells an excellent story, Browne & Guinery's "Delius and his Music" which systematically covers all the compositions with insightful personal and social context for each one, and Fenby's "Delius as I Knew Him" for his intimate descriptions and reflections on the last period.

Then the Beecham, Hutchins, and Palmer works. 

Irons

Quote from: J on December 05, 2023, 11:27:56 AMThe early Chop and Hull books listed I was not aware of.  Still, for all that extensive literature, a "comprehensive and definitive biography" is not among it, - not even close, - and might never be done,though I would think sufficient documentation exists.  I mean something comparable to (say) Swafford's volume on Brahms, - that would be my own personal ideal.

If I was choosing just a few from these lists for the Delius lover, think I'd select Jahoda's  "Road to Samarkand", which makes no scholarly pretensions but tells an excellent story, Browne & Guinery's "Delius and his Music" which systematically covers all the compositions with insightful personal and social context for each one, and Fenby's "Delius as I Knew Him" for his intimate descriptions and reflections on the last period.

Then the Beecham, Hutchins, and Palmer works. 


For this composer I would always reach for Fenby.
You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

calyptorhynchus

I'm not normally a fan of Delius, but I was quite taken recently by his String Quartet.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton