Born in Bradford, Jan 29, 1862
Died in Grez-sur-Loing, June 10, 1934
- Frederick Delius was an English composer of German heritage.
- Delius’s father wanted him to follow his footsteps in the wool trade; this went so badly that Delius left England for Florida, to work at an orange plantation. In Florida, he found a teacher and began to study music in earnest.
- After Florida, Delius studied music in Leipzig and befriended Edvard Grieg; in 1888 he moved to Paris and eventually associated with Fauré and Ravel.
- Delius’s compositions were mostly successful outside of his homeland of England, until Sir Thomas Beecham got to know him and championed his music.
- In later life Delius was very ill and produced compositions by dictating them to Eric Fenby, a British musician who admired Delius’ music and wanted to help him.
- His music is known for rhapsodic qualities, harmonic originality and “secular spirituality” (his Grove article uses this phrase).1
Sources
- Lionel Carley, Robert Anderson, and Anthony Payne, “Delius, Frederick,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed August 29, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000049095.
Pieces
- A Song before Sunrise
- Air and Dance, for strings
- Aquarelles (Watercolors)
- Caprice and Elegy for Cello and Small Orchestra (arr. Fenby)
- Florida Suite
- Intermezzo from Fennimore and Gerda
- North Country Sketches: “Winter Landscape”
- On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
- Prelude to Irmelin
- Summer Night on the River
- Three Small Tone Poems