Scan 76
Groves Dictionary Of Music And Musicians,vol.2, 1906
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1the above-mentioned London concert in 1899. Meanwhile Delius was engaged upon an opera, 'Koanga' (1896–97), the libretto of which was drawn by C. F. Keary from G. W. Cable's novel, The Grandissimes. This was produced at the Elberfeld Stadttheater in 1904 under Fritz Cassirer. His next works were two symphonic poems: 'Life's Dance' (1898), first performed at Düsseldorf in 1904 under Buths; and 'Paris: the Song of a Great City' (1899–1900), produced by Haym at Elberfeld in the latter year, and first given in London under Thomas Beecham in 1908. From 1900–02 Delius was engaged upon two operas, 'Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe' and 'Margot la Rouge.' The first of these, which is in a prologue and three acts, was produced at the Berlin Komische Oper in 1907; and was given in English as 'A Village Romeo and Juliet,' with moderate success, during Beecham's season at Covent Garden, Feb. 22, 1910. It was revived at Covent Garden in 1920 with greater success owing partly to the fact that by that time Delius's outlook and musical style was much more familiar to English audiences, and partly to the greater care expended on its stage production. The second, in one act, has not yet (1924) been performed. To these succeeded 'Appalachia,' a tone-poem for orchestra and chorus (1903), produced at the Lower Rhine Festival under Buths in 1905, and first performed in London by Cassirer in 1907; 'Sea-Drift' (1904), a setting of a poem by Walt Whitman for baritone solo, chorus and orchestra, produced at the Tonkünstlerfest at Essen in 1906, and first performed in England at the Sheffield Festival of 1908 under Henry J. Wood; and 'A Mass of Life' (1905), an adaptation of selected passages from Nietzsche's 'Also sprach Zarathustra,' for soloists, chorus and orchestra, first given in its entirety in London under Thomas Beecham in 1909. Other productions of the same period were: 'Brigg Fair,' first given in London under Beecham in 1908, 'In a Summer Garden,' which was conducted by the composer at a Philharmonic concert in the same year, and 'A Dance Rhapsody,' which the composer conducted at the Hereford Festival of 1909. At this period Delius was engaged on the composition of another opera, 'Fennimore and Gerda,' based on J. P. Jacobsen's novel Niels Lyhne, which was not, however, performed until 1919, when it was given at Frankfort-on-Main.
3By 1910 the efforts of the conductors, both German and English, above mentioned had produced a wide recognition of the distinctive voice of Delius, yet it is noticeable that many of his important works have had to wait several years for their first performances. Particularly may be mentioned 'A Song of the High Hills' for choir (without words) and orchestra written in 1911–12, but unheard until 1920 when the Royal Philharmonic Society of London with the Philharmonic Choir produced it under Albert Coates. The 'Requiem,' nationalistic in its outlook, written during the war (1914–19) was first given by the same organisation on Mar. 23, 1922. Delius has never composed for special occasions or indeed taken any personal steps to secure performances. His works, written as the spirit moves him, have appeared in no order and the list of them indicates no special absorption in one type of music at a given time. It is exceptional to find that two concertos, that for violin and violoncello and that for violin, were completed at about the same time (1916). Even the incidental music to James Elroy Flecker's play Hassan, produced at His Majesty's Theatre, London (Sept. 1923), was written as long before its performance as 1920.
5Delius is a solitary figure in the world of modern music. It is impossible to range him in the ranks of any given school. By reason of the circumstances of his birth and upbringing he stands apart from the main currents of musical influence, and he owes but little to any of the men who have done most to guide the onward course of modern music. Although his methods are fully as advanced with regard to harmony and form as those of any of his contemporaries, he appears to have moulded them for himself, not to have inherited them from any of his predecessors. From the later developments of Wagnerianism, as represented in the works of Strauss, he is as remote as from the 'atmospheric' experiments of Debussy and his fellows. One can detect traces of the influence of Grieg in some of his earlier compositions, but it is only in the most general sense that his maturer works can be said to owe anything to the initiative of other men. But if Delius, as regards his manner, is to a great extent 'orbed in isolation,' as regards his matter, he has proved himself susceptible to influences the most varied and diverse.
7Much of Delius's music is confessedly pictorial, but it is something much more as well. It is less a painting of nature herself, than a study of the influence of nature upon the human soul. Delius views nature, not with that 'innocence of eye' which was one of the catchwords of the early impressionistic painters, but in the light of his own temperament, and it is the blending of the psychological with the pictorial element that gives to his music its peculiarly characteristic quality.
9A musician so keenly alive to external influences has naturally been profoundly affected by the varied scenes in which his life has been passed. His early fantasia-overture, 'Over the Hills and Far Away,' was obviously inspired by the moorland scenery of his native Yorkshire. His experience of the tropical luxuriance of Florida is reflected in his opera,
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