View source for Frederick Delius

{{short description|English composer (1862–1934)}}
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[[file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg|thumb|Delius, photographed in 1907]]

'''Frederick Theodore Albert Delius''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|CH}} (born '''Fritz Theodor Albert Delius'''; {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|iː|l|i|ə|s}}; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in [[Bradford]] in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce. He was sent to [[Florida]] in the United States in 1884 to manage an orange plantation. He soon neglected his managerial duties, and in 1886 returned to Europe.

Having been influenced by [[African-American music]] during his short stay in Florida, he began composing. After a brief period of formal musical study in Germany beginning in 1886, he embarked on a full-time career as a composer in Paris and then in nearby [[Grez-sur-Loing]], where he and his wife [[Jelka Rosen|Jelka]] lived for the rest of their lives, except during the [[First World War]].

Delius's first successes came in Germany, where [[Hans Haym]] and other conductors promoted his music from the late 1890s. In Delius's native Britain, his music did not make regular appearances in concert programmes until 1907, after [[Thomas Beecham]] took it up. Beecham conducted the full premiere of ''[[A Mass of Life]]'' in London in 1909 (he had premiered Part II in Germany in 1908); he staged the opera ''[[A Village Romeo and Juliet]]'' at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] in 1910; and he mounted a six-day Delius festival in London in 1929, as well as making gramophone recordings of many of the composer's works. After 1918, Delius began to suffer the effects of [[syphilis]], contracted during his earlier years in Paris. He became paralysed and blind, but completed some late compositions between 1928 and 1932 with the aid of an [[amanuensis]], [[Eric Fenby]].

The lyricism in Delius's early compositions reflected the music he had heard in America and the influences of European composers such as [[Edvard Grieg|Grieg]] and [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]. As his skills matured, he developed a style uniquely his own, characterised by his individual orchestration and his uses of [[Diatonic and chromatic|chromatic harmony]]. Delius's music has been only intermittently popular, and often subject to critical attacks. The Delius Society, formed in 1962 by his more dedicated followers, continues to promote knowledge of the composer's life and works, and sponsors the annual Delius Prize competition for young musicians.

==Life==

===Early years===
[[File:Bradford_GS.jpg|thumb|upright|Delius's school (he attended the previous building) [[Bradford Grammar School]]]]
Delius was born in [[Bradford]] in [[Yorkshire]]. He was baptised as Fritz Theodor Albert Delius,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jones |first=Philip |title=The Delius Birthplace |journal=The Musical Times |pages=990–992 |volume=120 |date=December 1979 |jstor=963502 |doi=10.2307/963502}} {{subscription}}</ref> and used the forename Fritz until he was about 40.<ref name=dnb/> He was the second of four sons – there were also ten daughters – born to Julius Delius (1822–1901) and his wife Elise Pauline, ''née'' Krönig (1838–1929).<ref name=dnbarchive>{{cite web |last=Hadley |first=Patrick |title=Delius, Frederick |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/olddnb/32775 |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography archive |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1949 |access-date=21 January 2011}} {{subscription}}</ref> Delius's parents were born in [[Bielefeld]], [[Westphalia]],{{refn|Now part of the [[Ostwestfalen-Lippe]] region of Germany.|group=n}} and Julius's family had already lived for several generations in German lands near the Rhine but was originally Dutch.{{refn|According to Sir Thomas Beecham, the Dutch Delius family had changed its patronymic from Delij or Deligh to a latinized form of the name some time in the sixteenth century, a common practice at the time.<ref name=mingledchime>Beecham (1944), p. 72</ref>|group=n}} Julius's father, Ernst Friedrich Delius, had served under [[Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher|Blücher]] in the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref name=mgobit>{{cite news |title=Frederick Delius |newspaper=[[The Manchester Guardian]] |date=11 June 1934 |page=6}}</ref> Julius moved to England to further his career as a wool merchant, and became a naturalised British subject in 1850. He married Elise in 1856.<ref name=dnb>{{cite web |last=McVeagh |first=Diana |author-link=Diana McVeagh |title=Delius, Frederick Theodor Albert (1862–1934) |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32775 |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |access-date=21 January 2011}} {{subscription}}</ref>

The Delius household was musical; famous musicians such as [[Joseph Joachim]] and [[Carlo Alfredo Piatti]] were guests, and played for the family.<ref name=dnb/> Despite his German parentage, the young Fritz was drawn to the music of [[Chopin]] and [[Grieg]] rather than the Austro-German music of [[Mozart]] and [[Beethoven]], a preference that endured all his life.<ref name=dnbarchive/> The young Delius was first taught the violin by Rudolph Bauerkeller of the [[Hallé Orchestra]], and had more advanced studies under [[George Haddock (musician)|George Haddock]] of [[Leeds]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The life and times of Frederick Delius |url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9500404.The_life_and_times_of_Frederick_Delius/ |work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus |date=30 January 2012 |access-date=9 January 2013}}</ref>

Although Delius achieved enough skill as a violinist to set up as a violin teacher in later years, his chief musical joy was to improvise at the piano, and it was a piano piece, a waltz by Chopin, that gave him his first ecstatic encounter with music.<ref name=mgobit/>{{refn|The Chopin piece was the posthumously published [[Waltz in E minor (Chopin)|Waltz in E minor]].<ref name=dnb/>|group=n}} From 1874 to 1878 he was educated at [[Bradford Grammar School]], where the singer [[John Coates (tenor)|John Coates]] was his slightly older contemporary;<ref>Beecham (1975), p. 18</ref> Delius then attended the [[London International College|International College]] at [[Isleworth]] (just west of London) between 1878 and 1880. As a pupil he was neither especially quick nor diligent,<ref name=mgobit/> but the college was conveniently close to the city for Delius to be able to attend concerts and opera.<ref name=grove>{{cite web |last1=Anderson |first1=Robert |last2=Payne |first2=Anthony |title=Delius, Frederick |url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/49095 |work=Grove Music Online |publisher=Oxford Music Online |access-date=20 October 2010}} {{subscription}}</ref>

Julius Delius assumed that his son would play a part in the family wool business, and for the next three years he tried hard to persuade him to do so. Delius's first job was as the firm's representative in [[Stroud]] in [[Gloucestershire]], where he did moderately well. After being sent in a similar capacity to [[Chemnitz]], he neglected his duties in favour of trips to the major musical centres of Germany, and musical studies with [[Hans Sitt]].<ref name=grove/> His father sent him to Sweden, where he again put his artistic interests ahead of commerce, coming under the influence of the Norwegian dramatists [[Henrik Ibsen]] and [[Gunnar Heiberg]]. Ibsen's denunciations of social conventions further alienated Delius from his commercial background.<ref name=dnb/> Delius was then sent to represent the firm in France, but he frequently absented himself from business for excursions to the [[French Riviera]].<ref name=grove/> After this, Julius Delius recognised that there was no prospect that his son would succeed in the family business, but he remained opposed to music as a profession, and instead sent him to America to manage an orange plantation.<ref name=grove/>

===Florida===
Whether the move to America was Julius's idea or his son's is unknown.{{refn|The composer [[Peter Warlock]] (real name Philip Heseltine) wrote in 1915 that the idea was Frederick's, rather than Julius's, but cites no authority for the statement.<ref name=heseltine/>|group= n}} A leading Florida property firm had branches in several English cities including Bradford; in an article on Delius's time in Florida, William Randel conjectures that either Julius Delius visited the Bradford office and conceived the notion of sending his wayward son to grow oranges in Florida, or that Fritz himself saw it as a way to escape the hated family wool business and suggested the idea to his father.<ref name=randel>{{cite magazine|title= Frederick Delius in America|last= Randel|first= William|jstor= 4247665|magazine=Virginia Magazine of History and Biography|pages=349–66|date= July 1971|volume=79}} {{subscription}}</ref> Delius was in Florida from the spring of 1884 to the autumn of 1885, living on a plantation at Solano Grove{{refn|{{Coord|29|52|29|N|81|34|34|W|type:landmark_region:US|display=inline|name=Solano Grove}} between [[Picolata, Florida|Picolata]] and [[Tocoi, Florida|Tocoi]]|group=n}} on the [[Saint Johns River]], about {{convert|35|mi|km|abbr=off}} south of [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]]. He continued to be engrossed in music, and in Jacksonville he met Thomas Ward, who became his teacher in [[counterpoint]] and [[musical composition|composition]]. Delius later said that Ward's teaching was the only useful music instruction he ever had.<ref>Beecham (1975), p. 28</ref>

[[File:St johns map.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Map of Florida's [[St. Johns River]] in 1876; Delius' house at Solano Grove lay between [[Picolata, Florida|Picolata]] and [[Tocoi, Florida|Tocoi]] on the east bank]]
Delius later liked to represent his house at Solano Grove as "a shanty", but it was a substantial cottage of four rooms, with plenty of space for Delius to entertain guests.{{refn|The building fell into decay after he left it, but it was rescued by [[Jacksonville University]] and moved to the university campus in 1961 and restored.<ref name= F257>Fenby (1981), p. 257</ref>|group= n}} Ward sometimes stayed there, as did an old Bradford friend, Charles Douglas, and Delius's brother Ernest. Protected from excessive summer heat by river breezes and a canopy of oak trees, the house was an agreeable place to live in. Delius paid little attention to the business of growing oranges, and continued to pursue his musical interests. Jacksonville had a rich, though to a European, unorthodox musical life. Randel notes that in local hotels, the African-American waiters doubled as singers, with daily vocal concerts for patrons and passers-by, giving Delius his introduction to [[Spiritual (music)|spirituals]]. Additionally, ship owners encouraged their deckhands to sing as they worked. "Delius never forgot the singing as he heard it, day or night, carried sweet and clear across the water to his verandah at Solano Grove, whenever a steam-ship passed; it is hard to imagine conditions less conducive to cultivating oranges – or more conducive to composing."<ref name=randel/>

While in Florida, Delius had his first composition published, a polka for piano called ''Zum Carnival''.<ref name=randel/> In late 1885 he left a caretaker in charge of Solano Grove and moved to [[Danville, Virginia]]. Thereafter he pursued a wholly musical career. An advertisement in the local paper announced, "Fritz Delius will begin at once giving instruction in Piano, Violin, Theory and Composition. He will give lessons at the residences of his pupils. Terms reasonable."<ref name=randel/> Delius also offered lessons in French and German. Danville had a thriving musical life, and early works of his were publicly performed there.<ref name=randel/>

===Illegitimate son===
During his time in Florida, Delius is alleged to have fathered a son with a local African-American woman named Chloe.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Webber |first=Julian Lloyd |date=5 January 2012 |title=Delius: beauty in the ear of the beholder |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jan/05/delius-fenby-julian-lloyd-webber |access-date=24 March 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Upon Delius's return to Florida some years later to sell the plantation, it was suggested that Chloe, fearing that he had come to take her son away from her, fled with the child and disappeared.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/9376787/Tamsin-Little-on-Delius-regrets-of-a-lost-composer.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/9376787/Tamsin-Little-on-Delius-regrets-of-a-lost-composer.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Tamsin (sic) Little on Delius: regrets of a lost composer|first=Ivan|last=Hewett|date=4 July 2012|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In the 1990s the violinist [[Tasmin Little]] embarked on a search for descendants of Delius's alleged love-child.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Meirion |url=https://books.google.com.au/books?id=g-FzJC-B51EC&pg=PA249&dq=Delius+love+child+black+girl&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjYmpXbr4yFAxX9oK8BHXedCqAQ6AF6BAgKEAI#v=onepage&q=Delius%20love%20child%20black%20girl&f=false |title=English Musical Renaissance, 1840-1940 |last2=Stradling |first2=R. A. |date=7 December 2001 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-5830-1 |language=en}}</ref> Little believes that his failure to track down his son had been a significant influence in the tone of his works thereafter.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 July 2012 |title=Tamsin Little on Delius: regrets of a lost composer |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/9376787/Tamsin-Little-on-Delius-regrets-of-a-lost-composer.html |access-date=24 March 2024 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}</ref>

===Leipzig and Paris===
[[File:Edvard Grieg (1888) by Elliot and Fry - 02.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Edvard Grieg]], who was a strong influence on Delius's earlier music]]
In 1886, Julius Delius finally agreed to allow his son to pursue a musical career, and paid for him to study music formally. Delius left Danville and returned to Europe via New York, where he paused briefly to give a few lessons.<ref name=dnb/> Back in Europe he enrolled at the [[Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre|conservatoire]] in [[Leipzig]], Germany. Leipzig was a major musical centre, where [[Arthur Nikisch]] and [[Gustav Mahler]] were conductors at the [[Leipzig Opera|Opera House]], and [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]] and [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]] conducted their works at the [[Leipzig Gewandhaus|Gewandhaus]].<ref name=mgobit/> At the conservatoire, Delius made little progress in his piano studies under [[Carl Reinecke]], but [[Salomon Jadassohn]] praised his hard work and grasp of counterpoint; Delius also resumed studies under Hans Sitt.<ref name=dnb/> Delius's early biographer, the composer [[Patrick Hadley]], observed that no trace of his academic tuition can be found in Delius's mature music "except in certain of the weaker passages".<ref name=dnbarchive/> Much more important to Delius's development was meeting the composer Edvard Grieg in Leipzig. Grieg, like Ward before him, recognised Delius's potential. In the spring of 1888, Sitt conducted Delius's ''[[Florida Suite]]'' for an audience of three: Grieg, [[Christian Sinding]] and the composer.{{refn|According to Hadley, the orchestral players were paid in beer.<ref name=dnbarchive/>|group= n}} Grieg and Sinding were enthusiastic and became warm supporters of Delius. At a dinner party in London in April 1888, Grieg finally convinced Julius Delius that his son's future lay in music.<ref name=dnbarchive/>

After leaving Leipzig in 1888, Delius moved to Paris where his uncle, Theodore, took him under his wing and looked after him socially and financially.<ref name=dnb/> Over the next eight years, Delius befriended many writers and artists, including [[August Strindberg]], [[Edvard Munch]] and [[Paul Gauguin]]. He mixed very little with French musicians,<ref name=dnb/> although [[Florent Schmitt]] arranged the piano scores of Delius's first two operas, ''Irmelin'' and ''The Magic Fountain'' ([[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]] later did the same for his ''[[verismo]]'' opera ''Margot la rouge'').<ref name=mgobit/> As a result, his music never became widely known in France.{{refn|Hadley, writing in 1946, commented that Delius's music remained unknown in France.<ref name=dnbarchive/> The critic [[Eric Blom]] wrote in 1929, while the composer was still alive: "Domiciled in France for nearly three decades, in Paris his name is a blank among the ordinary concert-goers and a curiosity among musicians. In cultivating music lovingly in his quiet riverside home at Grez, he fatally omitted to cultivate the musicians of the capital: the result is an artistic ostracism as rigid as only the injured vanity of Parisian art-circles can decree it."<ref>{{cite journal|author-link= Eric Blom|last= Blom|first= Eric|jstor= 738331|title= Delius and America|journal= The Musical Quarterly|date= July 1929|pages=438–47| doi = 10.1093/mq/xv.3.438|volume=XV}} {{subscription}}</ref> In 2007, the critic Michael White wrote, "European snobbery still prevailed, especially in France, where as late as the 1970s [[Nadia Boulanger]] claimed never to have heard of Delius."<ref>{{cite news|title= So Mighty, So Unmusical: How Britannia Found Its Voice |last=White|first=Michael|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/arts/music/11whit.html |newspaper= The New York Times|date= 11 February 2007|access-date=21 January 2011}}</ref>|group= n}} Delius's biographer [[Diana McVeagh]] says of these years that Delius "was found to be attractive, warm-hearted, spontaneous, and amorous". It is generally believed that during this period he contracted the [[syphilis]] that caused the collapse of his health in later years.<ref name=dnb/><ref>{{cite journal|title= Medical Histories of Prominent Composers: Recent Research and Discoveries|last= Saffle|first= Michael|first2= Jeffrey R. |last2=Saffle|jstor= 932980|journal= Acta Musicologica|pages=77–101|date= July–December 1993|volume=65|doi=10.2307/932980}}{{subscription}}</ref>

Delius's Paris years were musically productive. His symphonic poem ''Paa Vidderne'' was performed in [[Oslo|Christiania]] in 1891 and in Monte Carlo in 1894; Gunnar Heiberg commissioned Delius to provide [[incidental music]] for his play ''Folkeraadet'' in 1897; and Delius's second opera, ''The Magic Fountain'', was accepted for staging at [[Prague]], but the project fell through for unknown reasons.<ref>Beecham (1975), pp. 71–73</ref> Other works of the period were the fantasy overture ''Over the Hills and Far Away'' (1895–1897) and orchestral variations, ''Appalachia: Variations on an Old Slave Song'' (1896, rewritten in 1904 for voices and orchestra).<ref name=grove/>

===First successes===
[[File:Delius-by-Krohg-1897.jpg|thumb|left|Delius in 1897 by [[Christian Krohg]]]]
In 1897, Delius met the German artist [[Jelka Rosen]], who later became his wife. She was a professional painter, a friend of [[Auguste Rodin]], and a regular exhibitor at the [[Salon des Indépendants]].<ref name= dnb/> Jelka quickly declared her admiration for the young composer's music,<ref>Beecham (1975), pp. 77–78</ref> and the couple were drawn closer together by a shared passion for the works of the German philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] and the music of Grieg.<ref name= dnb/> Jelka bought a house in [[Grez-sur-Loing]], a village {{convert|40|mi|km}} outside Paris on the edge of [[Forest of Fontainebleau|Fontainebleau]].<ref name=dnb/> Delius visited her there, and after a brief return visit to Florida, he moved in with her.

In 1903 they married, and, apart from a short period when the area was threatened by the advancing German army during the [[First World War]], Delius lived in Grez for the rest of his life.<ref name=dnb/> The marriage was not conventional: Jelka was, at first, the principal earner; there were no children; and Delius was not a faithful husband. Jelka was often distressed by his affairs, but her devotion did not waver.<ref name=dnb/>

In the same year, Delius began a fruitful association with German supporters of his music, the conductors [[Hans Haym]], [[Fritz Cassirer]] and [[Alfred Hertz]] at [[Elberfeld]], and [[Julius Buths]] at [[Düsseldorf]].<ref name=dnbarchive/> Haym conducted ''Over the Hills and Far Away'', which he gave under its German title ''Über die Berge in die Ferne''{{refn|Literally "Over the mountains in the distance"|group=n}} on 13 November 1897, believed to be the first time Delius's music was heard in Germany.<ref name=carley>{{cite journal|title= Hans Haym: Delius's Prophet and Pioneer|last= Carley|first= Lionel|jstor= 734166|journal= Music and Letters|pages=1–24|date= January 1973|volume=54|doi=10.1093/ml/liv.1.1}} {{subscription}}</ref> In 1899 Hertz gave a Delius concert in [[St. James's Hall]] in London, which included ''Over the Hills and Far Away'', a choral piece, ''Mitternachtslied'', and excerpts from the opera ''[[Koanga]]''. This occasion was an unusual opportunity for an unknown composer at a time when any sort of orchestral concert was a rare event in London.<ref>Beecham (1975), p. 104</ref> In spite of encouraging reviews, Delius's orchestral music was not heard again in an English concert hall until 1907.<ref name=carley/>

The orchestral work ''[[Paris: The Song of a Great City]]'' was composed in 1899 and dedicated to Haym. He gave the premiere at Elberfeld on 14 December 1901. It provoked some critical comment from the local newspaper, which complained that the composer put his listeners on a bus and shuttled them from one Parisian night-spot to another, "but he does not let us hear the tuneful gypsy melodies in the boulevard cafés, always just cymbals and tambourine and mostly from two cabarets at the same time at that".<ref name=carley/> The work was given under [[Ferruccio Busoni|Busoni]] in Berlin less than a year later.<ref name=carley/>

Most of Delius's premieres of this period were given by Haym and his fellow German conductors. In 1904 Cassirer premiered ''Koanga'', and in the same year the Piano Concerto was given in Elberfeld, and ''Lebenstanz'' in Düsseldorf. ''Appalachia'' (choral orchestral variations on an old slave song, also inspired by Florida) followed there in 1905. ''[[Sea Drift (Delius)|Sea Drift]]'' (a cantata with words taken from a poem by [[Walt Whitman]]) was premiered at [[Essen]] in 1906, and the opera ''[[A Village Romeo and Juliet]]'' in Berlin in 1907.<ref name=dnb/> Delius's reputation in Germany remained high until the First World War; in 1910 his rhapsody ''[[Brigg Fair]]'' was performed by 36 different German orchestras.<ref name=dnbarchive/><ref>Hull, p. 6</ref>

===Growing reputation===
[[File:Beecham-1910-crop.jpg|thumb|right|[[Thomas Beecham]] in 1910]]
By 1907, thanks to performances of his works in many German cities, Delius was, as [[Thomas Beecham]] said, "floating safely on a wave of prosperity which increased as the year went on".<ref name="Beecham 1975, p. 155">Beecham (1975), p. 155</ref> [[Henry Wood]] premiered the revised version of Delius's Piano Concerto that year. Also in 1907, Cassirer conducted some concerts in London, at one of which, with Beecham's [[New Symphony Orchestra (London)|New Symphony Orchestra]], he presented ''Appalachia''. Beecham, who had until then heard not a note of Delius's music, expressed his "wonderment" and became a lifelong devotee of the composer's works.<ref>Beecham (1944), pp. 63–64</ref> In January 1908, he conducted the British premiere of ''Paris: The Song of a Great City''.<ref name=greene>{{cite thesis |last= Greene|first= Mary E.|url= http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1247&context=oa_theses&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.au%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Djelka%2BH%25C3%25A9l%25C3%25A8ne%2BSophie%2BEmilie%2BRosen%2Bbelgrade%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D8%26ved%3D0CFIQFjAH%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fscholarlyrepository.miami.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1247%2526context%253Doa_theses%26ei%3DpSUIUaLEKYWPiAe1roC4Dg%26usg%3DAFQjCNHSFinGSdZ8_uLt5PjLIZK37i_RQw%26bvm%3Dbv.41524429%2Cbs.1%2Cd.dGY#search=%22jelka%20H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne%20Sophie%20Emilie%20Rosen%20belgrade%22 |type= Master of Music |date= May 2011 |title= Before the Champions: Frederick Delius' Florida Suite for Orchestra |page =33 |publisher=University of Miami }}</ref> Later that year, Beecham introduced ''Brigg Fair'' to London audiences,<ref>{{cite journal|title= New Symphony Orchestra|jstor= 902996|journal= The Musical Times|page=324|date= May 1908|volume=49}} {{subscription}}</ref> and [[Enrique Fernández Arbós]] presented ''Lebenstanz''.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Mr. Delius's Dance of Life |jstor=904923 |journal= The Musical Times|page=111|date= February 1908 |volume=49}} {{subscription}}</ref>

In 1909, Beecham conducted the first complete performance of ''[[A Mass of Life]]'', the largest and most ambitious of Delius's concert works, written for four soloists, a double choir, and a large orchestra.<ref name=dnb/> Although the work was based on the same [[Thus Spoke Zarathustra|Nietzsche work]] as Richard Strauss's ''[[Also sprach Zarathustra (Strauss)|Also sprach Zarathustra]]'', Delius distanced himself from the Strauss work, which he considered a complete failure.<ref name=carley/> Nor was Strauss an admirer of Delius, as he was of [[Edward Elgar|Elgar]]; he told Delius that he did not wish to conduct ''Paris'' – "the symphonic development seems to me to be too scant, and it seems moreover to be an imitation of [[Gustave Charpentier|Charpentier]]".<ref name=butler>{{cite journal|title= Review|last= Butler|first= Christopher|jstor= 735537 |journal= Music and Letters|pages=78–80|date= January 1986|volume=67|doi=10.1093/ml/67.1.78}} {{subscription}}</ref>

In the early years of the 20th century, Delius composed some of his most popular works, including ''Brigg Fair'' (1907), ''[[In a Summer Garden]]'' (1908, revised 1911), ''[[Summer Night on the River]]'' (1911), and ''[[On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring]]'' (1912), of which McVeagh comments, "These exquisite idylls, for all their composer's German descent and French domicile, spell 'England' for most listeners."<ref name=dnb/> In 1910, Beecham put on an opera season at the [[Royal Opera House]] in London. Having access to the Beecham family's considerable fortune, he ignored commercial considerations and programmed several works of limited box-office appeal, including ''A Village Romeo and Juliet''.{{refn|Other operas in this season included Richard Strauss's ''[[Elektra (opera)|Elektra]]'', which made a profit, and [[Ethel Smyth]]'s ''[[The Wreckers (opera)|The Wreckers]]'' and [[Arthur Sullivan]]'s ''[[Ivanhoe (opera)|Ivanhoe]],'' which did not.<ref>Reid, p. 107</ref>|group= n}} The reviews were polite, but ''[[The Times]]'', having praised the orchestral aspects of the score, commented, "Mr. Delius seems to have remarkably little sense of dramatic writing for the voice".<ref>{{cite news|title= Music, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, 'The Village Romeo And Juliet'|newspaper= The Times|page=13|date= 23 February 1910}}</ref> Other reviewers agreed that the score contained passages of great beauty, but was ineffective as drama.<ref>See, for example, "Mr. Delius's Opera", ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'', 23 February 1910, p. 14; and "The Beecham Opera Season", ''[[The Observer]]'', 27 February 1910, p. 9</ref>

===War and post-war===
During the First World War, Delius and Jelka moved from Grez to avoid the hostilities. They took up temporary residence in the south of England, where Delius continued to compose. In 1915, ''[[The Musical Times]]'' published a profile of him by his admirer, the composer [[Peter Warlock|Philip Heseltine]] (known as "Peter Warlock"), who commented:
<blockquote>
[H]e holds no official position in the musical life of the country [i.e. Britain]; he does not teach in any of the academies, he is not even an honorary professor or doctor of music. He never gives concerts or makes propaganda for his music; he never conducts an orchestra, or plays an instrument in public (even [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]] played the tambourine!)<ref name=heseltine/>
</blockquote>

Heseltine depicted Delius as a composer uncompromisingly focused on his own music. "There can be no superficial view of Delius's music: either one feels it in the very depths of one's being, or not at all. This may be a part of the reason why one so seldom hears a really first-rate performance of Delius's work, save under Mr. Beecham".<ref name="Some Notes">{{cite journal|title= Some Notes on Delius and His Music|last= Heseltine|first= Philip|jstor= 909510|journal= The Musical Times|pages=137–42|date= March 1915|volume=56|doi=10.2307/909510|url= https://zenodo.org/record/1450006/files/article.pdf}} {{subscription}}</ref>{{refn|Heseltine first met Delius in 1911 when, as a schoolboy, he attended a Beecham concert of Delius's works. From this meeting a friendship and correspondence developed that lasted for the remainder of Heseltine's life (he died in 1930). Delius was a profound influence on Heseltine's own early compositions.<ref name= Warlock>{{cite dictionary|last= Smith|first= Barry|title= Warlock, Peter [Heseltine, Philip (Arnold)]|url= http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/29912?q=Peter+Warlock&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit|dictionary= Oxford Music Online|access-date= 3 September 2012}} {{subscription}}</ref>|group= n}}
[[File:Flecker Cambridge crop.jpg|thumb|upright|[[James Elroy Flecker]] (1884–1915). Delius provided incidental music to Flecker's ''Hassan'', premiered in 1923.]]
One of Delius's major wartime works was his ''[[Requiem (Delius)|Requiem]]'', dedicated "to the memory of all young Artists fallen in the war". The work owes nothing to the traditional Christian liturgy, eschewing notions of an afterlife and celebrating instead a pantheistic renewal of Nature. When [[Albert Coates (musician)|Albert Coates]] presented the work in London in 1922, its atheism offended some believers. This attitude persisted long after Delius's death, as the ''Requiem'' did not receive another performance in the UK until 1965, and by 1980 had still had only seven performances world-wide. In Germany, the regular presentation of Delius's works ceased at the outbreak of the war, and never resumed.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Frederick Delius|last= Cardus|first= Neville|journal= The Guardian|page=8|date= 25 January 1962}}</ref> Nevertheless, his standing with some continental musicians was unaffected; Beecham records that [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]] and [[Zoltán Kodály|Kodály]] were admirers of Delius, and the former grew into the habit of sending his compositions to Delius for comment and tried to interest him in both Hungarian and Romanian popular music.<ref>Beecham (1975), p. 191</ref>

By the end of the war, Delius and Jelka had returned to Grez. He had begun to show symptoms of syphilis that he had probably contracted in the 1880s. He took treatment at clinics across Europe, but by 1922 he was walking with two sticks, and by 1928 he was paralysed and blind. There was no return to the prosperity of pre-war years: Delius's medical treatment was an additional expense, his blindness prevented him from composing, and his royalties were curtailed by the lack of continental performances of his music. Beecham gave discreet financial help, and the composer and musical benefactor [[H. Balfour Gardiner]] bought the house at Grez and allowed Delius and Jelka to live there rent-free.<ref name=dnb/> <!-- SERIOUS CITEVAR PROBLEM HERE; PAGE NUMBER LACKING; AND IN WRONG POSITION CHRONOLOGICALLY In 1929, Delius was appointed a [[Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour]], which gave him great pleasure. By now too frail to travel to London to receive it in person, he received the insignia from [[Nevile Henderson|Sir Nevile Henderson]] on 21 July.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jenkins |first=Lyndon |title=While Spring and Summer Sang: Thomas Beecham and the Music of Frederick Delius |publisher=[[Ashgate]] |year=2005 |location=Aldershot}}</ref>-->

Beecham was temporarily absent from the concert hall and opera house between 1920 and 1923, but Coates gave the first performance of ''[[A Song of the High Hills]]'' in 1920, and Henry Wood and [[Hamilton Harty]] programmed Delius's music with the [[Queen's Hall]] and Hallé Orchestras.<ref name=dnbarchive/> Wood gave the British première of the Double Concerto for violin and cello in 1920, and of ''A Song Before Sunrise'' and the ''Dance Rhapsody No. 2'' in 1923.<ref>Jacobs, p. 447</ref> Delius had a financial and artistic success with his incidental music for [[James Elroy Flecker]]'s play ''Hassan'' (1923), with 281 performances at [[Her Majesty's Theatre|His Majesty's Theatre]].<ref name=grove/> With Beecham's return the composer became, in Hadley's words, "what his most fervent admirers had never envisaged – a genuine popular success". Hadley cites, in particular, the six-day Delius festival at the Queen's Hall in 1929 under Beecham's general direction, in the presence of the composer in his [[bath-chair]]. "[T]he cream of his orchestral output with and without soli and chorus was included", and the hall was filled.<ref name=dnbarchive/> Beecham was assisted in the organisation of the festival by Philip Heseltine, who wrote the detailed programme notes for three of the six concerts.<ref name= Warlock/><ref>{{cite journal|title= The Published Writings of Philip Heseltine on Delius|url= http://www.delius.org.uk/images/journals/pdfs/journal94t.pdf|journal= The Delius Society Journal|issue= 94|date=Autumn 1987|access-date= 5 September 2012|archive-date= 23 September 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150923213430/http://www.delius.org.uk/images/journals/pdfs/journal94t.pdf|url-status= dead}}</ref> The festival included chamber music and songs, an excerpt from ''A Village Romeo and Juliet'', the Piano and Violin Concertos, and premières of ''Cynara'' and ''A Late Lark'', concluding with ''A Mass of Life''.<ref name=grove/>
The ''[[The Guardian|Manchester Guardian]]''{{'s}} music critic, [[Neville Cardus]], met Delius during the festival. He describes the wreck of the composer's physique, yet "there was nothing pitiable about him&nbsp;... his face was strong and disdainful, every line graven on it by intrepid living". Delius, Cardus says, spoke with a noticeable Yorkshire accent as he dismissed most English music as paper music that should never be heard, written by people "afraid of their feelin's".<ref>Cardus, p. 254</ref>

===Last years===
A young English admirer, [[Eric Fenby]], learning that Delius was trying to compose by dictating to Jelka, volunteered his services as an unpaid amanuensis. For five years, from 1928, he worked with Delius, taking down his new compositions from dictation, and helping him revise earlier works. Together they produced ''Cynara'' (a setting of words by [[Ernest Dowson]]), ''A Late Lark'' (a setting of [[William Ernest Henley|W. E. Henley]]), ''[[A Song of Summer]]'', a third violin sonata, the ''Irmelin'' prelude, and ''Idyll'' (1932), which reused music from Delius's short opera ''Margot la rouge'', composed thirty years earlier. McVeagh rates their greatest joint production as ''The Songs of Farewell'', settings of Whitman poems for chorus and orchestra, which were dedicated to Jelka.<ref name=dnb/> Other works produced in this period include a ''Caprice and Elegy'' for cello and orchestra written for the distinguished British cellist [[Beatrice Harrison]], and a short orchestral piece, ''Fantastic Dance'', which Delius dedicated to Fenby.<ref name= F88/> The violin sonata incorporates the first, incomprehensible, melody that Delius had attempted to dictate to Fenby before their ''modus operandi'' had been worked out. Fenby's initial failure to pick up the tune led Delius to the view that "[the] boy is no good&nbsp;... he cannot even take down a simple melody".<ref>Fenby (1981), pp. 31–33</ref>{{refn|A complete list of the works created or revised during the Delius–Fenby collaboration is provided in Fenby (1981), pp. 261–62.|group= n}} Fenby later wrote a book about his experiences of working with Delius. Among other details, Fenby reveals Delius's love of cricket. The pair followed the [[Australian cricket team in England in 1930|1930 Test series]] between England and Australia with great interest, and regaled a bemused Jelka with accounts of their boyhood exploits in the game.<ref>Fenby (1981), pp. 102–03</ref> In 1932, Delius was awarded the Freedom of the City of Bradford.<ref name="WhatDoTheyKnow">{{Whatdotheyknow.com|https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/freedom_of_the_city_list_3#incoming-2135991|Email from Bradford City Council on 29 September 2022|891779|Bradford City Council|29 September 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Delius grave.jpg|thumb|alt=A slate headstone in a grassy churchyard|Delius's grave at St Peter's Church in [[Limpsfield]], Surrey, photographed in 2013]]
In 1933, the year before both composers died, Elgar, who had flown to Paris to conduct a performance of his [[Violin Concerto (Elgar)|Violin Concerto]], visited Delius at Grez. Delius was not on the whole an admirer of Elgar's music,{{refn| Delius said of Elgar's [[Symphony No. 1 (Elgar)|First Symphony]]: "It starts with a theme out of the ''[[Parsifal (opera)|Parcival]]'' Prelude a little altered. The slow movement is a theme out of [[Requiem (Verdi)|Verdi's Requiem]] a little altered. The rest is [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]] and [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]], thick and without the slightest orchestral charm – gray – and they all shout 'Masterwork'!"<ref name=butler/> He also called ''[[The Dream of Gerontius]]'' nauseating; he admired Elgar's ''[[Falstaff (Elgar)|Falstaff]]'', however.<ref name=dnb/>|group= n}} but the two men took to each other, and there followed a warm correspondence until Elgar's death in February 1934.<ref name=grove/> Elgar described Delius as "a poet and a visionary".<ref>Redwood, p. 94, ''quoted'' in McVeagh, ODNB</ref>

Delius died at Grez on 10 June 1934, aged 72. He had wished to be buried in his own garden, but the French authorities forbade it. His alternative wish, despite his atheism, was to be buried "in some country churchyard in the south of England, where people could place wild flowers".<ref name=grove/> At this time Jelka was too ill to make the journey across the [[English Channel|Channel]], and Delius was temporarily buried in the local cemetery at Grez.<ref>Fenby (1981), p. 227</ref>

By May 1935, Jelka felt she had enough strength to undertake the crossing to attend a reburial in England. She chose [[Church of St Peter, Limpsfield|St Peter's]] church, [[Limpsfield]], [[Surrey]] as the site for the grave.{{refn|According to Beatrice Harrison's sister Margaret, there was some question whether Anglican churches would be willing to accept the body of a professed atheist for burial. The Harrison family, who lived nearby, secured the agreement of the vicar of Limpsfield, and Jelka chose St Peter's churchyard for her husband's reinterment.<ref>Harrison, Margaret. "[http://www.delius.org.uk/journals/uploads/journal87.pdf Margaret Harrison remembers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802140507/http://www.delius.org.uk/journals/uploads/journal87.pdf |date=2 August 2019 }}", The Delius Society Journal, Autumn 1985, No. 87, p. 18</ref>|group= n}} She sailed to England for the service, but became ill ''en route'', and on arrival was taken to hospital in Dover and then Kensington in London, missing the reburial on 26 May.<ref>Fenby (1981), p. 230</ref> The ceremony took place at midnight; the headline in the ''Sunday Dispatch'' was "Sixty People Under Flickering Lamps In A Surrey Churchyard".<ref>Fenby (1981), pp. 106–07 (Fig. 16)</ref> The vicar offered a prayer: "May the souls of the departed through the mercy of God rest in peace."<ref>Fenby (1981), pp. 233–34</ref> Jelka died two days later, on 28 May. She was buried in the same grave as Delius.<ref name=dnb/>

==Music==
{{For|a complete listing of Delius's works|List of compositions by Frederick Delius}}

===Influences===
[[File:Jubilee singers image-London Ill-450wide.jpg|thumb|The [[Fisk Jubilee Singers]], portrayed during a European tour in the 1870s]]
After the 1929 London festival ''The Times'' music critic wrote that Delius "belongs to no school, follows no tradition and is like no other composer in the form, content or style of his music".<ref name= Times29>{{cite news|title= The Delius Festival: A retrospect|page=10|date= 2 November 1929|newspaper= The Times}}</ref> This "extremely individual and personal idiom"<ref>{{cite news|title= The Delius Festival: First Concert at Queen's Hall|page=16|newspaper= The Times|date= 14 October 1929}}</ref> was, however, the product of a long musical apprenticeship, during which the composer absorbed many influences. The earliest significant experiences in his artistic development came, Delius later asserted, from the sounds of the plantation songs carried down the river to him at Solano Grove. It was this singing, he told Fenby, that first gave him the urge to express himself in music;<ref>Palmer, p. 6</ref> thus, writes Fenby, many of Delius's early works are "redolent of Negro hymnology and folk-song", a sound "not heard before in the orchestra, and seldom since".<ref>Fenby (1971), p. 21</ref> Delius's familiarity with "black" music possibly predates his American adventures; during the 1870s a popular singing group, the [[Fisk Jubilee Singers]] from [[Nashville, Tennessee]], toured Britain and Europe, giving several well-received concerts in Bradford. When Delius wrote to Elgar in 1933 of the "beautiful four-part harmonies" of the black plantation workers, he may have been unconsciously alluding to the spirituals sung by the Fisk group.<ref>{{cite journal|last= Jones|first= Philip|title= Delius and America: a new perspective|jstor=963053|journal= The Musical Times|date= December 1984|pages=701–02|volume=125|doi=10.2307/963053}} {{subscription}}</ref>

At [[Leipzig]], Delius became a fervent disciple of [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], whose technique of continuous music he sought to master. An ability to construct long musical paragraphs is, according to the Delius scholar [[Christopher Palmer]], Delius's lasting debt to Wagner, from whom he also acquired a knowledge of chromatic harmonic technique, "an endlessly proliferating sensuousness of sound".<ref>Palmer, pp. 95–96</ref> Grieg, however, was perhaps the composer who influenced him more than any other. The Norwegian composer, like Delius, found his primary inspiration in nature and in folk-melodies, and was the stimulus for the Norwegian flavour that characterises much of Delius's early music.<ref>Palmer, pp. 46–50</ref> The music writer [[Anthony Payne]] observes that Grieg's "airy texture and non-developing use of chromaticism showed [Delius] how to lighten the Wagnerian load".<ref name= grove/> Early in his career Delius drew inspiration from Chopin, later from his own contemporaries Ravel and Richard Strauss,<ref>Fenby (1971), p. 82, Palmer, p. 98</ref> and from the much younger [[Percy Grainger]], who first brought the tune of ''Brigg Fair'' to Delius's notice.<ref>Palmer, pp. 89–90</ref>

According to Palmer, it is arguable that Delius gained his sense of direction as a composer from his French contemporary [[Claude Debussy]].<ref>{{cite journal|last= Palmer|first= Christopher|title= Delius, Vaughan Williams and Debussy|url= http://ml.oxfordjournals.org/content/L/4/475.full.pdf|journal= Music and Letters|year= 1969|pages=475–80|jstor=73162|doi=10.1093/ml/L.4.475}} {{subscription}}</ref> Palmer identifies aesthetic similarities between the two, and points to several parallel characteristics and enthusiasms. Both were inspired early in their careers by Grieg, both admired Chopin; they are also linked in their musical depictions of the sea, and in their uses of the wordless voice. The opening of ''Brigg Fair'' is described by Palmer as "perhaps the most Debussian moment in Delius".<ref name= P138/> Debussy, in a review of Delius's ''Two Danish Songs'' for soprano and orchestra given in a concert on 16 March 1901, wrote: "They are very sweet, very pale – music to soothe convalescents in well-to-do neighbourhoods".<ref>Debussy, Claude, ed. Richard Langham Smith (1988): ''Debussy on Music'' New York, Cornell University Press {{ISBN|0-436-12559-5}} pp. 16–17</ref> Delius admired the French composer's orchestration, but thought his works lacking in melody<ref name= P138>Palmer, pp. 138–41</ref> – the latter a comment frequently directed against Delius's own music.<ref name= Stylistic/><ref name= Cardus/> Fenby, however, draws attention to Delius's "flights of melodic poetic-prose",<ref>Fenby (1971), p. 75</ref> while conceding that the composer was contemptuous of public taste, of "giving the public what they wanted" in the form of pretty tunes.<ref>Fenby (1981), pp. 188–89</ref>

===Stylistic development===
From the conventional forms of his early music, over the course of his creative career Delius developed a style easily recognisable and "unlike the work of any other", according to Payne.<ref name = grove/> As he gradually found his voice, Delius replaced the methods developed during his creative infancy with a more mature style in which Payne discerns "an increasing richness of chord structure, bearing with it its own subtle means of contrast and development".<ref name= Stylistic/> [[Hubert J. Foss|Hubert Foss]], the [[Oxford University Press]]'s musical editor during the 1920s and 1930s, writes that rather than creating his music from the known possibilities of instruments, Delius "thought the sounds first" and then sought the means for producing these particular sounds.<ref name= Foss>{{cite journal|last= Foss|first= Hubert|title= The Instrumental Music of Frederick Delius|jstor= 943987|journal= Tempo|publisher= Cambridge University Press|number= 26|date= Winter 1952–53|pages=30–37}} {{subscription}}</ref> Delius's full stylistic maturity dates from around 1907, when he began to write the series of works on which his main reputation rests.<ref name = Stylistic>{{cite journal|author-link= Anthony Payne|last= Payne| first= Anthony|title= Delius's Stylistic Development|url= http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=6252204|journal= Tempo|publisher= Cambridge University Press|number= 60|date= Winter 1961–62|pages=6–16|access-date=23 January 2011}} {{subscription}}</ref> In the more mature works Foss observes Delius's increasing rejection of conventional forms such as [[sonata]] or concerto; Delius's music, he comments, is "certainly not architectural; nearer to painting, especially to the ''[[Pointillism|pointilliste]]'' style of design".<ref name= Foss/> The painting analogy is echoed by Cardus.<ref name= Cardus>{{cite journal|author-link= Neville Cardus|last= Cardus|first= Neville|title= Frederick Delius|journal= The Guardian|page=8|date= 25 January 1962}}</ref>

====Towards recognition====
Delius's first orchestral compositions were, in Christopher Palmer's words, the work of "an insipid if charming water-colourist".<ref>Palmer, p. 5</ref> The ''Florida Suite'' (1887, revised 1889) is "an expertly crafted synthesis of Grieg and Negroid Americana",<ref>Palmer, p. 7</ref> while Delius's first opera ''Irmelin'' (1890–1892) lacks any identifiably Delian passages. Its harmony and modulation are conventional, and the work bears the clear fingerprints of Wagner and Grieg. Payne asserts that none of the works prior to 1895 are of lasting interest. The first noticeable stylistic advance is evident in ''[[Koanga]]'' (1895–1897), with richer chords and faster harmonic rhythms; here we find Delius "feeling his way towards the vein that he was soon to tap so surely".<ref name= Stylistic/> In ''Paris'' (1899), the orchestration owes a debt to [[Richard Strauss]]; its passages of quiet beauty, says Payne, nevertheless lack the deep personal involvement of the later works. ''Paris'', the final work of Delius's apprentice years, is described by Foss as "one of the most complete, if not the greatest, of Delius's musical paintings".<ref name= Foss/>
[[File:Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe 1.jpg|thumb|left|Woodcut illustration (1919) of the young lovers from [[Gottfried Keller]]'s original story, which became Delius's opera ''A Village Romeo and Juliet'']]
In each of the major works written in the years after ''Paris'', Delius combined orchestral and vocal forces. The first of these works was ''[[A Village Romeo and Juliet]]'', a music drama which departs from the normal operatic structure of acts and scenes and tells its story of tragic love in a series of tableaux. Musically it shows a considerable advance in style from the early operas of the apprentice years. The entr'acte known as "The Walk to the Paradise Garden" is described by Heseltine as showing "all the tragic beauty of mortality&nbsp;... concentrated and poured forth in music of overwhelming, almost intolerable poignancy".<ref name= heseltine>{{cite journal|author-link= Peter Warlock|last= Heseltine|first= Philip|title= Some Notes on Delius and his Music|jstor= 909510|journal= The Musical Times|date= March 1915|pages=137–42|volume=56}} {{subscription}}</ref> In this work Delius begins to achieve the texture of sound that characterised all his later compositions.<ref name= Stylistic/> Delius's music is often assumed to lack melody and form. Cardus argues that melody, while not a primary factor, is there abundantly, "floating and weaving itself into the texture of shifting harmony" – a characteristic which Cardus believes is shared only by Debussy.<ref name= Cardus/>

Delius's next work, ''Appalachia'', introduces a further feature that recurred in later pieces – the use of the voice instrumentally in wordless singing, in this case depicting the distant plantation songs that had inspired Delius at Solano Grove.<ref name= Stylistic/> Although Payne argues that ''Appalachia'' shows only a limited advance in technique, Fenby identifies one orchestral passage as the first expression of Delius's idea of "the transitoriness of all mortal things mirrored in nature". Hereafter, whole works rather than brief passages would be informed by this idea.<ref>Fenby (1971), p. 55</ref> The transitional phase of the composer's career concludes with three further vocal pieces: ''[[Sea Drift (Delius)|Sea Drift]]'' (1903), ''[[A Mass of Life]]'' (1904–05), and ''[[Songs of Sunset]]'' (1906–07). Payne salutes each of these as masterpieces, in which the Delian style struggles to emerge in its full ripeness.<ref name= Stylistic/> Fenby describes ''A Mass of Life'' as standing outside the general progression of Delius's work, "a vast parenthesis", unlike anything else he wrote, but nevertheless an essential ingredient in his development.<ref>Fenby (1971), p. 58</ref>

====Full flowering====
''Brigg Fair'' (1907) announced the composer's full stylistic maturity, the first of the pieces for orchestra that confirm Delius's status as a musical poet, with the influences of Wagner and Grieg almost entirely absent.<ref name= Stylistic/> The work was followed in the next few years by ''[[In a Summer Garden]]'' (1908), ''Life's Dance'', ''Summer Night on the River'' (both 1911) and ''[[On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring]]'' (1912). The critic R. W. S. Mendl described this sequence as "exquisite nature studies", with a unity and shape lacking in the earlier formal tone poems.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mendl |first=R.W.S. |title=The Art of the Symphonic Poem |journal=The Musical Quarterly |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=443–462 |date=July 1932 |doi=10.1093/mq/xviii.3.443}} {{subscription}}</ref> These works became part of the standard English concert repertory, and helped to establish the character of Delius's music in the English concert-goer's mind, although according to [[Ernest Newman]], the concentration on these works to the neglect of his wider output may have done Delius as much harm as good.<ref>{{cite news |last=Newman |first=Ernest |author-link=Ernest Newman |title=His Country At Last Acclaims Delius |newspaper=The New York Times Quarterly |date=16 March 1930 |pages=SM7}}</ref> The typical mature Delian orchestral sound is apparent in these works, through the division of the strings into ten or more sections, punctuated by woodwind comments and decorations.<ref name= Stylistic/> In the ''North Country Sketches'' of 1913–14, Delius divides the strings into 12 parts, and harps, horns, clarinets and bassoons evoke a lifeless winter scene.<ref>Fenby (1971), p. 72</ref> In Payne's view, the ''Sketches'' are the high-water mark of Delius's compositional skill,<ref name= Stylistic/> although Fenby awards the accolade to the later ''[[Eventyr (Once Upon a Time)]]'' (1917).<ref>Fenby (1971), p. 74</ref>

During this period Delius did not confine himself to purely orchestral works; he produced his final opera, ''[[Fennimore and Gerda]]'' (1908–1910), like ''A Village Romeo and Juliet'' written in tableau form, but in his mature style. His choral works of the period, notably ''An Arabesque'' and ''[[A Song of the High Hills]]'' (both 1911) are among the most radical of Delius's writings in their juxtapositions of unrelated chords.<ref name= grove/> The latter work, entirely wordless, contains some of the most difficult choral music in existence, according to Heseltine.<ref name="Some Notes"/> After 1915, Delius turned his attention to traditional sonata, chamber and concerto forms, which he had largely left alone since his apprentice days. Of these pieces Payne highlights two: the Violin Concerto (1916), as an example of how, writing in unfamiliar genres, Delius remained stylistically true to himself; and the Cello Sonata of 1917, which, lacking the familiarity of an orchestral palate, becomes a melodic triumph.<ref name= Stylistic/> Cardus's verdict, however, is that Delius's chamber and concerto works are largely failures.<ref name= Cardus/> After 1917, according to Payne, there was a general deterioration in the quantity and quality of Delius's output as illness took hold, although Payne exempts the incidental music to ''Hassan'' (1920–1923) from condemnation, believing it to contain some of Delius's best work.<ref name= grove/><ref name= Stylistic/>

====Final phase====
The four-year association with Fenby from 1929 produced two major works, and several smaller pieces often drawn from unpublished music from Delius's early career. The first of the major works was the orchestral ''[[A Song of Summer]]'', based on sketches that Delius had previously collected under the title of ''A Poem of Life and Love''.<ref>Fenby (1981), p. 132</ref> In dictating the new beginning of this work, Delius asked Fenby to "imagine that we are sitting on the cliffs in the heather, looking out over the sea".<ref>Fenby (1971) p. 70</ref> This does not, says Fenby, indicate that the dictation process was calm and leisurely; the mood was usually frenzied and nerve-wracking.<ref>Fenby (1981), pp. 145–47</ref> The other major work, a setting of [[Walt Whitman]] poems with the title ''Songs of Farewell'', was an even more alarming prospect to Fenby: "the complexity of thinking in so many strands, often all at once; the problems of orchestral and vocal balance; the wider area of possible misunderstandings&nbsp;..." combined to leave Delius and his helper exhausted after each session of work – yet both these works were ready for performance in 1932.<ref name= F88>Fenby (1971), pp. 88–89</ref> Of the music in this final choral work, Beecham wrote of its "hard, masculine vigour, reminiscent in mood and fibre of some of the great choral passages in ''[[A Mass of Life]]''".<ref>Beecham (1975), p. 208</ref> Payne describes the work as "bracing and exultant, with in places an almost [[Gustav Holst|Holstian]] clarity".<ref name= Stylistic/>

===Reception===
Recognition came late to Delius; before 1899, when he was already 37, his works were largely unpublished and unknown to the public. When the symphonic poem ''Paa Vidderne'' was performed at [[Monte Carlo]] on 25 February 1894 in a programme of works from British composers, ''[[The Musical Times]]'' listed the composers as "...&nbsp;[[Michael William Balfe|Balfe]], [[Alexander Mackenzie (composer)|Mackenzie]], Oakeley, [[Arthur Sullivan|Sullivan]]&nbsp;... and one Delius, whoever he may be".<ref>{{cite journal|title= Foreign Notes|jstor= 3361873|journal= The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular|date= April 1894|pages=266–67|volume=35}} {{subscription}}</ref> The work was well received in Monte Carlo, and brought the composer a congratulatory letter from [[Alice Heine|Princess Alice]] of [[Monaco]], but this did not lead to demands for further performances of this or other Delius works.<ref>Beecham (1975), p. 63. (Beecham misdates the concert to February 1893)</ref> Some of his individual songs (he wrote more than 60) were occasionally included in vocal recitals; referring to "the strange songs of Fritz Delius", ''[[The Times]]'' critic expressed regret "that the powers the composer undoubtedly possesses should not be turned to better account or undergo proper development at the hands of some musician competent to train them".<ref>{{cite news|title= New Songs|newspaper= The Times|date= 9 August 1899|page=13}}</ref>
[[File:Stjameshall.gif|thumb|[[St James's Hall]], London, the venue for Delius's first London concert, May 1899]]
Of the May 1899 concert at [[St. James's Hall]], London, ''The Musical Times'' reviewer remarked on the rawness of some of the music, but praised the "boldness of conception and virile strength that command and hold attention".<ref name= MT99>{{cite journal|jstor= 3367034|title= Mr. Fritz Delius|journal= The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular|date= July 1899|page=472|volume=40}} {{subscription}}</ref> Beecham, however, records that despite this "fair show of acclaim", for all the impetus it gave to future performances of Delius's work the event might never have happened; none of the music was heard again in England for many years.<ref>Beecham (1975), p. 106</ref> Delius was much better received in Germany, where a series of successful performances of his works led to what Beecham describes as a Delius vogue there, "second only to that of Richard Strauss".<ref>Beecham (1975), p. 114</ref>

In England, a performance of the [[Piano Concerto (Delius)|Piano Concerto]] on 22 October 1907 at the Queen's Hall was praised for the brilliance of the soloist, [[Theodor Szántó]], and for the power of the music itself.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Mr Delius's Pianoforte Concerto|jstor= 904474|journal= The Musical Times|date= November 1907|page=739|volume=48}} {{subscription}}</ref> From that point onwards the music of Delius became increasingly familiar to both British and European audiences, as performances of his works proliferated. Beecham's presentation of ''A Mass of Life'' at the Queen's Hall in June 1909 did not inspire Hans Haym, who had come from Elberfeld for the concert,<ref name=carley/> though Beecham says that many professional and amateur musicians thought it "the most impressive and original achievement of its genre written in the last fifty years"<ref name="Beecham 1975, p. 155"/> Some reviewers continued to doubt the popular appeal of Delius's music, while others were more specifically hostile.{{refn|''[[The Observer]]'' wrote of "a charm and fascination entirely its own&nbsp;... but whether his contemplative and reticent musical spirit will ever make an appeal to the great public is another question".<ref>{{cite journal|title= Concerts of the Week|journal= The Observer|page=6|date= 25 January 1914}}</ref> [[Samuel Langford]] in ''The Manchester Guardian'' wrote that Delius's music had "the modern note without the ancient form and grace. The instruments come in, as it were, anywhere, like little toy reeds pulled by some childish [[Pan (god)|Pan]]."<ref>{{cite journal|title= The Beecham Promenade Concerts|last=Langford|first=Samuel|journal= The Manchester Guardian|page=3|date= 3 October 1917}}</ref>|group= n}}

From 1910, Delius's works began to be heard in America: ''Brigg Fair'' and ''In a Summer Garden'' were performed in 1910–11 by the [[New York Philharmonic Orchestra]] under [[Walter Damrosch]]. In November 1915 Grainger gave the first American performance of the Piano Concerto, again with the New York Philharmonic. The ''[[New York Times]]'' critic described the work as uneven; richly harmonious, but combining colour and beauty with effects "of an almost crass unskillfulness and ugliness".<ref>{{cite news|title= Philharmonic Concert: Percy Grainger, soloist, plays Delius's Piano Concerto|url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/11/27/105048805.pdf|newspaper= The New York Times|date = 27 November 1915}}</ref>

For the rest of his lifetime Delius's more popular pieces were performed in England and abroad, often under the sponsorship of Beecham, who was primarily responsible for the Delius festival in October–November 1929. In a retrospective comment on the festival ''The Times'' critic wrote of full houses and an apparent enthusiasm for "music which hitherto has enjoyed no exceptional vogue", but wondered whether this new acceptance was based on a solid foundation.<ref name= Times29/> After Delius's death Beecham continued to promote his works; a second festival was held in 1946, and a third (after Beecham's death) at Bradford in 1962, to celebrate the centenary of Delius's birth. These occasions were in the face of a general indifference to the music;<ref>{{cite journal|last= Cooper|first= Martin|title= Question Mark Over Delius Lovers|journal= The Daily Telegraph|date= 7 April 1962}}</ref> writing in the centenary year, the musicologist [[Deryck Cooke]] opined that at that time, "to declare oneself a confirmed Delian is hardly less self-defamatory than to admit to being an addict of cocaine and marihuana".<ref name= Cooke>{{cite journal|author-link= Deryck Cooke|last= Cooke|first= Deryck|title= Delius the Unknown|jstor= 765994|journal= Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association|page=17|date= 18 December 1962}} {{subscription}}</ref>

Beecham had died in 1961, and Fenby writes that it "seemed to many then that nothing could save Delius's music from extinction", such was the conductor's unique mastery over the music.<ref name= F257/> However, other conductors have continued to advocate Delius, and since the centenary year, the Delius Society has pursued the aim of "develop[ing] a greater knowledge of the life and works of Delius".<ref name= DSoc>{{cite web|title= About the Society|url= http://www.delius.org.uk/aboutus.htm|publisher= The Delius Society|access-date= 18 January 2010|archive-date= 16 May 2013|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130516150515/http://www.delius.org.uk/aboutus.htm|url-status= dead}}</ref> The music has never become fashionable, a fact often acknowledged by promoters and critics.{{refn|Deryck Cooke chose the title "Delius the Unknown" for his December 1962 address to the Royal Musical Association, recognising, Cooke says, the extent to which the composer was out of fashion.<ref name= Cooke/> In 1991 the sleeve note of the Naxos recording of the Violin Concerto and other works ends: "Delius is now out of fashion, for our times do not favour art that is never vulgar, never strident."<ref>{{cite web|title= About this Recording: 8.557242 – Delius: Violin Concerto (Tintner Edition 10)|url= http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.557242&catNum=557242&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English|publisher= Naxos|year= 1991|access-date= 19 January 2011|archive-date= 20 January 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120120164701/http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.557242&catNum=557242&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English|url-status= dead}}</ref> In a comment on the BBC Symphony Orchestra's projected October 2010 Elgar and Delius concert at London's [[Barbican Centre]], the critic David Nice observes that while Elgar is in vogue, Delius is "desperately out of fashion".<ref>{{cite web|last= Nice|first= David|title= BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis, Barbican|url= http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/bbc-symphony-orchestra-sir-andrew-davis-barbican |website= The Arts Desk|date= 9 October 2010|access-date= 18 January 2011}}</ref>|group= n}} To suggestions that Delius's music is an "acquired taste", Fenby answers: "The music of Delius is not an acquired taste. One either likes it the moment one first hears it, or the sound of it is once and for ever distasteful to one. It is an art which will never enjoy an appeal to the many, but one which will always be loved, and dearly loved, by the few."<ref>Fenby (1981), p. 208</ref> Writing in 2004 on the 70th anniversary of Delius's death, the ''Guardian'' journalist Martin Kettle recalls Cardus arguing in 1934 that Delius as a composer was unique, both in his technique and in his emotionalism. Although he eschewed classical formalism, it was wrong, Cardus believed, to regard Delius merely as "a tone-painter, an impressionist or a maker of programme music". His music's abiding feature is, Cardus wrote, that it "recollects emotion in tranquillity&nbsp;... Delius is always reminding us that beauty is born by contemplation after the event".<ref>{{cite journal|author-link= Martin Kettle|last= Kettle|first= Martin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jul/09/classicalmusicandopera.proms2004|title=Three-act tragedy|journal= The Guardian|date=9 July 2004|access-date=30 January 2011}}</ref>

==Memorials and legacy==
[[File:Quatrefoil for Delius.jpg|thumb|left|The sculpture ''A Quatrefoil for Delius'', by Amber Hiscott, unveiled in Delius's honour, in Exchange Square, Bradford, on 23 November 1993]]
Just before his death, Delius prepared a [[Codicil (will)|codicil]] to his [[Will and testament|will]] whereby the royalties on future performances of his music would be used to support an annual concert of works by young composers. Delius died before this provision could be legally effected; Fenby says that Beecham then persuaded Jelka in her own will to abandon the concerts idea and apply the royalties towards the editing and recording of Delius's main works.<ref>Fenby (1981), p. 255</ref> After Jelka's death in 1935 the Delius Trust was established, to supervise this task. As stipulated in Jelka's will, the Trust operated largely under Beecham's direction. After Beecham's death in 1961 advisers were appointed to assist the trustees, and in 1979 the administration of the Trust was taken over by the [[Musicians' Benevolent Fund]]. Over the years the Trust's objectives have been extended so that it can promote the music of other composers who were Delius's contemporaries.<ref>{{cite web|title= The Delius Trust: History|url= http://www.delius.org.uk/history.htm|publisher= The Delius Society|year= 2010|access-date= 19 January 2011|archive-date= 18 August 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100818065139/http://www.delius.org.uk/history.htm|url-status= dead}}</ref> The Trust is a co-sponsor of the Royal Philharmonic Society's Composition Prize for young composers.<ref>{{cite web |title= RPS Composition Prize |url= http://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/images/uploads/Comp_Prize_poster_and_form_for_web.pdf |publisher= The Royal Philharmonic Society |access-date= 13 May 2016 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160807182535/http://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/images/uploads/Comp_Prize_poster_and_form_for_web.pdf |archive-date= 7 August 2016 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>

[[Herbert Stothart]] made arrangements of Delius's music, particularly ''Appalachia'', for the 1946 film ''[[The Yearling (film)|The Yearling]]''.<ref>[http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Jan02/Delius_North_Beecham.htm#ixzz4rN9BznfA Music Web International]. Retrieved 1 September 2017</ref><ref>[http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/new/cds/detail.cfm?cdID=369 Film Score Monthly]. Retrieved 1 September 2017</ref>

In 1962, enthusiasts for Delius's music who had gone to Bradford for the centenary festival formed the Delius Society; Fenby became its first president.<ref name= F257/> With around 400 members, the Society is independent from the Trust, but works closely with it. Its general objectives are the furtherance of knowledge of Delius's life and works, and the encouragement of performances and recordings.<ref name= DSoc/> In 2004, as a stimulus for young musicians to study and perform Delius's music, the Society established an annual Delius Prize competition, with a prize of £1,000 to the winner.<ref>{{cite web|title= The Delius Prize|url= http://www.delius.org.uk/thedeliusprize.htm|publisher= The Delius Society|year= 2010|access-date= 19 January 2011|archive-date= 16 May 2013|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130516161220/http://www.delius.org.uk/thedeliusprize.htm|url-status= dead}}</ref> In June 1984, at the [[Grand Theatre, Leeds]], the Delius Trust sponsored a commemorative production of ''A Village Romeo and Juliet'' by [[Opera North]], to mark the 50th anniversary of Delius's death.<ref>{{cite book|title= A Village Romeo and Juliet (theatre programme)|publisher= Opera North|date= 6 June 1984}}</ref>
[[File:Christopher-Gable-Max-Adrian-Song-of-Summer.jpg|thumb|[[Ken Russell]]'s ''[[Song of Summer]]'' with [[Max Adrian]] as Delius, right, and [[Christopher Gable]] as Eric Fenby|alt=young bespectacled white man reading to an older, blind, man in a garden]]
Public interest in Delius's life was stimulated in the UK in 1968, with the showing of the [[Ken Russell]] film ''[[Song of Summer]]'' on BBC Television. The film depicted the years of the Delius–Fenby collaboration; Fenby co-scripted with Russell. [[Max Adrian]] played Delius, with [[Christopher Gable]] as Fenby and [[Maureen Pryor]] as Jelka.<ref name= F258>Fenby (1981), pp. 258–60</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Song of Summer: Frederick Delius|url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063628/|publisher= Internet Movie Database|access-date= 20 January 2011}}</ref>

In America, a small memorial to Delius stands in Solano Grove.<ref>{{cite web|title= Delius Collection|url= http://www.jaxpubliclibrary.org/coll/delius/index.html|publisher= Jacksonville (Florida) Public Library|access-date= 23 January 2011|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101213063034/http://jaxpubliclibrary.org/coll/delius/index.html|archive-date= 13 December 2010|df= dmy-all}}</ref> The Delius Association of Florida has for many years organised an annual festival at Jacksonville, to mark the composer's birthday. At Jacksonville University, the Music Faculty awards an annual Delius Composition Prize.<ref name= F257/> In February 2012 Delius was one of ten prominent Britons honoured by the [[Royal Mail]] in the "Britons of Distinction" stamps set.<ref>{{cite web|title= Britons of Distinction|publisher= The British Postal Museum & Archive|url= http://postalheritage.wordpress.com/tag/kathleen-ferrier/|date= 23 February 2012|access-date= 26 February 2012}}</ref>

Beecham stresses Delius's role as an innovator: "The best of Delius is undoubtedly to be found in those works where he disregarded classical traditions and created his own forms".<ref>Beecham (1975), p. 217</ref> Fenby echoes this: "the people who really count are those who discover new ways of making our lives more beautiful. Frederick Delius was such a man".<ref name= F258/> Palmer writes that Delius's true legacy is the ability of his music to inspire the creative urge in its listeners and to enhance their awareness of the wonders of life. Palmer concludes by invoking [[George Eliot]]'s poem ''The Choir Invisible'': "Frederick Delius&nbsp;... belongs to the company of those true artists for whose life and work the world is a better place to live in, and of whom surely is composed, in a literal sense, 'the choir invisible/Whose music is the gladness of the world'".<ref>Palmer, p. 193</ref>

==Recordings==
The first recordings of Delius's works, in 1927, were conducted by Beecham for the [[Columbia Graphophone Company|Columbia label]]: the "Walk to the Paradise Garden" interlude from ''A Village Romeo and Juliet'', and ''On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring'', performed by the orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society. These began a long series of Delius recordings under Beecham that continued for the rest of the conductor's life.<ref name= disco>See Malcolm Walker's "Beecham/Delius discography", included (unpaginated) in Beecham's ''Frederick Delius'' (1975)</ref> He was not alone, however; [[Geoffrey Toye]] in 1929–30 recorded ''Brigg Fair'', ''In a Summer Garden'', ''Summer Night on the River'' and the "Walk to the Paradise Garden". Fenby recounts that on his first day in Grez, Jelka played Beecham's ''First Cuckoo'' recording.<ref>Fenby (1981), p. 23</ref> In May 1934, when Delius was close to death, Fenby played him Toye's ''In a Summer Garden'', the last music, Fenby says, that Delius ever heard.<ref>Fenby (1981), p. 221</ref> By the end of the 1930s Beecham had issued versions for Columbia of most of the main orchestral and choral works, together with several songs in which he accompanied the soprano [[Dora Labbette]] on the piano.<ref name= disco/> By 1936 Columbia and [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]] (HMV) had issued recordings of Violin Sonatas 1 and 2, the ''Elegy and Caprice'', and of some of the shorter works.<ref>Darrell, R.D. ''The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music'', The Gramophone Shop, New York 1936.</ref>

Full recordings of the operas were not available until after the Second World War. Once again Beecham, now with the HMV label, led the way, with ''A Village Romeo and Juliet'' in 1948, performed by the new [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]] and Chorus.<ref name= disco/> Later versions of this work include those of [[Meredith Davies]] for [[EMI]] in 1971,<ref>{{cite magazine|title= Delius. A Village Romeo and Juliet — complete|magazine= The Gramophone|date= February 1973|page=97}}</ref> [[Charles Mackerras]] for Argo in 1989,<ref>{{cite magazine|title= Delius. A Village Romeo And Juliet|magazine= Gramophone|date= December 1990|page=134}}</ref> and a German-language version conducted by [[Klauspeter Seibel]] in 1995.<ref>{{cite magazine|title= Delius: A Village Romeo and Juliet|magazine= Gramophone|date= October 1995|page=135}}</ref> Beecham's former protégé [[Norman Del Mar]] recorded a complete ''Irmelin'' for BBC Digital in 1985.<ref>March (ed.) pp. 69–70</ref> In 1997 EMI reissued Meredith Davies's 1976 recording of ''Fennimore and Gerda'',<ref>{{cite magazine|title= Delius: Fennimore and Gerda |magazine= Gramophone|date= September 1997|page=106}}</ref> which [[Richard Hickox]] conducted in German the same year for [[Chandos Records|Chandos]].<ref>{{cite magazine|title= Delius: Fennimore and Gerda|magazine= Gramophone|date= December 1997|page=114}}</ref> Recordings of all the major works, and of many of the individual songs, have been issued at regular intervals since the Second World War. Many of these recordings have been issued in conjunction with the Delius Society, which has prepared various discographies of Delius's recorded music.{{refn|See, for example, [http://www.delius.org.uk/images/journals/pdfs/newsletter24-discography.pdf Delius: a discography compiled by Stuart Upton and Malcolm Walker] The Delius Society, 1969. Also [http://www.delius.org.uk/discography.htm Recordings of Music By Delius] The Delius Society, 2000|group= n}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=n|24em}}

==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |author-link= Thomas Beecham| last=Beecham | first=Thomas | year=1944 | title=A Mingled Chime—Leaves from an Autobiography | location=London | publisher=Hutchinson | oclc=592569600}}
* {{cite book|last= Beecham|first= Thomas|title= Frederick Delius|publisher= Severn House|location= Sutton, Surrey|year= 1975|isbn= 0-7278-0099-X |orig-year=First published by Hutchinson & Co. in 1959}}
* {{cite book|author-link= Neville Cardus|last= Cardus|first= Neville|title= Autobiography|publisher= Collins|location= London|year= 1947|oclc=459080138}}
* {{cite book|author-link= Eric Fenby|last= Fenby|first= Eric|title= The Great Composers: Delius|publisher= Faber and Faber|location= London|year= 1971|isbn= 0-571-09296-9}}
* {{cite book|last= Fenby|first= Eric|title= Delius As I Knew Him|publisher= Faber and Faber|location= London|year= 1981 |isbn= 0-571-11836-4|orig-year=Originally published by G Bell & Sons, 1936}}
* {{cite book|last= Hull|first= Robert H.|title= Delius|author-link=Robin Hull (music critic)|publisher= Hogarth Press|location= London|year= 1928}}
* {{cite book |author-link= Arthur Jacobs| last=Jacobs | first=Arthur | title=Henry J. Wood: Maker of the Proms | location=London | publisher=Methuen | year=1994 | isbn=0-413-69340-6}}
* {{cite book|editor-last= March|editor-first= Ivan|title= The Penguin Guide to Opera on Compact Discs|publisher= Penguin Books|location= London|year= 1993|isbn= 0-14-046957-5|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/penguinguidetoop00gree}}
* {{cite book|last= Palmer|first= Christopher|author-link=Christopher Palmer|title= Delius: Portrait of a Cosmopolitan|publisher= Duckworth|year= 1976|location= London|isbn= 0-7156-0773-1}}
* {{cite book| last= Redwood|first= Christopher|title= A Delius Companion: A 70th birthday tribute to Eric Fenby|publisher= John Calder|year= 1976|isbn= 0-7145-3826-4}}
* {{cite book | last=Reid | first=Charles | title=Thomas Beecham&nbsp;– An Independent Biography | location=London | publisher=Victor Gollancz | year=1961|oclc=52025268}}
* {{cite book | last=Young| first=Rob| title=[[Electric Eden|Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music]] | location=London | publisher=Macmillan | year=2011|isbn=0865478562}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |editor-last=Carley |editor-first=Lionel |title=Delius: A Life in Letters, Volume I: 1862–1908 |url=https://archive.org/details/deliuslifeinlett0000deli |url-access=registration |publisher=Scolar Press |location=London |year=1983 |isbn=0-674-19570-1}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Carley |editor-first=Lionel |title=Delius: A Life in Letters, Volume II: 1909–1934 |publisher=Scolar Press |location=London |year=1988 |isbn=0-85967-717-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Healey |first=Derek |author-link=Derek Healey |title=The influence of African-American music on the works of Frederick Delius |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_influence_of_African_American_music.html?id=iJ0HAQAAMAAJ |publisher=The Delius Society |location=Philadelphia, PA |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-61512364-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Heseltine |first=Philip |author-link=Peter Warlock |title=Frederick Delius |publisher=Bodley Head |location=London |year=1923}} A revised edition, a reprint of the original "with additions, annotations, and comments by [[Hubert J. Foss|Hubert Foss]]" was published by Bodley Head in 1952 (in the US by [[Greenwood Press]], 1974: {{ISBN|978-0-8371-7292-7}})
* {{cite book |last=Huismann |first=Mary Christison |title=Frederick Delius: A Guide to Research |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frederick-Delius-Routledge-Music-Bibliographies/dp/0415941067/ |publisher=Routledge |location=New York / London |year=2004 |isbn=0-415-94106-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Hutchings |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur Hutchings |title=Delius |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |year=1949 |oclc=869350}}
* {{cite book |last=Jahoda |first=Gloria |author-link=Gloria Jahoda |title=The Other Florida |chapter=Chapter 13: The Music Maker of Solano Grove |publisher=Scribner |location=New York |year=1967 |oclc=1245815}}
* {{cite book |last=Jahoda |first=Gloria |title=The Road to Samarkand: Frederick Delius and His Music |publisher=Scribner |location=New York |year=1969 |oclc=12678}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Frederick Delius}}
* {{IMSLP|id=Delius%2C_Frederick}}
* [http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM4CMM_Delius_House_Jacksonville_Florida Delius's house in Solano Grove, Florida, before and after restoration in 1961]
* [http://sneezl.com/frederick-delius-full-biography/ Life, Music and Character of Frederick Delius]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jan/05/delius-fenby-julian-lloyd-webber Julian Lloyd Webber on Delius], ''[[The Guardian]]''
* [http://www.delius.org.uk The Delius Society]

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