DELIUS, Frederick
b Bradford, 29 January 1862
d Grez-sur-Loing, France, 10 June 1934, aged seventy-two

He was the son of a wealthy Prussian industrialist who had settled in Bradford. In 1882 he left home to take control of an orange plantation in Florida, where negro music suddenly gave him inspiration. He went to Leipzig to study for three years, then lived in Paris from 1888 to 1897. He married a painter and settled permanently in Grez-sur-Loing, though still travelling widely in Europe and Scandinavia. He was nearly forty before he discovered his musical maturity. From the early 1920s he slowly became blind and paralytic, the result of syphilis contracted in 1890. In 1928 he was able to resume work through the services of Eric Fenby as his amanuensis.

1886 (24)

Florida Suite, for orchestra

1888 (26)

Marche caprice, for orchestra

Sleigh Ride, for orchestra

1892 (30)

Irmelin, opera

1895 (33)

Over the Hills and Far Away, tone poem

1899 (37)

Paris - The Song of A Great City, nocturne for orchestra

1902 (40)

Appalachia, for orchestra, with final chorus

1903 (41)

Sea Drift, for baritone, chorus and orchestra

1904 (42)

Koanga, opera

1905 (43)

A Mass of Life, for soloists, chorus and orchestra, text from Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra

1906 (44)

Piano Concerto in C minor

1907 (45)

Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody, for orchestra

Songs of Sunset

A Village Romeo and Juliet, opera (from which comes the 'Walk to the Paradise Garden')

1908 (46)

Dance Rhapsody No 1 for orchestra

In a Summer Garden, rhapsody for orchestra

1912 (50)

On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, for orchestra

Summer Night on the River, for orchestra

Song of the High Hills, for wordless chorus and orchestra

1914 (52)

North Country Sketches, for orchestra

1916 (54)

Violin Concerto

Dance Rhapsody No 2 for orchestra

1917 (55)

Eventyr, for chorus and orchestra

1918 (56)

A Song Before Sunrise, for small orchestra

1919 (57)

Fennimore and Gerda, opera

1920 (58)

Hassan, incidental music

1922 (60)

A Pagan Requiem (possibly 1914-16)

1925 (63)

Caprice and Elegy, for cello and orchestra

1930 (68)

A Song of Summer, for orchestra

1932 (70)

Prelude to Irmelin (based on themes from the earlier opera)

1934 (72)

Songs of Farewell, for choir and orchestra