The Delius Society Journal Spring 1997, Number 120
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The Delius Society Journal Spring 1997, Number 120 The Delius Society (Registered Charity No. 298662) Full Membership and Institutions £15 per year USA and Canada US$31 per year Africa, Australasia and Far East £18 per year l'reside11t Vacancy Vice Presidrnts Felix Aprahamian, I Ion D Mus, I Ion FRCO Roland Gibson MSc, PhD (Founder Member) Meredith Davies CBE, MA, B Mus, FRCM, I Ion RAM Vernon I landley MA, FRCM, D Univ (Surrey) Richard I lickox FRCO (CJ IM) Rodney Meadows Robert Threlfall Chnirman Lyndon Jenkins Trensurer (to whom changes of address and membership queries should be directed) Derek Cox Mercers, 6 Mount Pleasant, Blockley, Clos CL56 9BU Tel: (01386) 700175 Secretary Anthony Lindsey 1 The Pound, Aldwick Village, West Sussex P021 3SR Tel: (01243) 824964 Lditor Roger Buckley Magpie Shaw, Spcldhurst, Kent TN3 OLE Tel: (01892) 863123 Fax: (0171) 935 5429 email: rjbuckley(a compuserve.com Chairman's Message..................................................................................... 4 Editorial........................................................................................................... 7 Eric William Fenby: born 22 April 1906, died 18 February 1997 The Guardian, 21February1997.................................................................. 8 ORIGINAL ARTICLES Delius and La Belle Dame Sans Merci: The Hidden Meanings of An Arabesque (part 2), by John K. White..................................................... 11 Recollections of Florida, by Tasmin Lillie.................................................. 23 Our trip to England!, by Henry and Peggy Cornely............................... 29 The Collected Edition - a Postscript, by Robert Threlfall....................... 32 DELIUS SOCIETY MEETINGS SW Branch, 14 September 1996....................................................... 34 London, 3 October 1996....... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ........... .. .. .... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 34 London, 12November1996............................................................. 39 Midlands Branch, 23 November 1996............................................. 42 London, 3 December 1996 (reference only)................................... 43 London, 28 January 1997.................................................................. 43 London, 6 March 1997....................................................................... 47 CONCERT REVIEWS Sea Drift, 22 August 1996................................................................... 48 Songs, 28 September 1996.. .............................. ............. .................... 49 Seven Danish So11gs 1 7 November 1996............................................ 51 Paris, 14 February 1997...................................................................... 53 RECORD REVIEWS Fe1111i111ore n11d Gerda. ........................... ................................................ 55 Florida Suite, etc. ................................................................................. 56 BOOK REVIEWS Cross Cl1a11nel....................................................................................... 58 Paul Gauguin, a Complete Ufe............................................................. 59 Violet: tire Life n11d Loves of Violet Gordon Woodhouse....................... 60 Nietzscl1e i11 TI1ri11: The Cnd of !he Future.. ........................................ 62 Swemey Todd: The Real Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street... 63 NEWS FROM AMERICA The 37th Annual Delius Festival, Jacksonville, Florida, March 97... 64 A Delius Festival in Danville, Virginia, May/June 1997............... 66 OBITUARIES Peter Somerset Fry.............................................................................. 67 William and Janel Randel................................................................. 68 MISCELLANY................................................................................................. 71 LETTERS TO TI IE EDITOR......................................................................... 74 SPECIAL OFFERS TO MEMBERS.............................................................. 77 FORTHCOMING EVENTS.......................................................................... 78 CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE--------- At the beginning of the Delius Society Meeting held at the BMIC, London, on 6th March 1997, Chairman Lyndon Jenkins gave the following address: Two weeks ago almost exactly, we faced up to something which, I suppose, we hoped would never happen. Eric Fenby had been such a presence in our Lives, in the life of this Society particularly, for thirty-five years since its formation in 1962. Some of you will have known him longer than I, longer than the Society, even before 1962, and he was such a significant man in the life of Delius. lle was the Delius 111n11 wasn' t he? and when Roger Fenby telephoned me that afternoon to tell me the sad news, although it had been expected I think for some lime, tht! shock of it was, nevertheless, just as great as if it had happened suddenly. This is not the occasion for extended tributes, but this is the first meeting of the Delius Society since we received the extremely sad news from Scarborough, anJ I foll lhal you would want the opportunity just to stand for a moment or lwo lo remember our friend, Eric Fenby. [At this all present stood in silent tribute to Eric's memory.] When Roger Fenby telephoned me he told me that the funeral would be strictly private, but we nevertheless felt that it would not be taken in any way amiss, if the Society were to make a gesture of some sort lo the family. So we sent some flowers in your name, in the name of the Society, lo Rowena, and Ruth and Roger in Scarborough, within a day or so, and l had an acknowledgement back from Ruth which you might like lo hear, because it's addressed lo all of you. It says: 'May we thank, so very much, the Delius Society for the most gorgeous flowers which you sent, which were absolutely beautiful, and your kind words which were so much appreciated. No words could ever express our sincere gratitude for all the help and kindness my dear father received over the years. I Ie passed away peacefully at home. Mum, Roger and myself were with him. I le was a wonderful husband and father. With warmest wishes and deepest thanks lo you all. As ever, Rowt!na, Rogt:r and Ruth' So I think that we did the right thing and, as I say, we did it in your namt:; not just from the Committee, but from all members o{ lhe Society, lo whom he meant so much individually. 4 It then became clear that, since the funeral was lo be private, we should leave the Fenby family alone until after it had taken place on Thursday last week (27th February). In the meantime I had a call from Meredith Davies, the Chairman of the Delius Trust, to discuss what we might do in the future to honour Eric's memory, and I said to him that there was nothing to be done until we could consult the family after the funeral, and he agreed to that entirely. And so last weekend I wrote to Ruth to begin to explore what we might do in the year ahead to honour the name of our beloved President. Meredith Davies had said lo me that the Society of which Eric was President must take the lead in this, and I was grateful for that. So 1 suggested to Ruth, and I hope that I represent all your wishes here, that we would like, al some stage this year, lo arrange a concert in celebration of Eric's life, given probably in London, which, as I pointed out, is easily reachable for most people. I particularly said to Ruth that we were anxious to do not merely the right thing, but the right thing by her Mother, especially. Her message to me today is that Rowena is delighted with the thought that there might be a concert, not just for the members of the Delius Society or even just for Delius lovers, but a public concert, somewhere in London, to which she would do her very best to come. So we will now begin, with your agreement, to explore the possibilities of arranging a concert celebrating Eric's life. I am not quite sure what form this will take, but I can tell you that some of the leading performing lights in this Society have indicated to me that they would want to take a part. So we have, immediately, the makings of an absolutely superb concert that would honour Eric's name in the proper way. I also want to tell you that Roger Buckley is proposing a special edition of the Journal devoted to Eric, and we're going to suggest that any member who has a personal memory of Eric, or a photograph or something that they remember him by and recall him particularly for, that they would send that to Roger, in not too long a written form. Essays are not quite what we arc looking for. We are looking for tributes but, beyond that, those personal things. So many knew Eric, some perhaps only met him once, but it could be something that he said to you. People do have interesting memories and anecdotes which none of the rest of us know about, and this is what we would like to gather, lo recall Eric in this friendly, anecdotal way, and to bring these glorious Delius Society years alive again. I think especially of pictures - and there have been lots of pictures in the journal over the years of very happy occasions with the Fenbys - in gardens and in various places, at concerts, socially and informally - if you have anything like that, if you have a memory yourselves, a letter or something that you can turn into a short piece, l am sure that Roger Buckley will be glad of it for the special ]oumal. Finally, we thought that at this moment