The Delius Society Journal Spring 2010, Number 147 The Delius Society (Registered Charity No. 298662) President Lionel Carley BA PhD Vice Presidents Roger Buckley Sir Andrew Davis CBE Sir Mark Elder CBE Bo Holten RaD Lyndon Jenkins RaD Richard Kitching Piers Lane BMus Hon FRAM ARCM LMusA David Lloyd-Jones BA Hon DMus FGSM Julian Lloyd Webber FRCM Sir Charles Mackerras CH AC CBE Robert Threlfall Website: http://www.delius.org.uk ISSN-0306-0373 1 Chairman Martin Lee-Browne CBE Chester House, Fairford Gloucestershire GL7 4AD Email: Chairman@ The DeliusSociety.org.uk Treasurer and Membership Secretary Stewart Winstanley Windmill Ridge, 82 Highgate Road Walsall, WS1 3JA Tel: 01922 633115 Email: [email protected] Secretary Lesley Buckley c/o Crosland Communications Ltd The Railway Station Newmarket CB8 9WT Tel: 07941 188617 Email: [email protected] Journal Editor Paul Chennell 19 Moriatry Close Holloway, London N7 0EF Tel: 020 7700 0646 Email: [email protected] Front cover: Hassan, Act IV, Scene 2 from the London Production 1923 © The Delius Trust Back cover: James Elroy Flecker The Editor has tried in good faith to contact the holders of the copyright in all material used in this Journal (other than holders of it for material which has been specifically provided by agreement with the Editor), and to obtain their permission to reproduce it. Sometimes, however, he has received no reply. Any breaches of copyright are unintentional and regretted. 2 A Mass Of Life, Huddersfield, 30th October 2009 3 CONTENTS CHAIRMAN’S NOTES.................................................................................... 6 EDITORIAL....................................................................................................... 8 OBITUARIES Malve Steinweg................................................................................................. 10 THE DELIUS SOCIETY AGM ......................................................................... 12 THE DELIUS PRIZE.......................................................................................... 12 THE DELIUS SOCIETY MEMBERS’ SURVEY................................................ 13 DELIUS – THE FORGOTTEN MUSICAL PIONEER By Tony Summers................................................................................................ 16 HASSAN Flecker, Dean And Delius: The History Of Hassan Part I And II By Dawn Redwood ............................................................................................. 24 Basil Dean On Hassan........................................................................................ 43 Mr. Delius Discourses On His Music To Hassan By Marion Scott................................................................................. 46 Marion Scott, Music Critic By Pamela Blevins............................................................................................... 49 DELIUS AND GAUGUIN By Paul Chennell................................................................................................. 52 A PROMISE FULFILLED By Felix Aprahamian and Paul Chennell ........................................................... 57 THE DELIUS ARTS CENTRE By Paul Chennell. ............................................................................................... 65 NEWS FROM MEMBER SOCIETIES By Michael Green................................................................................................ 70 4 100 YEARS AGO By Paul Chennell................................................................................................. 78 SOME UNANSWERED QUESTIONS By Lyndon Jenkins............................................................................................... 80 LETTERS Stephen Lloyd...................................................................................................... 86 Stephen Hubbard................................................................................................. 86 BOOK REVIEW Journeying Boy, Edited by John Evans.............................................................. 89 CD REVIEWS A Village Romeo And Juliet................................................................................. 92 Felix Slatkin Conducts Delius ......................................................................... 95 Cello Concerto................................................................................................... 97 CONCERT REVIEWS A Mass Of Life in Huddersfield........................................................................ 100 DELIUS SOCIETY BRANCH MEETINGS London 22nd September.................................................................................. 103 Midlands 11th October..................................................................................... 105 London 21st October........................................................................................ 107 London 26th November................................................................................... 114 London 19th January........................................................................................ 116 Philadelphia....................................................................................................... 117 MISCELLANY................................................................................................... 120 EVENTS 2009-2010.......................................................................................... 125 5 CHAIRMAN’S NOTES After the Journal, there is no question but that our Branch Meetings are one of the best things the Society has to offer – and, although attendance at some of them has been a little sparse, those Members who have braved wintery conditions have been well rewarded. 2010 has certainly started as well as 2009 ended. September seems a long way back now, but David Lloyd-Jones gave the London Branch a most enjoyable and illuminating talk on Hiawatha. Then, in October, our Midland Branch, under Richard Kitching’s steadfast leadership, provided a quite excellent speaker, John Charles, who had been the orchestral manager for several major English orchestras (including, among others, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic when Charles Groves conducted the Requiem); he gave an extremely amusing talk, modestly titled Notes from a Career, about the hurley-burley of life in professional music circles, and brought with him a number of unique ‘Delius-related’ photographs and programmes. Also in October, Members of the London Branch were fortunate to hear Tony Summers presenting a fascinating history of The Walk to the Paradise Garden, and the season ended in November with Paul Guinery, as entertaining and professional as ever, speaking about York Bowen: The Last Romantic. 2010 has started strongly: for in January, Alan Gout shared some of his discoveries with us in his talk The Hidden Harmony is Better Than the Obvious. The following month, a healthy audience of both Grieg enthusiasts and Delians enjoyed a splendid joint meeting with the Grieg Society at the Norwegian Embassy when Roger Buckley provided a painstakingly researched and well illustrated talk on Delius’s Red Notebook. We were made very welcome, and it was good to see such a positive outcome from our Reciprocal Membership Scheme – which, thanks to Michael Green’s enthusiasm, seems to be working well. We look forward to further collaborations of this kind – and there are, of course, several interesting occasions to come, at which I hope to see a good number of you. Finally, we organised a recital in the Steinway Hall by the viola player Martin Outram and his pianist Julian Rolton, which included the former’s excellent new arrangement of the Delius Cello Sonata for viola and piano. 2012 is, of course, the year of the Olympic Games – but I suspect that a fair number of us may be more interested in what it brings in terms of celebrating the 150th anniversary of Delius’s birth! I have received some interesting responses from one or two of the orchestras, choirs, opera companies, etc. whom I have approached with a plea to consider including some Delius in their programmes for the 2012-2013 seasons – but I would appeal to all 6 those of our Members who have any contacts at all in musical organisations – particularly pro-am orchestras and reasonably-sized choirs – to invite them to get in touch with me, with a view to considering how we can encourage them to ‘support the Delian cause’. We and the Trust are at long last making real headway with the complete updating of the now very antiquated and ‘un-user-friendly’ Delius website, which is run by us jointly. It will incorporate completely new pages for both the Trust and the Society, and is likely to include a number of ‘modern’ features which it is hoped will encourage younger generations to explore the music – and I can assure you all that the Committee are hoping to be able to report its completion at the AGM. Finally, I would like to pay tribute to my colleagues on the Committee. They are all busy people, but they nevertheless willingly find huge amounts time in which to contribute to the continuing success of the Society – and our meetings are always extremely enjoyable! Martin Lee-Browne 7 EDITORIAL It is always fruitful to reconsider the life and work of Delius as significant dates and possible interesting performances approach. Autumn 2009 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of Sir Thomas Beecham’s biography of Frederick Delius; the book he had promised Jelka twenty-five years before