The Delius Society Journal AutumnlWinterAutumnAilinter 1994,1994.Number 115l15 The Delius Society FullFullMembershipMembership and Institutions £f 15l5 per year USA and Canada US$31 per year Africa,Africa. Australasia and Far East £18{18 President Eric Fenby OBE, Hon DMus,D Mus, Hon DLitt,D Litt, Hon RAM, FRCM, Hon FTCL Vice Presidents Felix ApraharnianAprahamianHon RCO Roland GibsonGbson MSc, PhD (Founder Member) Meredith Davies CBE, MA,MA BMus,B Mus, FRCM, Hon RAM Vernon Handley MA, FRCM, D Univ (Surrey)(Suney) Richard Hickox FRCO (CHM)(CfIIvI) RodneyRodnevMeadows Chairman Lyndon B Jenkins Treasurer (to whom membership enquiries should be directed) Derek Cox Mercers, 6 Mount Pleasant, Blockley, Glos GL56 9BU Tel: (01386) 700175 Secretary Jonathan Maddox 6 Town Farm, Wheathampstead, Herts AL4 8QL Tel: (01582) 833668 Editor Stephen Lloyd 82 Farley Hill, Luton LUlLUI 5NRsNR Tel: (01582)(01582\ 20075 Please note Editor's change of address CONTENTS Chairman'sMessage. .. ..3 3 RobertLouis Stevenson--A A CentenaryTribute.Tribute . .. .. 4 SeoSea DnftDrift at CarnegieCamegie HallHall. .. '" ,6.6 DeliusAssociation of Florida- 34th AnnualFestivalFestival. ......99 Koanga - LeedsYouth Opera . .12t2 HaverhillSinfonia Anniversary Concert.Concert ..... l313 MidlandsBranch ReportReport: : Brigg l;airFair and In a SummerGarden . .. .1515 Delius'sMusical Apprenticeship.Apprenticeship .. .1616 Book Reviews: Grieg and Delius. 17 0peraOpera as DrqmaticDramatic PoetryPoetry. .20 Henry J Wood:lYood:Maker of the Pnmr'.Proms ... .212l The Coos-sens: Goossens:A Musical Century.Century .23ZJ Peter Warlock: The LifeL~fe of Philip Heseltine.. ... 25 Peter Warlock: A Centenary Celebration.Celebralion. ...... 25 '['he 7he EnglishF,nglishMusical Renaissance 1860-19~01860-1910 . 28 Music in England 1885-1920 .. .28 Record Reviews Beecham conducts Delius ...3030 Stanford and Delius .... .3131 Frederick Delius: Orchestral Works.Works .. 32 English Idyll ... .3232 aa Amell,Arnell,BemersBerners and Delius ........JJ33 Music Review: Review. Frederick Delius: Five Piano Arrangements.Arranqements' ' .34.34 Obituary: Sir Thomas Armstrong . .3434 Audrey LangfordLangford. .3636 a- NewsNewsRound-UpRound-Up .........)t37 Forthcoming Events. ...3939 TheThe latenesslatenessofof thisthis issueissuehas hasbeen been duedue toto thethe EditorEditor moving house.house. His newnew address,address,differingdiffering onlyonly slightlyslightly fromfrom thethe former,former, appearsappearson on pagepage 1.l. ISSN-0306-0373ISSN-0106-0373 22 CHAIRIVIAN'SCHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE Welcome to the first of what is intended to be a regular feature of fi.rturefuture Jounnls,Journals, in which I hope to keep membersabreast of the more important thingsthat are happening Memberswho could not be presentwill, I am sure,like to hearabout the Society'sAnnual General Meeting on 20 August last, at which Rodney Meadows retired from the chairmanshipafter a wonderfully long period. At the lunch beforehand,tributes were paid by TasminLittle, Felix Aprahamian, Robert Threltbll,Threlt1ill, Richard Kitching and Brian Radfbrd,Radtord, and Rodney was presentedwith a chequefor f£1,000 1,000 (made up of members'contributions) together with a magnificent photograph-sizealbum crammed with more tributes,photographs and messages of goodwill. 'I In a letter of thanks to all members, Rodney writes: 'I was surprised and delighted by the presentation book, in which so many messages were included to mark my 23 years as chairman. The photographs and other graphic items added to the pleasure. You have been generous indeed with the cheque. The sum is huge. One member has suggested that it might be spent on my visit to America next year. There is a good precedent, since that is how Estelle Palmley spent her presentation gift. So, maybe. You can be sure that the money, whether on goods or travel, will be frugally spent for pleasure, and that I shall continue to think of you all with much gratitude.' At the AGM two new committee members - Roger Buckley and Michael Green - were elected.elected The other main business concerned the suggestion that the Society's Rules should be examined in case any revisions are necessary With this Journal comes a copy of the Rules. Will you please read them and send any observations you may have to Secretary Jonathan Maddox (address on page one) by 313l March. A report can then be made at the 1995 AGM and action taken as necessary. In his message above, Rodney Meadows speaks of his visit to America next yearyear.This will includedelivering the Fenby Lecture at the 1995 Delius Festival at Jacksonville,Jacksonville.Florida inin March. Lyndon Jenkins The new Chairman of thethe Delius Society is thethe writer, broadcaster and lecturerlecturerLyndonLlndon Jenkins,who was electedat thethe Society'sSocietv'sAnnual General Meeting in Londonlnndon on 20 August 1994. He was a founderfoundermember of thethe Society and isis only thethe thirdthird chairmaninin thethe 32 years of the Society's existence. Lyndon Jenkins has been involvedinvolved inin musical activitiesactivittes for more than 30 years, and isis currently Special ProjectsProJects Manager at Symphony Hall, Birmingham. He appears regularlyregularly on BBC Radio 3 in a wide variety of programmes, and has also worked for the BBC World Service and on both BBC and IndependentIndependurt Local Radio. He lectureslectures widely and has writtenwntten extensively on music, especially on thethe history of music in thethe Midlands, and he reviewed musicntusic forfbr thethe Birmingham Post fromfrom 1972-1988.1972-1988. He is particularly active inin thethe record industryindustry as consultant, contributes toto various gramophone journals, and writes many CD booklets. 3 ROBERT LOUISLOUrS STEVENSON (1850-1894)(1850-1894) A Centenary Tribute by Derek Cox RLS has dogged my footsteps for many years; or, rather, I have dogged his, especially lastlast April, when II followedfollowed thethe RLS trailtrail acrossthe the magnificent Cevennes countryside, described inin his famousfamous Travelswith ao Donkey. But I had no Modestine, only a back-pack! There was first thethe connectionwith Grez-sur-Loing, where Stevenson met his American wife-to-be, Fanny Osboume,Osbourne, in 1876, at the artists'artists'colonycolony in thethe HotelHdtel Chevillon, a fewferv hundredyards down thethe streetstreetfromfrom thethe Delius house. Then in 1986, a home exchange tooktook Shelaghand me toto Monterey, California, where RLS waited in 1879 for Fanny to get her divorce from her wayward husband Sam Osboume. Osbourne.She and Louis were married in in Oakland inin 1880 and took the train up the Napa Valley to the terminal depot at Calistoga; thence 3000 feet up Mount St Helena to the 'squat''squat' inin the crumbling bunkhouse of the disused silver mine where they spenttheir honeymoon. RLS wrote charmingly about the honeymoon, the mine and the people and places of the Napa Valley inin The Silverado Squatters.Another Californian exchange took us there inin September 1993 and we climbed Mount St Helena to the site of the old squat and visited the SilveradoMuseum and talked to itsits Curator, Mrs Beth Atherton. The Museum is a little gem, full of priceless Stevenson memorabilia.memorabilia So back to Grez-sur-Loing and here below, offeredoffleredas a centenary tribute for RLS, is his description of Grez, from ForestF'orestNotes (1875-76):(1875-76)'. GrezCtrez- for that is our destination - has been highly recommended for its 'Il beauty. '11 y a de l'eau,'I'eau,'people have said, with an emphasis, as if that settled the question, which, for a French mind, I am rather led to think it does. And Grez, when we get there, is indeed a place worthy of some praise. ItIt lies out of the forest, a cluster of houses, with an old bridge, an old castle in ruin, and a quaint old church. The inn garden descends in terraces to the river;river, stable-yard, kailyard, orchard, and a space of lawn, fringed with rushes and embellished with a green arbour. On the opposite bank there is a reach of English-looking plain, set thickly with willows and poplars.poplars And between the two lies the river, clear and deep, and full of reeds and floating lilies. Water-plants cluster about the sterlings of the long low bridge and stand ha1t:wayhalf:way up upon the piers in green luxuriance. They catch the dipped oar with long antennae, and chequer the slimy bottom with the shadow of their leaves. And the river wanders hither and thither among the islets, and is smothered and broken up by the reeds,like an old building in the lithe, hardy arms of the climbing ivy. You may watch the box where the good man of the inn keeps fish alive for his kitchen, one oily ripple following another over the top of the yellow deal. And you can hear a splashing and a prattle of voicesfrom the shed under the old kirk, where the village 4 women wash and wash all day among the fish and water-lilies. It seems as if linen washed there should be specially cool and sweet We have come here for the river. And no sooner have we all bathed than we board the two shallops and push off gaily, and go gliding under the trees and gathering a great treasure of water-lilies. Some one sings; some trail their hands in the cool water; some lean over the gunwale to see the image of the tall poplars far below, and the shadow of the boat, with the balanced oars and their own head protruded, glide smoothly over the yellow floor of the stream. At last, the day declining - all silent and happy, and up to the knees in the wet lilies - we punt slowly back again to the landing-place beside the bridge. There is a wish for solitude on all. One hides himself in the arbour with a cigarette; another goes for a walk in the country with Cocardon; a third inspects the church. And it is not till dinner is on the table, and the inn's best wine goes round from glass to glass, that we begin to throw off the restraint and fuse once more into a jolly fellowship.