Spring/Summer 1990, Number 104 The Delius Society Journal The Delius SocietySocieQ JournalJTI OUrnAt Spring/Summer 1990.1990, Number 104 The Delius Society Full Membership and Institutions £10f 10 per year Students £8f8 USA and Canada US$21 per year Africa, Australasia and Far East £12f 12 Presidents Eric Fenby OBE, Hon DMus,D Mus, Hon DLitt,D Litt, Hon RAM, FRCM, Hon FfCLFTCL Vice Presidents Felix Aprahamian Hon RCO Roland Gibson MSc, PhD (Founder Member) Sir Charles Groves CBE Meredith Davies CBE, MA, BMus,B Mus, FRCM, Hon RAM NonnanNorman Del Mar CBE, Hon DMusD Mus VemonVernonHandley MA, FRCM, D Univ (Surrey) Chairman RBR B Meadows 5 WestboumeWestbourneHouse, Mount Park Road, Harrow, Middlesex HAHA11 3JT Treasurer Derek Cox Mercers, 6 Mount Pleasant, Blockley, Glos. GL56 9BU Tel: (0386) 700175 Secretary Miss Diane Eastwood 28 Emscote Street South, Bell Hall, Halifax, Yorkshire Tel: (0422) 50537 Editor Stephen Lloyd 85a Farley Hill, Luton, Bedfordshire LUI 5EG Tel: Luton (0582) 2007520015 2 CONTENTS Delius's Student Exercises by Robert Threlfall .............3 Felix Aprahamian talking to the Delius Society .............66 Midlands Branch Report: Piano Recital by Robert Threlfall .........77 No Orrdiences ? by Geoffrey G Hoare ............ .............10l0 Debussy and Delius: A Comparison by CWC W Orr .......... ...............13l3 A Mass of Life by CWC W OrrOrr...,...... .................15 Further Book Reviews: SirSirThomasThontas BeechamBeechanr edited J D GilmourGilmour............ ..............1717 Spring Returning by James Farrar .....18 Cecil GrayGral'by by Pauline Gray ...............19 News Round-Up ...........2020 Obituary: Peter Longhurst ...........2222 Correspondence ............2323 Forthcoming Events ......2323 The usual Spring issue of the Journal has been withheld to allow publication of a comprehensive Index to the complete run of Journals which will be readyreadvveryverv soon and sent to all members. Additional copies of this issue £2f2 (non-members £2.50),f2.50), inclusive of postage ISSN-0306-0373rssN-0306-0313 3 DELIUS'S STUDENT EXERCISES A FRESH LOOK AT THE CHRONOLOGY by Robert Threlfall Among thethemany music notebooks used by Frederick Delius at various stages of his career, four are of special -- ifif limitedlimited- - interestinterestsince they contain many of his early exercises written while a student. Any spare space was often used (sometimes(sometimesseveral years afterwards) forfor workings of various later compositions. These fourfour books may be briefly described and encoded for our reference below as follows: follows: 1. lU,JU. now in lacksonvilleJacksonvilleUniversity (Carl(Carl S Swisher Library),Library). Florida, USA, toto which it it was given by Eric Fenby inin 1962.1962.ItIt contains 39 pages of music writing. All but9 are of studentexercises; there is no generalgerreral or sequential dating by Delius. Upright format. 2. GM, now in the Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne, Australia,Australia. where it was received in 1948.ItIt contains32 pages of music writing, on about one third of which similar pedagogic matter is to be found. It is also undated by Delius. Upright format. 3. L Cons, now in the Delius Trust Archive (Beecham Accession) is almost entirely devoted to studies in counterpoint, canon and fugue dated throughout by Delius himself from MarchMarch2929 to November 1I 1887; also signed and dated by him at the LeipzigLeipzigConservatoire Conservatoire on the flyleaf. It now contains 45 leaves (3 leaves have evidently been removed). Oblong format. 4. Also in the Trust's Archive, where it is bound up as Vo!'Vol. 38, is another book in upright format. This contains a few further fugue studies dated November 13l3 1887,I 887,but it is otherwise filled with ink notations made in NorwayNorwavearlier that year and in 1889,and with undated pencil sketches forfbr various compositions,compositions. many of a somewhat later date. For the present, let our study only concern this student material;material: also, since the few exercises found in DTDTAA Vo!.Vol. 38 obviously follow immediately on those in L Cons, we need spend no longer on the former in the present context. If the pagesof exercises in lU,JU.GM and L Cons are now examined side by side,side.it will at once be observed that allallthese these exercises, many of which appear in more than one of the books.books, bear numbers which are often repeated but are not necessarily sequential. To identify and explain these numbers must be our first task. For this purpose,let usturn to the pedagogicalwritings of SalomonJadassohn,ladassohn, under whoseaegis Delius's theoretical studies were carried out at Leipzigin theyears 1886-8. Jadassohn'sladassohn's theoretical oeuvreoeurre included a comprehensiveMusikalische Kontpositionsleltre,Kompositionslehre, of which thecomponents were as follows: 1.L Lehrbuchder Harmonie,LeipzigHarmonie, Leipzig 1883 (ref. H below) 2. Lehrbuchdes Contrapunkts,Leipzig 1884 (ref. C below) (Englished. 1887)I 887) 4 3. Die Lehre vom Canon und von der Fuge, Leipzig 1884 4. Die Formen in den Werken der Tonkunst, Leipzig 1885 5. Lehrbuch der Instrumentation, Leipzig 1889 Of these, the publication date of the last throws it out of Delius's period of residence in Leipzig. His personal copy of no. 4 has survived, however, and is now in the same collection in lacksonvilleJacksonvillealready referred to. With no. 3 we are not immediately concerned, but scrutiny of nos. I and 2 at once reveals familiar features. The puzzle of the curiously non-sequential numbering of Delius's exercises is reflected in ladassohn'sJadassohn'smanuals, wherein all the musical examples are numbered in running order, whether illustrations or exercises. It will quickly be recognised by comparison that exercises from H and from C account for each and everyoneevery one of the numbered studies in harmony and counterpoint found throughout all Delius's three notebooks in question, as follows: In lU JUare found Exx. 156-9, 156-9. 171-5,17 l-5.1 185-7,85-7. 190-3,212-15190-3. 212-15 and 225 fromfromC: C; also Ex. 170 from H. In GM are found Exx. 130.147-50, 130,147-50, 156-9.156-9, 224-7224-1 from C;C: also Exx. 137,145,137,145, 165 and 170 from H. In L Cons are found Exx. 212-15.224-7,234-6,243-4.2l2-15.221-1,234-6,243-4, 246-8 from C; also studies in canon and fugue (relating to textbook no. 3 above, but neither that volume nor the exercises bear numbers in this case). Sub-headings to Delius's exercises,exercises.such as Jadassohn /I UmkelzrungUmkehrung/I DominantseptimenaccordDontinantsep(imenacc'ord/I dreistimmigeclreistimntige Sat:::,Sat:, are all in Delius's hand and in German. Taken together, all this information is surely sufficient to prove conclusively (i)(i)that that all these notebooks are roughly contemporaneous.contemporaneous, and (ii) that the two undated books, GM and - in particular - lU.JU, must stem from a Leipzig (i.e. post-autumn 1886) date.date, into which later matter has subsequently been written on any remaining spare space. L Cons, with its different format, format. neater hand.hand, careful dating (but occasional pencil correction - as if by a tutor) appears to show the final form in which the exercises were submitted. The exercises in lUJU and GM are rather less tidy.tidy, have many running corrections in ink (as well as some in pencil) and in many cases do not appear to have reached their final stage; hence I am inclined to think that lUJU and GM may be Delius's preliminary work-books. Also.Also, as Exx. 156-9,171-5.l-56-9.lJl-5. 185-7 and 190-3 from C appear in lUJU (and 130,l30, 147-50141-50in GM) but not in L Cons (use of which commenced in March 1887).I 887).the use of an earlier similarsirnilar book to L Cons,Cons.but covering the final workings of those sessions which started in autumn 1886 may bebepostulated,evenpostulated. even if ititno no longer survives. It is of interest in thisthisconnectionconnection to note from DeliusDelius's's Leipzig reports. as recently studied by OrDr Philip lones,Jones. that he received higherhi-sher commendation from ladassohnJadassohnforfbr his hard work. especially in counterpoint,counterpoint.than from any of his other professors. (See DelillsDelius SocietySot'iet,-JournalJournttl 102, AutumnAuturnn 1989.1989, pp.pp.5 5 and 7. The translation at the head of p.5 omits ladassohnJadassohn's 's signature.signature, which should appear after the third sentence;sentence: see facsimile on p.7.) 5 Against my present redating and provenance of 1U,JU, the following will most 'Delius's certainly be urged: this book has been endorsed by Eric Fenby 'Delius' .'I MSS [sic]Isit'] notehook /884/18841containing hisltis earliest exercisese-uert'isesinitt counterpoint,!t'tttutterpttittt.l withu'ith numerous alterations.alteratiorts. whichv'hich he workedvlorked on/onl withvith ThomasThontas Ward atut Solano Gro\'e.'Grove.' With the greatest respect to OrDr Fenby and due deference to his opinion or information, this dating is in mynry view no longer tenable on the current evidence here presented; for it would demand the assumption that Ward used the German language and 1adassohn'sJadassohn's text-books, within a year of their first publication, as basis for instruction of his diligent pupil. (Eric Fenby presumably had Oelius'sDelius's - or 1elka'sJelka's- authority for his statement: but OeliusDelius could not actually see the book in question at the timetirne of Fenby's association with him, and 1elka'sJelka's evidence could only have been second-hand in this context, for she too waswils not a witness to the events of 1884.) The case here considered is but one illustration of the confusions wrought by fragmentationfragrnentation of a composer's legacy: it is not the only one to be encountered in OelianDelian studies. The deduction that all three notebooks, 1U,JLJ.