List of compositions by Frederick Delius

The musical compositions of Frederick Delius (1862–1934) cover numerous genres, in a style that developed from the early influences of composers such as Edvard Grieg and Richard Wagner into a voice that was uniquely Delius's. He began serious composition at a relatively advanced age (his earliest songs date to his early twenties), and his music was largely unknown and unperformed until the early 20th century. It was a further ten years before his work was generally accepted in concert halls, and then more often in Europe than in his home country, England. Ill-health caused him to give up composition in the early 1920s and he was silent for several years, before the services of a devoted amanuensis, Eric Fenby, enabled Delius to resume composing in 1928. The Delius-Fenby combination led to several notable late works.[1]

Frederick Delius, photographed in 1907

Chronological list of principal works

The "principal" works are those identified as such by Eric Fenby.[2] A division of Delius's work into phases such as "apprentice" and "middle period" has been suggested by many commentators, notably Anthony Payne in "Delius's Stylistic Development" (1962).[1]

Apprentice works, 1887–1899

"Middle period" works, 1900–06

Mature works, 1907–24

Late works
  • 1929–30: A Song of Summer
  • 1930: Sonata for violin and piano No. 3
  • 1930: Songs of Farewell (setting of poems by Walt Whitman)

List of works by genre

A definitive catalogue of the works of Delius was produced by Robert Threlfall in 1977, and a supplement to it in 1986.[4] It is abbreviated as RT. The Threlfall sectioning is a categorization where works are assigned nominal numbers according to a roman-numeric genre numbering scheme. For example, A Village Romeo and Juliet is, according to Threlfall's counting, the sixth piece of dramatic work Delius composed. Thus, the piece is in Section I, number 6, so is designated RT I/6.[5]

Dramatic works
Year(s) composed RT Title Genre First performance Comments Ref.
1888 I/1 Zanoni Incidental music [3]
1890–92 I/2 Irmelin Opera Oxford, 4 May 1953 Libretto: E. Graham, T. Round [3][6]
1893–95 I/3 The Magic Fountain Lyric drama Broadcast performance, BBC 1977 Libretto: Delius [3][6]
1895 I/4 Koanga Lyric drama Elberfeld, 30 March 1904 Libretto: Charles Francis Keary, after George Washington Cable [3][6]
1897 I/5 Folkeraadet Incidental music Christiania, October 1897 Play by Gunnar Heiberg [3][6]
1900–01 I/6 A Village Romeo and Juliet Lyric drama Berlin, 21 October 1907 Libretto: Delius, after Gottfried Keller. The orchestral interlude between Scenes 5 and 6, "The Walk to the Paradise Garden", is often performed and recorded separately. [3][6]
1902 I/7 Margot la rouge Lyric drama Libretto: I. Rosenval [3][6]
1909–10 I/8 Fennimore and Gerda Opera Frankfurt am Main, October 1919 Libretto: Delius, after J.P. Jacobsen [3][6]
1920–23 I/9 Hassan Incidental music Darmstadt, 1 June 1923
Full version first performed in London, 30 September 1923		 Play by James Elroy Flecker [3]

Works for voices and orchestra
Year(s) composed RT Title Vocal forces First performance Comments Ref.
1898 II/1 Mitternachtslied Zarathustras (The Midnight Song of Zarathustra) Male chorus [3]
1903 II/2 Appalachia: Variations on a slave song Choir, baritone solo Elberfeld, 1904 [3][6]
1903–04 II/3 Sea Drift Choir, baritone solo Essen, 24 May 1906 [6][7]
1904–05 II/4 A Mass of Life Double choir, SATB soloists London, 7 June 1909 Part II was performed in Munich, in 1908 [6][7]
1906–07 II/5 Songs of Sunset Choir, Mezzo-soprano & baritone soloists London, 16 June 1911 [6][7]
1911 II/6 A Song of the High Hills Choir, tenor & soprano soloists London, 26 February 1920 Textless chorus [6][7]
1911 II/7 An Arabesque Choir and baritone soloist Newport, 1920 [6][7]
1914–16 II/8 Requiem Choir, soprano & baritone soloists London, 23 March 1922 [6][7]
1930 II/9 Songs of Farewell Choir London, 21 March 1932 [7]
1930–32 II/10 Idyll: Once I passed through a populous city Soprano & baritone soloists London, 3 October 1933 Music adapted from Margot la rouge; words from Walt Whitman; after the first performance, Delius expanded the work and renamed it Prelude and Idyll [7][8]

Works for solo voice and orchestra
Year(s) composed RT Title Vocal forces First performance Comments Ref.
1888 III/1 Paa Vidderne (Melodrama) Recitation Revised (1891) as orchestral suite [3]
1889 III/2 Sakuntala Tenor soloist [3]
1891 III/3 Maud (from Tennyson) Tenor soloist [3]
1897 III/4 Seven Danish Songs: 1. "Summer Nights (On the Sea Shore)"; 2. "Red Roses (Through Long, Long Years)"; 3. "Wine Roses"; 4. "Let Springtime Come, Then" (Den Lenz laβ kommen); 5. "Irmelin Rose"; 6. "In the Seraglio Garden"; 7. "Silken Shoes" Solo voice (unspecified) Paris, 1901 [3][5][9]
1907 III/5 Cynara Choir, Baritone soloist London, 18 October 1929 Left incomplete, finished in 1929 [7]
1925 III/6 A Late Lark Solo voice (unspecified) [7]

Works for unaccompanied voices
Year(s) composed RT Title Vocal forces/accompaniment First performance Comments Ref.
before 1887 IV/1 Six German part-songs: 1. "Lorelei" (H. Heine); 2. "Oh! Sonnenschein" (Oh! Sunshine); 3. "Durch den Wald" (By the Forest) [von Schreck]; 4. "Ave Maria"; 5. "Sonnenscheinlied" (Sunshine Song) [Bjornsen]; 6. "Fruhlingsanbruch" [Bjornsen] Choir, unaccompanied [3][5]
1907 IV/2 On Craig Dhu Soprano, alto, 2 tenor, 2 bass, piano Blackpool, 1907 [6][7]
1908 IV/3 Wanderer's Song 2 tenor, 2 bass, piano [6][7]
1908 IV/4 Midsummer Song 2 soprano, 2 alto, 2 tenor, 2 bass, piano Whitley Bay, December 1910 [6][7]
1917 IV/5 Two Songs to be sung of a summer night on the water Soprano, alto, 2 tenor, 2 basses, unaccompanied London, 28 June 1920 [7]
1923 IV/6 The splendour falls on castle walls (from Tennyson) Chorus, unaccompanied London, 17 June 1924 [7]

Songs with piano accompaniment
Year(s) composed RT Title Comments Ref.
undated V/1 "When other lips shall speak" Unpublished [5]
undated V/4 "Der Fichtenbaum" (The Spruce Tree) Unpublished [5]
1885 V/2 "Over the mountains high" Unpublished [5]
1885 V/3 "Zwei braune Augen" (Two Brown Eyes) Unpublished [5]
1888 V/5 Five Songs from the Norwegian: 1. "Slumber Song" (Bjørnsen); 2. "The Nightingale" (Wellhaven); 3. "Summer's Eve" (Paulsen); 4. "Longing" (Kjerulf); 5. "Sunset" (Munck) [6][7]
1888 V/6 "Hochgebirgsleben" (High Mountain Life) Unpublished [5]
1888 V/7 "O schneller mein Ross" ( O faster, my Ross) Unpublished [5]
1889 V/8 "Chanson (de) Fortunio" Unpublished [5]
1889–90 V/9 Seven Songs from the Norwegian: 1. "Cradle Song" (Ibsen); 2. "The Homeward Journey" (Vinje); 3. "Twilight Fancies" (Bjørnsen); 4. "Sweet Venevil" (Bjørnsen); 5. "Minstrel" (Ibsen); 6. "Love concealed" (Bjørnsen); 7. "The Birds Story" (Ibsen) [6][7]
1890 V/10 "Skogen gir susende langsom besked" (Softly the Forest) Unpublished [5]
1890–91 V/11 Songs to words by Heine: 1. "Mit deinen blauen Augen" (With your blue eyes); 2. "Ein schöner Stern geht auf in meiner Nacht" (A shining star appears in my night); 3. "Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen" (I hear the sound of singing); 4. "Aus deinen Augen fliessen meine Leider" (From your eyes flows my song) Unpublished [5]
1891 V/12 Three English songs [Shelley]: 1. "Indian Love Song"; 2. "Love's Philosophy" 3. "To the Queen of my Heart" [6][7]
1891 V/13 "Lyse Naetter" Unpublished [5]
1893 V/14 "Jeg horde en nyskaaren Seljeflojte" (I once had a newly cut willow pipe) Unpublished [5]
1893 V/15 "Nuages" (Clouds) Unpublished [5]
1895 V/16 Deux Melodies [Verlaine]: 1. "Il pleure dans mon coeur" (It cries in my heart); 2. "Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit" (The sky is over the roof) Accompaniment later orchestrated [7]
1895 V/17 "Pagen hojt paa Taarnet sad" (The page sat in the lofty tower) Unpublished [5]
1898 V/18 "Traum Rosen" (Dream Roses) Unpublished [5]
1898 V/19 Lieder nach Gedichten von Friedrich Nietzsche (Songs after poems by Fredrich Nietzsche): 1. "Nach neuen Meeren" (By New Seas); 2. "Der Wanderer" (The Wanderer); 3. "Der Einsame" (The Lonely One); 4. "Der Wanderer und sein Schatten" (The Wanderer and his Shadow) [7]
1898 V/20 "Im Glück wir lachend gingen" (In bliss we walked with laughter) [7]
1900 V/21 Two songs from the Danish: 1. "The Violet"; 2. "Autumn" "The Violet" accompaniment orchestrated, 1908 [7]
1900 V/22 "Black Roses" [6][7]
1901 V/23 "Jeg horer i Natten" (I hear in the night) Unpublished [5]
1902 V/24 "Summer Landscape" Orchestral accompaniment 1903 [7]
1910 V/25 "The Nightingale has a Lyre of Gold" [6][7]
1911 V/26 "La Lune blanche" (The white moon) (Verlaine poem) Orchestral accompaniment 1911 [6][7]
1911 V/27 "Chanson d'Automne" (Song of Autumn) (Verlaine poem) [6][7]
1913 V/28 "I-Brasil" [6][7]
1913 V/29 Two songs for children: 1. "Little Birdie"; 2. "The Streamlet's Slumber Song" [7]
1915–16 V/30 Four old English lyrics: 1. "It was a lover and his lass"; 2. "So white, so soft, so sweet is she"; 3. "Spring, the sweet Spring"; 4. "To Daffodils" [7]
1919 V/31 "Avant que tu ne t'en ailles" (Morning Star) [7]

Works for orchestra alone
Year(s) composed RT Title First performance Comments Ref.
1887 VI/1 Florida Suite Leipzig, 1888 Revised 1889 [3]
1888 VI/2 Hiawatha (tone poem) [3]
1888 VI/3 Rhapsodic Variations Incomplete [3]
1888 VI/4 Three pieces for string orchestra [5]
1889 VI/5 Idylle de Printemps [3]
1889–90 VI/6 Orchestral suite (Petite Suite No. 1)
  1. Marche
  2. Berceuse
  3. Scherzo
  4. Duo
  5. Theme with variations
 London, 18 November 1946 [3][5]
1889 (approx.) VI/6a Suite of 3 Characteristic pieces
  1. La Quadroöne (Rhadsodie Floridienne)
  2. Scherzo
  3. Marche Caprice
 [5]
1889 (approx) VI/6b Marche Française [5]
1890 VI/7 Three small tone-poems:
  1. Summer Evening
  2. Winter Night (Sleigh Ride)
  3. Spring Morning
 London, 2 January 1949 [3]
1890 (approx.) VI/8 A l'Amore [5]
1890 VI/9 Orchestral Suite (Petite Suite No. 2)
  1. Allegro ma non troppo
  2. Con moto
  3. Allegretto
 [3][5]
1890–92 VI/10 Paa Vidderne (On the Mountains) - symphonic poem Christiania, Norway, 10 October 1891 [3]
c. 1891 Mazurka Incomplete sketch [5]
1895–97 VI/11 Over the hills and far away (fantasy overture) London, 30 May 1899 [3][6]
1896 VI/12 Appalachia: an American rhapsody Orchestral version, later adapted for solo and chorus [3]
1899 VI/13 La Ronde se déroule (The Dance Goes On) London, 30 May 1899 Revised, 1901, as "Lebenstanz" (Life's Dance) [3]
1899 VI/14 Paris: The Song of a Great City Elberfeld, 1901 [3][6]
1901 VI/15 Lebenstanz (Life's Dance) Düsseldorf, February 1904 Further revised, 1912 [3][6]
1907 VI/16 Brigg Fair Basle, 1907 [3][6]
1908 VI/17 In a Summer Garden London, 11 December 1909 Delius conducted the first performance [3][6]
1908 VI/18 Dance Rhapsody (No. 1) Hereford (Three Choirs Festival) 8 September 1909 Delius conducted the first performance [3][6]
1911–12 VI/19 Two pieces for small orchestra:
  1. On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
  2. Summer Night on the River
 Leipzig, 2 October 1913 [3][6]
1912 VI/15 Life's Dance (final version) Berlin, 1912 Revised from 1901 [3]
1913–14 VI/20 North Country Sketches London, 10 May 1915 [3][6]
1915 VI/21 Air and Dance London, Aeolian Hall, 16 October 1929[10] [3]
1916 VI/22 Dance Rhapsody (No. 2) [3]
1917 VI/23 Eventyr (Once Upon a Time) London. 11 January 1919 [3]
1918 VI/24 A Song before Sunrise [3]
1918 VI/25 Poem of Life and Love Incomplete, lost [3]
1929-30 VI/26 A Song of Summer London, 17 September 1932 [3]
1931 VI/27 Irmelin prelude [3]
1931 VI/28 Fantastic Dance London, 12 January 1934 [3]
undated On the moors (Impressions of Nature) Incomplete sketch [5]
undated Sunday morning on the moors Incomplete sketch [5]
undated Mountain poem Incomplete sketch [5]

Works for solo instrument(s) and orchestra
Year(s) composed RT Title First performance Comments Ref.
1888 VII/1 Suite for violin and orchestra [3]
1890 VII/2 Legendes (Sagen) for piano and orchestra [3]
1895 VII/3 Legende for violin and orchestra Later revised for violin and piano [3][6]
1897 VII/4 Piano Concerto in C minor Elberfeld, 1904 1st movement revised 1906 [3][6]
VII/4a Rhapsody for piano and orchestra [5]
1915 VII/5 Double Concerto for violin and violoncello London, 21 February 1920 [3]
1916 VII/6 Violin Concerto London, 30 January 1919 [3]
1921 VII/7 Cello Concerto Vienna, 30 January 1923 [3]
1930 VII/8 Caprice and Elegy for cello and chamber orchestra [3]
undated Second Piano Concerto Incomplete sketch [5]
undated Fantaisie for piano and orchestra Incomplete sketch [5]

Chamber music
Year(s) composed RT Title Instrumental forces First performance Comments Ref.
1888 VIII/1 First string quartet [7]
1889 VIII/2 Romance Violin, piano [7]
c. 1890 Vasantasena for violin and piano Violin and piano Incomplete sketch [5]
1892 VIII/3 Violin Sonata in B major Violin, piano Achille Rivarde with Harold Bauer, Paris 1893 [7][11][12]
1893 VIII/4 Second string quartet [7]
1896 VIII/5 Romance Cello, piano [7]
1905–14 VIII/6 Violin Sonata No. 1 Violin, piano Manchester, 1915 [6][7]
1916 VIII/7 Cello Sonata Cello, piano London, 11 January 1919 [7]
1916 VIII/8 String quartet (1916) London, 1 February 1919 [7]
1923 VIII/9 Violin Sonata No. 2 Violin and piano London, 7 October 1924 [7]
c. 1923 Sonata for violin and piano in C Violin and piano Incomplete sketch [5]
1930 VIII/10 Violin Sonata No. 3 Violin and piano London, 6 November 1930 [7]

Piano solos
Year(s) composed RT Title First performance Comments Ref.
1885 IX/1 Zum Carnival written before first departure from Florida [5]
undated IX/2 Pensees mélodieuses (Melodious thoughts) [5]
undated IX/3 Norwegian Sleigh Ride [5]
undated IX/4 Badinage (Danse lente) [5]
undated IX/5 Two piano pieces: 1. Valse; 2. Reverie [5]
1919 IX/6 Dance for Harpsichord [7]
1922–23 IX/7 Five piano pieces: 1-2. Mazurka and Waltz for a Little Girl; 3. Waltz; 4. Lullaby for a Modern Baby; 5. Toccata [7]
1923 IX/8 Three piano preludes: 1. Scherzando; 2. Quick; 3. Con moto London 4 September 1924 [7]
undated Presto leggiero for piano Unpublished piano solo [5]

References
  1. Payne, Anthony (Winter 1961–62). "Delius's Stylistic Development". Tempo. Cambridge University Press (60): 6–16. doi:10.1017/S0040298200055662. (subscription required)
  2. Fenby, Eric (1971). The Great Composers: Delius. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-09296-3.
  3. Sadie, Stanley (ed.) (1980). New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Volume 5. London: Macmillan. p. 342. ISBN 978-0-333-23111-1.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  4. Frederick Delius website, Delius: Robert Threlfall, retrieved January 23, 2016
  5. Threlfall, Robert (1977). "A Catalogue of the Works of Frederick Delius". The Thompsonian Institution. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  6. Heseltine, Philip (March 1915). "Some Notes on Delius and his Music" (PDF). The Musical Times. 56 (865): 137–42. doi:10.2307/909510. JSTOR 909510.(subscription required)
  7. Sadie, Stanley (ed.) (1980). New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Volume 5. London: Macmillan. p. 343. ISBN 978-0-333-23111-1.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  8. Liner notes from A Mass of Life & Prelude and Idyll Naxos 8.572861-62
  9. imlsp.com, 7 Danish Songs (Delius, Frederick), retrieved January 23, 2016
  10. Naxos
  11. Tamino Classic Forum
  12. The Delius Society Journal, Number 87, Autumn 1985
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