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Frederick Delius
Born: 1862
Died: 1934
Country: England
Period: 20th Century
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Frederick Delius was an English composer who forged a unique version of the Impressionist musical language of the early twentieth century. He was born in Bradford, England, in 1862, and died in Grez-sur-Loing, France, in 1934. He did not come from a musical family; rather, his father owned a wool company and hoped that his son would follow a career in business. Delius, however, wanted to study music, and though his father did not approve of music
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Works
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A Dance Rhapsody (No. 2), for orchestra, RT vi/22 (1)
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A Late Lark (1)
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A Mass of Life (4)
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A Mass of Life: Prelude to Part 2 (1)
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A Song Before Sunrise (20)
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A Song Before Sunrise, for small orchestra, RT vi/24 (2)
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A Song of Summer (9)
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A Village Romeo and Juliet (8)
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A Village Romeo and Juliet: Suite (2)
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A Village Romeo and Juliet: Walk to the Paradise Garden (33)
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Air and Dance (12)
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Appalachia - American Rhapsody (9)
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Appalachia - American Rhapsody: Excerpt(s) (1)
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Aquarelles (2) (15)
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Aquarelles (2): Excerpt(s) (1)
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Aquarelles (2): Gaily but not quick (4)
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Aquarelles (2): Lento ma non troppo (3)
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Arabesque (7)
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Autumn (2)
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Badinage (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody (25)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Coda (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Interlude "Slow and very quietly" (2)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Introduction (2)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Theme (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Transistion no 2 "Rather quicker" (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Transition no 1 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 1 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 10 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 11 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 12 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 13 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 14 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 15 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 16 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 2 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 3 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 4 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 5 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 6 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 7 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 8 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation 9 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variation no 17 (1)
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Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody: Variations 7-12 (1)
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Caprice and Elegy for Cello and Orchestra (8)
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Caprice and Elegy for Cello and Orchestra: Caprice (2)
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Caprice and Elegy for Cello and Orchestra: Elegy (2)
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Caprice and Elegy, for cello & chamber orchestra, RT vii/8: Elegy (1)
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Chanson d'automne (1)
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Chanson d’automne (1)
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Concerto for Cello (7)
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Concerto for Piano in C minor (8)
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Concerto for Violin (11)
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Concerto for Violin and Cello (5)
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Concerto for Violin: 2nd movement (1)
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Cynara (2)
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Dance (2)
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Dance for Harpsichord (2)
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Dance Rhapsody no 1 (10)
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Dance Rhapsody no 2 (11)
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Danish Songs (7) (1)
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Danish Songs (7): no 1, Summer Nights (1)
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Danish Songs (7): no 2, Through Long, Long Years (1)
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Danish Songs (7): no 5, Irmelin Rose (2)
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Danish Songs (7): no 6, In the Seraglio Garden (2)
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Danish Songs (7): no 7, Silken Shoes (1)
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English Songs (3), for voice & piano, RT v/12 (1)
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Eventyr "Once upon a Time" (5)
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Fantastic Dance for Orchestra (3)
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Fennimore and Gerda (2)
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Fennimore and Gerda, opera, RT i/8 (1)
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Fennimore and Gerda: Interludes (1)
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Fennimore and Gerda: Intermezzo (19)
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Florida Suite (14)
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Florida Suite: By the River (4)
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Florida Suite: Daybreak (2)
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Florida Suite: Nocturne (1)
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Florida Suite: Plantation Dance "At Sunset" (1)
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Florida, suite for orchestra, RT vi/1 (1)
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Folkeraadet "Norwegian Suite" (1)
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German Partsongs (6): Durch den Wald (1)
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German Partsongs (6): Frühlinsganbruch (1)
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German Partsongs (6): Sonnenscheinlied (1)
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Hassan (4)
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Hassan: Act 1 Interludes between Scenes 1 and 2 (1)
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Hassan: Excerpt(s) (1)
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Hassan: Intermezzo (12)
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Hassan: Serenade (20)
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Hiawatha (1)
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Hochgebirgsleben, song for voice & piano, RT v/6 (1)
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I hear in the night (1)
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I-Brasîl (2)
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I-Brasîl, song for voice & piano, RT v/28 (1)
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Idyll (2)
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Idylle de Printemps (5)
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Idylle de printemps, for orchestra, RT vi/5 (2)
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In a Summer Garden (21)
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In a Summer Garden, rhapsody for orchestra, RT vi/17 (1)
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In bliss we walked with laughter (1)
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Irmelin (1)
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Irmelin: Prelude (26)
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Irmelin: Suite (1)
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Jeh havde en nyskaaren Seljeflojte, song for voice & piano, RT v/14 (1)
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Koanga (1)
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Koanga, opera, RT i/4: La Calinda (1)
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Koanga: Closing Scene (3)
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Koanga: La Calinda (23)
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La Calinda, for orchestra (arrangement by Fenby of the dance from Act 2 of Koanga) (2)
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La lune blanche (3)
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Late Swallows (4)
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Légende for Violin and Orchestra (5)
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Life's Dance (5)
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Little Suite: La Quadroöne (2)
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Little Suite: Scherzo (3)
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Marche-caprice (6)
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Marche-caprice: Caprice (1)
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Margot la rouge: Duet (1)
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Margot la rouge: Prelude (2)
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Maud: Birds in the High Hall Garden (1)
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Midsummer Song (2)
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North Country Sketches (12)
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North Country Sketches: Autumn "The Wind Soughs in the Trees" (1)
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North Country Sketches: Dance (1)
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North Country Sketches: The March of Spring (2)
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North Country Sketches: The March of Spring-Woodlands, Meadows and Silent Moors (1)
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North Country Sketches: Winter Landscape (1)
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Norwegian Sleigh Ride, RT ix/3 (1)
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O schneller, mein Ross (1)
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Old English Lyrics (4): no 2, So white, so soft, so sweet is she (2)
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Old English Lyrics (4): no 4, To Daffodils (1)
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Old English Lyrics, songs (4) for voice & piano, RT v/30 (1)
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On Craig Dhu (2)
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Over the Hills and Far Away (8)
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Over the Hills and Far Away, fantasy overture for orchestra, RT vi/11 (2)
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Over the Mountains High, song for voice & piano, RT v/2 (2)
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Paa Vidderne for Orchestra (5)
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Paa Vidderne for Speaker and Orchestra (1)
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Paris - Song of a Great City (12)
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Pensées Mélodieuses: no 2 (1)
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Pieces (2) for Cello and Piano (1)
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Pieces (2) for Orchestra: no 2, Marche caprice (1)
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Pieces (2) for Piano (1)
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Pieces (2) for small orchestra, RT vi/19 (3)
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Pieces (2) for Small Orchestra: no 1, On Hearing the First Cuckoo (55)
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Pieces (2) for Small Orchestra: no 2, Summer Night on the River (34)
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Pieces (5) for Piano (4)
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Poem of Life and Love (1)
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Preludes (3) for Piano (2)
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Presto leggiero (1)
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Quartet for Strings (3)
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Quartet for Strings: 3rd movement, Late Swallows (1)
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Requiem (3)
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Romance for Cello and Piano (2)
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Sakuntala (1)
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Sea Drift (14)
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Skogen gir susende langsam besked, song for voice & piano, RT v/10 (1)
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Sleigh Ride (17)
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Small Tone Poems (3): Summer Evening (1)
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Sonata for Cello and Piano (7)
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Sonata for Strings (2)
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Sonata for Violin and Piano in B major (5)
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Sonata for Violin and Piano no 1 (11)
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Sonata for Violin and Piano no 2 (12)
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Sonata for Violin and Piano no 3 (14)
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Song of the High Hills (8)
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Songs (2) to be sung of a Summer Night on the Water (6)
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Songs (2) to be sung of a Summer Night on the Water: no 1 "Slow but not dragging" (3)
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Songs (2) to be sung of a Summer Night on the Water: no 2 "Gaily but not quick" (1)
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Songs (2): no 1, Il pleure dans mon coeur (2)
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Songs (2): no 2, Le ciel est par-dessus le toit (2)
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Songs (2): no 2, Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit (1)
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Songs (3): no 2, Love's Philosophy (5)
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Songs (3): no 3, To the Queen of my Heart (2)
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Songs (4): no 1, Mit deinen blauen Augen (1)
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Songs (4): no 4, Aus deinen Augen (1)
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Songs (5) from the Norwegian (1)
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Songs (5) from the Norwegian, for voice & piano, RT v/5 (1)
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Songs (5) from the Norwegian: no 1, Slumber Song (1)
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Songs (5) from the Norwegian: no 2, The Nightingale (1)
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Songs (5) from the Norwegian: no 3, Summer Eve (1)
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Songs (5) from the Norwegian: no 4, Longing (1)
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Songs (5) from the Norwegian: no 5, Sunset (2)
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Songs (7) from the Norwegian (2)
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Songs (7) from the Norwegian, for voice & piano, RT v/9 (1)
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Songs (7) from the Norwegian, for voice & piano, RT v/9: Twilight fancies (1)
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Songs (7) from the Norwegian: Cradle Song (1)
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Songs (7) from the Norwegian: Evening Voices (Twilight Fancies) (1)
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Songs (7) from the Norwegian: no 1, Cradle Song (2)
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Songs (7) from the Norwegian: no 2, The Homeward Journey (3)
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Songs (7) from the Norwegian: no 3, Evening Voices (5)
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Songs (7) from the Norwegian: no 4, Sweet Venevil (3)
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Songs (7) from the Norwegian: no 6, Love concealed (2)
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Songs (7) from the Norwegian: no 7, The Bird's Story (2)
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Songs of Farewell (4)
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Songs of Sunset (10)
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Songs of Sunset, for mezzo-soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra, RT ii/5 (1)
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Songs of Sunset, RT ii/5: They are not long, the weeping and the laughter (1)
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Songs of Sunset: They are not long, the weeping and the laughter (1)
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Spring Morning (3)
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Suite for Violin and Orchestra (1)
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Summer Evening (13)
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Summer landscape (2)
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Summer Night on the River, tone poem for orchestra (Pieces for small orchestra, No. 2), RT vi/19/2 (1)
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The nightingale has a lyre of gold (2)
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The nightingale has a lyre of gold, song for voice & piano (or orchestra), RT v/25 (2)
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The page sat in the lofty tower (1)
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The splendour falls on castle walls (3)
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The Violet (2)
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To Daffodils (1)
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To Daffodils, song for voice & piano (1)
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Two brown eyes (1)
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Two Songs for Children - Unison Songs, RT V/29: 1. Little birdie (2)
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Wanderer's Song (3)
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Zum Carnival (1)
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Biography |
by Alexander Carpenter
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Frederick Delius was an English composer who forged a unique version of the Impressionist musical language of the early twentieth century. He was born in Bradford, England, in 1862, and died in Grez-sur-Loing, France, in 1934. He did not come from a musical family; rather, his father owned a wool company and hoped that his son would follow a career in business. Delius, however, wanted to study music, and though his father did not approve of music as a profession, he did not discourage music-making as a pastime; thus, Delius was allowed to study the violin and the piano. To his father's dismay, he also spent much of his youth sneaking away from school to attend concerts and opera performances. When he completed school, he went to work for his father in the family business. In 1884, he left England for Florida, where he worked on a plantation as an orange grower. While in Florida, he began studying music with Thomas Ward, a musician and teacher from Jacksonville. Delius proved to be a failure as an orange grower, and began supporting himself as a musician. In 1886, his father arranged for him to spend a year and a half studying music in Germany at the Leipzig Conservatory. Though Delius would later insist that he learned very little of importance during his stay in Leipzig, it was there that he met Grieg, with whom he forged a lifelong friendship. Grieg convinced Delius' father to allow the young man to become a composer, and Delius, with the support of his formerly reluctant father, soon moved to Paris and began living the life of an artist.
Once in Paris, Delius began composing in earnest, and towards the end of the nineteenth century had already completed two operas, Irmelin and The Magic Fountain. In the first decade of the twentieth century, Delius married the painter Jelka Rosen and produced a number of important works, including the opera A Village Romeo and Juliet, the large-scale choral works Appalachia and A Mass of Life (based on the writings of Nietzsche), a piano concerto, and a number of songs and chamber pieces. His music was well-received throughout Europe, and Delius was quite successful up until World War I, when he was forced to leave France for England. Despite his renown in continental Europe, Delius was virtually unknown in his native England, and his stay there was marred by financial difficulties. After the war, Delius returned to France, where the syphilis he had contracted in Florida gradually caused him to become paralyzed and blind. Ironically, as Delius became increasingly infirm, his fame began to spread. This was due in large part to the efforts of English composer Sir Thomas Beecham, who championed Delius' music and organized a Delius Festival in 1929. Though terribly ill, Delius nonetheless still wanted to compose, and in 1928 enlisted the services of English musician Eric Fenby, to whom he dictated music (Fenby would later write a book about Delius). Towards the end of his life, Delius was made Companion of Honor by King George V of England, and was awarded an honorary degree in music by Oxford University. Before his death, Delius was able to hear his music over the radio and on record, but these accomplishments paled before the terrible deterioration of his health, and he died in seclusion. |
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