Delius and the Sound of Place

Offers a radical and interdisciplinary analysis that will transform readers' understanding of this deeply compelling early twentieth-century composer.

Daniel M. Grimley (Author)

9781108470391, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 December 2018

332 pages, 2 b/w illus. 61 music examples
25.3 x 18 x 2 cm, 0.84 kg

'Grimley presents his wide-ranging research in rich prose, offering seven chapters with single-word titles referencing real or imagined places … Recommended' S. C. Pelkey, Choice

Few composers have responded as powerfully to place as Frederick Delius (1862–1934). Born in Yorkshire, Delius resided in the United States, Germany, and Scandinavia before settling in France, where he spent the majority of his professional career. This book examines the role of place in selected works, including 'On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring', Appalachia, and The Song of the High Hills, reading place as a creative and historically mediated category in his music. Drawing on archival sources, contemporary art, and literature, and more recent writing in cultural geography and the philosophy of place, this is a new interpretation of Delius' work, and he emerges as one of the most original and compelling voices in early twentieth-century music. As the popularity of his music grows, this book challenges the idea of Delius as a large-scale rhapsodic composer, and reveals a richer and more productive relationship between place and music.

1. Place
2. Idyll
3. River
4. Drift
5. Village
6. Hill
7. Garden
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH], 20th century & contemporary classical music [AVGC6], Music reviews & criticism [AVC], Music [AV]