Frederick Delius - Irmelin Prelude (1892)

Sun, 03 Dec 2023 15:46:30 +0000

Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH (29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce. He was sent to Florida in the United States in 1884 to manage an orange plantation. He soon neglected his managerial duties and in 1886 returned to Europe.

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Prelude to Irmelin (1890-92)

Royal Philharmonic conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham

Irmelin is an opera in three acts with music by Frederick Delius. Composed between 1890 and 1892, it was the first opera which he finished. But it wasn't premiered until 1953, nearly twenty years after his death. The libretto was by the composer, and weaves together two mythical stories. Philip Heseltine described the opera as a "fairy-tale of quite ordinary kind" and "its form dramatically rather below the level of the conventional operatic text. Though the music was much praised by Grieg and Messager... its performance was never seriously contemplated by the composer". Delius had however assimilated Wagnerian influence in his music, with use of key motifs and a sense of flow through the three acts.

Performance history
Sir Thomas Beecham directed the British premiere at the New Theatre Oxford on 4 May 1953; the costumes were by Beatrice Dawson and choreography by Pauline Grant. Beecham's advocacy of the score and "care with which he realizes each detail, the beauty of sound he elicits from his orchestra", were praised by the Opera critic, along with Dennis Arundell's production.

Florent Schmitt arranged the piano scores of Delius's first two operas, Irmelin and The Magic Fountain, but the first full Irmelin score was a vocal score compiled by Dennis Arundell in 1953.