Frederick Delius

Frederick Delius (b.Bradford, 29 Jan.1862; d.Grez-sur-Loing, 10 June 1934) was an English composer. At first his parents did not let him study music, so he went off to Florida to work on an orange plantation. He later returned, studied music, and settled in France for the rest of his life. His music is often quite gentle and atmospheric, with chords that shift about in unusual ways. One of his best known orchestral works is On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring. In his last years he was very ill, but he still wanted to compose, so he dictated the music he heard in his head to a man called Eric Fenby.

Frederick Delius Media

Delius's school (he attended the previous building) Bradford Grammar School
Edvard Grieg, who was a strong influence on Delius's earlier music
Delius in 1897 by Christian Krohg
Delius's grave at St Peter's Church in Limpsfield, Surrey, photographed in 2013
Woodcut illustration (1919) of the young lovers from Gottfried Keller's original story, which became Delius's opera A Village Romeo and Juliet