Mary Ward House, 21 September 1982
Reviewed in Delius Society Journal 79, pp7-12

Introduced by Derek Cox
(no music examples)

Part 1: 53’

Listen to Eric Fenby on Jelka Delius – Part 1

An edited transcript of the first part of this talk was included in Fenby on Delius (Thames Publishing 1996), pp.108-112 and also in Delius Society Journal 79, pp.7-12. Eric Fenby begins by telling an amusing story of the only time he saw Jelka caught off-guard. It was the year after Delius’s death when they went to a recital given by Albert Sammons and Evlyn Howard-Jones who were playing one of the violin sonatas, and afterwards Jelka was approached by Margot Asquith who butted in, ‘Jelka, aren’t you sorry that you never had a baby by Fred Delius?’

An important feature of this talk is that Fenby was able to correct the one weakness he had found in Ken Russell’s otherwise excellent BBC film Song of Summer – the portrayal by Maureen Pryor of Jelka Delius as being rather ‘dotty’.

Eric describes how uncomfortable Delius’s house was, especially in winter, with no heating except in the living room and music room, and nothing in the bedrooms. He gives a good account of how Jelka managed the house, and retells much that she told him about early life at Grez. Eric speaks too of the support that Jelka gave him. ‘To the very last she always took my side, often against him when things were dark – because she knew that what we had to do was the most important meaning to his life – his music.’

Part 2: 42’

Listen to Eric Fenby on Jelka Delius – Part 2

The second part of the talk includes questions from the audience, some relating to the paintings in the house. When Songs of Farewell was finished the Deliuses’ good friend Heinrich Simon, editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung (who was present at both Limpsfield services and was murdered by the Nazis in Washington in 1941) visited Grez with the paper’s art editor, and they were discussing the painting Nevermore in great detail. ‘They were lashing out with superlatives . . .’ When they had left Fenby came downstairs to find Fred and Jelka laughing. ‘I know what you are laughing at,’ he said, ‘because they think it’s by Gauguin and I know it’s by Jelka.’ They were so surprised. There was apparently something about the elbow that was similar to a painting by Jelka on the other side of the room. Eric had had time to study them both when being beaten at chess by the bruder!

The sound quality of this talk is in some places less satisfactory than in other talks. However, Eric Fenby was often more revealing and entertaining on less formal occasions such as in this question-and-answer session, and this talk has many humorous moments. It is hoped that the listener will find any deficiencies worth tolerating for the rare insights this recording offers. Some listeners may prefer to use headphones which can be a good way of gaining greater clarity and a sense of occasion.

The cassette unfortunately ran out just before the end of the talk.