Eric Fenby
Encyclopedia
Eric William Fenby OBE
(22 April 190618 February 1997) was an English composer and teacher who is best known for being Frederick Delius
's amanuensis
from 1928 to 1934. He helped Delius realise a number of works that would not otherwise have been forthcoming.
Fenby was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and as a youth took lessons in the piano, organ and cello. At the age of 12 he was appointed organist at Holy Trinity Church. As a composer he was largely self taught. By 1925 he had conducted a work for string orchestra
at the Spa Grand Hall in Scarborough and had written some minor pieces.
. Fenby worked, at the composer's home in Grez-sur-Loing
, near Paris, for extended periods until Delius died almost six years later. The project was taxing not only because of the need to devise a unique mode of musical communication but also because of Delius's difficult temperament and atheism
. Although born into a Methodist household, Fenby had recently become a devout Catholic
. The strain on him was intensified by the requirement to act as nurse during the composer's final days. Then followed further responsibilities including visiting Delius's severely ill widow Jelka
and accompanying the composer's exhumed body back to England for burial. The whole experience left him "completely burnt out". In 1936, he published an account, Delius As I Knew Him.
The works he helped Delius write (all for orchestra unless otherwise shown) are:
This episode in Fenby's and Delius's lives was portrayed in Ken Russell
's 1968 film Song of Summer
.
. He was contracted to write the score for Alfred Hitchcock
's Jamaica Inn
(from Daphne du Maurier
's novel
), but his film career was interrupted by World War II
; after joining the Royal Artillery
, he was transferred to the education corps at Bulford
, where he conducted the Southern Command Orchestra, and was later commissioned to run Royal Army Education Corps courses in Lancashire
. Having left the Catholic Church, he married Rowena C. T. Marshall (daughter of a Scarborough vicar) in 1944. They had a son Roger and a daughter Ruth.
After the war Fenby founded the music department of the North Riding
Training College. He was artistic director for the 1962 Bradford
Delius Festival. He then became professor of harmony at the Royal Academy of Music
in London from 1964 until 1977.
Fenby was appointed an Officer of Order of the British Empire
(OBE). He was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Jacksonville, Bradford and Warwick. He died in Scarborough having returned to Catholicism in his final years.
for the 1968 film Song of Summer
(in which he was portrayed by Christopher Gable
). He recorded the Delius violin sonatas firstly with Ralph Holmes and later with Yehudi Menuhin
and the Delius cello sonata with Julian Lloyd Webber
. He was also the subject of a documentary film
by Yorkshire Television
called Song of Farewell.
Orchestral works
Choral works
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(22 April 190618 February 1997) was an English composer and teacher who is best known for being Frederick Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
's amanuensis
Amanuensis
Amanuensis is a Latin word adopted in various languages, including English, for certain persons performing a function by hand, either writing down the words of another or performing manual labour...
from 1928 to 1934. He helped Delius realise a number of works that would not otherwise have been forthcoming.
Fenby was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and as a youth took lessons in the piano, organ and cello. At the age of 12 he was appointed organist at Holy Trinity Church. As a composer he was largely self taught. By 1925 he had conducted a work for string orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
at the Spa Grand Hall in Scarborough and had written some minor pieces.
Working for Delius
In 1928, hearing that Delius had become virtually helpless because of blindness and paralysis, he offered to serve him as an amanuensisAmanuensis
Amanuensis is a Latin word adopted in various languages, including English, for certain persons performing a function by hand, either writing down the words of another or performing manual labour...
. Fenby worked, at the composer's home in Grez-sur-Loing
Grez-sur-Loing
Grez-sur-Loing is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France.-People:It is located 70 km south of Paris and is notable for the artists and musicians who have lived or stayed there...
, near Paris, for extended periods until Delius died almost six years later. The project was taxing not only because of the need to devise a unique mode of musical communication but also because of Delius's difficult temperament and atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
. Although born into a Methodist household, Fenby had recently become a devout Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
. The strain on him was intensified by the requirement to act as nurse during the composer's final days. Then followed further responsibilities including visiting Delius's severely ill widow Jelka
Jelka Rosen
Helena Sophie Emilie "Jelka" Delius was a painter, and wife of composer Frederick Delius.-Life and work:...
and accompanying the composer's exhumed body back to England for burial. The whole experience left him "completely burnt out". In 1936, he published an account, Delius As I Knew Him.
The works he helped Delius write (all for orchestra unless otherwise shown) are:
- A Song of SummerA Song of SummerA Song of Summer is a tone poem for orchestra by Frederick Delius, completed in 1931.A Song of Summer derived from an unpublished 1918 symphonic work, originally called Poem of Life and Love. In 1921, Delius told Peter Warlock that he had misplaced most of that score...
- Fantastic Dance
- Irmelin prelude
- Caprice and Elegy (cello and chamber orchestra)
- Violin Sonata No. 3
- Songs of Farewell (double choir and orchestra)
- Idyll (soprano, baritone and orchestra).
This episode in Fenby's and Delius's lives was portrayed in Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
's 1968 film Song of Summer
Song of Summer
Song of Summer is a 1968 black-and-white film written, produced and directed by Ken Russell, who also plays a cameo role as a philandering priest. It portrays the final six years of the life of Frederick Delius, when he was blind and paralysed, and when Eric Fenby lived with the composer and his...
.
Later career
After Delius's death, Fenby entered the employ of the music publisher Boosey & HawkesBoosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and wind musical instruments....
. He was contracted to write the score for Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's Jamaica Inn
Jamaica Inn (film)
Jamaica Inn is a 1939 film made by Alfred Hitchcock adapted from Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel of the same name, the first of three of du Maurier's works that Hitchcock adapted ....
(from Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
's novel
Jamaica Inn (novel)
Jamaica Inn is a novel by the English writer Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1936. It was later made into a film, also called Jamaica Inn, by Alfred Hitchcock...
), but his film career was interrupted by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
; after joining the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
, he was transferred to the education corps at Bulford
Bulford
Bulford is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, close to Salisbury Plain. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 4,698.The name is derived from the Old English bulut ieg ford meaning 'ragged robin island ford'....
, where he conducted the Southern Command Orchestra, and was later commissioned to run Royal Army Education Corps courses in Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
. Having left the Catholic Church, he married Rowena C. T. Marshall (daughter of a Scarborough vicar) in 1944. They had a son Roger and a daughter Ruth.
After the war Fenby founded the music department of the North Riding
North Riding of Yorkshire
The North Riding of Yorkshire was one of the three historic subdivisions of the English county of Yorkshire, alongside the East and West Ridings. From the Restoration it was used as a Lieutenancy area. The three ridings were treated as three counties for many purposes, such as having separate...
Training College. He was artistic director for the 1962 Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
Delius Festival. He then became professor of harmony at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
in London from 1964 until 1977.
Fenby was appointed an Officer of Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE). He was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Jacksonville, Bradford and Warwick. He died in Scarborough having returned to Catholicism in his final years.
Recordings
As a conductor and pianist, he made numerous recordings, including the definitive performances found in the Fenby Legacy double LP for Unicorn Records, and was advisor to Ken RussellKen Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
for the 1968 film Song of Summer
Song of Summer
Song of Summer is a 1968 black-and-white film written, produced and directed by Ken Russell, who also plays a cameo role as a philandering priest. It portrays the final six years of the life of Frederick Delius, when he was blind and paralysed, and when Eric Fenby lived with the composer and his...
(in which he was portrayed by Christopher Gable
Christopher Gable
Christopher Gable, CBE was an English ballet dancer, choreographer, and actor.Born in London, Gable studied at the Royal Ballet School, joining the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet in 1957...
). He recorded the Delius violin sonatas firstly with Ralph Holmes and later with Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
and the Delius cello sonata with Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber is a British solo cellist who has been described as the "doyen of British cellists".-Early life:Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone . He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber...
. He was also the subject of a documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
called Song of Farewell.
Works
Always a severe self-critic, he destroyed several substantial early works but the following smaller pieces by Eric Fenby survive.Orchestral works
- Overture "Rossini on Ilkla Moor" (1938)
- Slow march "Lion Limb" (1952)
- "Two Aquarelles"
Choral works
- "Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis" (1932)
- "For music on the eve of Palm Sunday" (1933, words by Robert Nichols)