Eric Fenby

Early years Fenby was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, on 22 April 1906, the only son and eldest of three children of Herbert Henry Fenby – an engineer – and his wife, Ada, Brown. His exceptional musical talent – including perfect pitch and a fine treble voice – was apparent from his early years. At the age of twelve he was appointed organist at Holy Trinity Church, Scarborough. At sixteen he was articled to the leading organist of the district, Claude Keaton. His various musical skills were soon in demand, accompanying singers and rehearsing local choral societies and amateur orchestras. Alick Maclean, conductor of the Spa Orchestra, recognizing his talent, invited him to conduct his early compositions, giving him his first contact with professional players. During the summer Scarborough season Maclean had at his disposal the finest players from regional orchestras, who were not then on year-round contracts to the Hallé, Scottish and other ensembles. ==Working for Delius==

In 1928, hearing that Frederick Delius had become virtually helpless because of blindness and paralysis (a result of syphilis), Fenby offered to serve him as an amanuensis. Delius replied, "I was greatly touched by your kind and sympathetic letter and I should love to accept your offer". Fenby worked at the composer's home in Grez-sur-Loing, near Fontainebleau, for extended periods until Delius died almost six years later. The works Fenby helped Delius to write are: • A Late Lark (tenor and orchestra) • A Song of Summer (orchestra) • Caprice and Elegy (cello and chamber orchestra) • Cynara (baritone and orchestra) • Fantastic Dance (orchestra – dedicated to Fenby) • Idyll (soprano, baritone and orchestra) • Irmelin Prelude (orchestra) • Songs of Farewell (double choir and orchestra) • Violin Sonata No. 3 (violin and piano) Although born into a Methodist household, Fenby had become a practising Roman Catholic and at one point even considered becoming a Benedictine monk. Further responsibilities followed, including visiting Delius's severely ill widow, Jelka, and accompanying the composer's exhumed body back to England for permanent burial. The whole experience left him exhausted. At the urging of the music critic Ernest Newman he wrote an account of his time with the composer, Delius As I Knew Him, published in 1936. ==Later career==

After Delius's death Fenby assisted Sir Thomas Beecham with the 1935 Covent Garden production of the composer's opera Koanga. Through the Laughton family in Scarborough, Fenby knew Charles Laughton, star of Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn (1939), and was engaged to write the film score. To mark Fenby's ninetieth birthday, Stephen Lloyd edited Fenby on Delius, which comprised Fenby's articles, transcripts of his talks, and his studies of the composer's works for orchestra, solo instrument and orchestra, voices and orchestra, solo voice, chamber ensembles and the stage. In his final years Fenby moved back to Scarborough, where he died, approaching his 91st birthday. He is buried with his wife, Rowena, in the churchyard of St Laurence's Church, Scalby, a village on the north edge of Scarborough. ==Recordings and films==

As a conductor and pianist Fenby made several recordings. To mark his 75th birthday he recorded for Unicorn Records The Fenby Legacy, a double album comprising all the orchestral works he had taken down from Delius's dictation. and later with Yehudi Menuhin (1980). He recorded Delius's Cello Sonata with Julian Lloyd Webber (1981). As a pianist – playing the Ibach grand piano left to him by Delius – Fenby accompanied Felicity Lott, Sarah Walker and Anthony Rolfe Johnson in a 1982 recording of sixteen songs by the composer for voice and piano: "Twilight Fancies", "The Violet", "In the Garden of the Seraglio", "Silken Shoes", "Autumn", "Young Venevil", "Irmelin Rose", "Let Springtime Come", "Pleure dans mon coeur", "Le del est, par-dessus le toit", "La lune blanche", "Chanson d'automne", "Avant que to ne t'en ailles", "To Daffodils", "So white, so soft, so sweet is she" and "I-Brasil". The following year he recorded nine orchestral songs by Delius in 1983, with the same three singers and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: "Twilight Fancies", "Wine Roses", "The Bird's Story", "Let Springtime Come", "II pleure dans mon coeur", "Le del est, par-dessus le toit", "La lune blanche", "To Daffodils" (orchestrated by Fenby) and "I-Brasil". Fenby was adviser to Ken Russell for the 1968 film Song of Summer, in which Fenby is portrayed by Christopher Gable (with too broad a Yorkshire accent for Fenby's liking). He was also the focus of a 1981 documentary film by Yorkshire Television called Song of Farewell, in which he revisited Grez-sur-Loing. ==Works==

Fenby was always a severe self-critic: he said, "In music talent is not enough. You must be a genius". He destroyed several substantial early works but the following smaller pieces survive. Orchestral works • Overture "Rossini on Ilkla Moor" (1938) Revised edition, 1966. New revised edition, 1981. • Delius (1974). ==Notes, references and sources==

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