F. Delius. Autograph composition drafts for two movements from "A Mass of Life", the words by Nietzsche, [c.1904]

DELIUS, FREDERICK

Autograph composition drafts for two movements from "Eine Messe des Lebens" ("A Mass of Life") RT II/4, the words by Nietzsche, c.1904

the short score notated in pencil containing deletions, alterations, revisions marked with cues, and significant differences from the final published versions, including 

(1) the second half of Part One no.4 [from Nietzsche's Das trunkene Lied], starting from the words "[Ach! Ach der Thau] fällt die Stunde kommt..." (Rehearsal no.45), including the leitmotiv of Nietzsche's text "Oh Mensch, du höherer Mensch, gieb acht!", until the end of the movement ("...was spricht die tiefe Mitternacht?"), on four staves per page of four staves each, some twenty-four bars of music, 2 pages, 4to (c.35 x 27.5cm), the second leaf of a bifolium, paginated 3 & 4 by the composer, 18-stave Bellamy paper (small oval blindstamp)

(2) the first half of Part Two no.4, titled "Mittags / Prelude", with the words "Heisser Mittag schläft auf den Flüren", for solo tenor and bass voices, chorus and orchestra, on systems of up to four staves each, including some indications of orchestration ("Eng.Horn", "W.wind", "Strings" etc, "Solo" and "Chorus"), the passage for baritone at the words "Was geschah mir?" (Rehearsal no.102), marked "Zarathustra", the music continuing to just before Rehearsal no.104, comprising around one hundred bars in all, including deleted passages and sketches on otherwise unused staves. [probably Grez-sur-Loing (near Fontainebleau), 1904-1905], 4 pages, 4to (c.35 x 27cm), a bifolium paginated by the composer, 14-stave Bellamy paper (small oval blindstamp), some browning and creasing

THESE COMPOSITION DRAFTS ARE APPARENTLY UNRECORDED: "A MASS OF LIFE" IS ONE OF DELIUS'S GREATEST WORKS.

A Mass of Life is Delius's largest and most ambitious choral work, composed to a libretto arranged from Friedrich Nietzsche's poem Also sprach Zarathustra (1892).  The composer stated that reading Nietzsche's poem was a turning point in his life. The Mass embodies Delius's broad European cultural outlook, which distinguished him from many of his peers, and fully realizes his talent for large-scale choral music. This distinctly secular work depicts man's spiritual development and eventual demise as the progression of a complete day, rising to the "glorious noontide" of the 'Mittags' movement and ending with the midnight bell of death. Hans Haym, the conductor at Elberfeld in 1909, wrote of 'Mittags', "the wonderful music, in which the composer evokes the mood of silent noontide, proclaims the unerring hand of genius. He is never at a loss for fresh nuances and refinements to express the sense of timelessness, of perfect happiness, of being withdrawn from the world". The British Library contains an fragmentary short score draft of A Mass of Life, written in pencil: BL MS Mus. 1745/2/13/3 (b). The music in our composition draft (2) for the 'Mittags' movement leads directly into folios 175-178 of the early BL short score, whereas draft (1) for Part One, no.4 does not appear to relate so closely to anything in the BL collection.

LITERATURE:

R. Threlfall, Frederick Delius. a Supplementary Catalogue (1986), p.205, (b), (compare item no.4). D. Puffett, 'A Nietzschean Libretto: Delius and the Text for A Mass of Life', Music and Letters (May, 1998), 244-267