Editing Eric Fenby

{{Short description|British composer (1906–1997)}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=November 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
[[File:Fenby-menuhin.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Fenby (left) and [[Yehudi Menuhin]] (who shared a birthday, 22 April) study a [[Frederick Delius|Delius]] score]]

'''Eric William Fenby''' [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (22 April 1906{{spaced ndash}}18 February 1997) was an English composer, conductor, pianist, organist 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 [[The Spa, Scarborough|Spa Grand Hall]] in [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]] and had written some minor pieces.

==Working for Delius==
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In 1928, hearing that Delius had become virtually helpless because of blindness and paralysis (due to syphilis), he offered to serve him as an [[amanuensis]]. 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 Church of Great Britain|Methodist]] household, Fenby had become a devout [[Catholic]]. The strain on him was intensified by the requirement to act as nurse during the composer's final days. Further responsibilities followed, including visiting Delius's severely ill widow, [[Jelka Rosen]], 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''.<ref>Eric Fenby (1936) ''Delius as I Knew Him'', G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., London</ref><ref>Icon Books 1966, Faber and Faber 1981 {{cite web |last=Fenby |first=Eric |title=Delius As I Knew Him |url=https://www.raincliffebooks.co.uk |publisher=Raincliffe Books |edition=revised |orig-date=1936 |date=2019}} {{worldcat|name=''Delius as I Knew Him''|id=lccn-n50001125}}</ref>

The works he helped Delius to write (all for orchestra unless otherwise shown) are:
* ''[[A Song of Summer]]''
* ''Fantastic Dance''
* ''Irmelin'' prelude
* ''Caprice and Elegy'' (cello and chamber orchestra)
* Violin Sonata No. 3 (violin and piano)
* ''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]]'s 1968 production for the BBC, ''[[Song of Summer]]'', which can be found on YouTube. In 1980 [[Kate Bush]] sang about them in her song "Delius". In a much distorted form, the Delius-Fenby collaboration also serves as a basis for the fictional Ayrs-Frobisher collaboration in [[David Mitchell (author)|David Mitchell]]'s novel ''[[Cloud Atlas (novel)|Cloud Atlas]]''.

==Later career==
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After Delius's death Fenby entered the employ of the music publisher [[Boosey & Hawkes]]. He was contracted to write the score for [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[Jamaica Inn (film)|Jamaica Inn]]'', (from [[Daphne du Maurier]]'s [[Jamaica Inn (novel)|novel]]), but his film career was interrupted by the [[Second World War]]. After joining the [[Royal Artillery]] he was transferred to the Education Corps at [[Bulford Camp|Bulford]], where he conducted the Southern Command Orchestra. He was later commissioned to run [[Royal Army Education Corps]] courses in [[Lancashire]].

Having left the Catholic Church, in 1944 Fenby married Rowena C.T. Marshall (1914-1998), the daughter of a Scarborough vicar. They had a son, Roger, and a daughter, Ruth.

After the war Fenby founded the music department of the [[North Riding of Yorkshire|North Riding]] Training College. He was artistic director for the [[Bradford]] Delius Festival in 1962. He then became Professor of Harmony at the [[Royal Academy of Music]] in London from 1964 until 1977.

In his final years Fenby returned to Catholicism and 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, North Yorkshire|Scalby]], a village on the north edge of Scarborough.

==Honours==
Fenby was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in 1962 for his artistic 
direction of the 1962 Delius Centenary Festival in Bradford.  He was appointed President of the Delius Society that same year.<ref>[http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1247&context=oa_theses&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.au%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Djelka%2BH%25C3%25A9l%25C3%25A8ne%2BSophie%2BEmilie%2BRosen%2Bbelgrade%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D8%26ved%3D0CFIQFjAH%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fscholarlyrepository.miami.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1247%2526context%253Doa_theses%26ei%3DpSUIUaLEKYWPiAe1roC4Dg%26usg%3DAFQjCNHSFinGSdZ8_uLt5PjLIZK37i_RQw%26bvm%3Dbv.41524429%2Cbs.1%2Cd.dGY#search=%22jelka%20H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne%20Sophie%20Emilie%20Rosen%20belgrade%22  Mary E Greene (4 May 2011) ''Before the Champions: Frederick Delius' Florida Suite for Orchestra'', Electronic Theses and Dissertations, University of Miami]</ref>

He was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of [[University of Bradford|Bradford]] and [[University of Warwick|Warwick]] (UK), and [[Jacksonville University|Jacksonville]] (USA).

==Recordings and films==
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As a conductor and pianist Fenby made numerous recordings, including the definitive performances found in the Fenby Legacy double LP for [[Unicorn-Kanchana|Unicorn Records]]. Fenby recorded all three of Delius's violin sonatas, first with [[Ralph Holmes]] and later with [[Yehudi Menuhin]], and Delius's Cello Sonata with [[Julian Lloyd Webber]].

He was adviser to [[Ken Russell]] for the 1968 film ''[[Song of Summer]]'', in which Fenby is portrayed by [[Christopher Gable]]. He was also the subject of a documentary film by [[Yorkshire Television]] called ''[[Song of Farewell]]''.

==Works==
Always a severe self-critic, he destroyed several substantial early works but the following smaller pieces survive.

'''Orchestral works''' 
* Overture "Rossini on Ilkla Moor" (1938) ASV CD WHL2126
* 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)

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
*Eric Fenby – Obituary, ''[[The Times]]'', London, 22 February 1997
*{{cite news |last=Pace |first1=Eric |title=Eric Fenby, a Musical Partner Of Frederick Delius, Dies at 90 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/02/nyregion/eric-fenby-a-musical-partner-of-frederick-delius-dies-at-90.html |url-access=subscription |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=136 |date=2 March 1997 |access-date=21 August 2020}}
*[[Richard Stoker]], "Fenby, Eric William (1906–1997)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', [[Oxford University Press]], 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/65230 accessed 13 June 2007]
*[[Eric Blom]] ed., Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th edition (1954)

==External links==
*{{imdb name|id=0271711}}
*[http://thompsonian.info/fenby.html "Eric Fenby: Unsung Hero of Music" – site includes biography, discography, photos, sound files, links and other information.]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenby, Eric}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
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[[Category:Military personnel from Scarborough, North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:20th-century British classical composers]]
[[Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:English classical composers]]
[[Category:English Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:English light music composers]]
[[Category:Royal Army Educational Corps officers]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Musicians from Scarborough, North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Royal Philharmonic Society]]
[[Category:20th-century English composers]]
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[[Category:Amanuenses]]
[[Category:20th-century English male musicians]]
[[Category:Royal Artillery soldiers]]