Sea-Drift: A Life of Frederick Delius

A.L. Young

The Bradford-born Frederick Delius (1862-1934) was one of the most original and radical of all English composers, leading a cosmopolitan life that saw him living in Florida and France as well as spending periods in Germany and Norway, and he was unique among English composers in being at the heart of fin de siècle culture - a friend of Gauguin, Munch, Grieg and many others. Sea-Drift is a fictionalised account of the composer's extraordinary life, weaving together letters, diaries and other sources to create a unique biographical novel of Frederick Delius, the outcome of fifty years of the author's research and immersion in the composer's life and music