Beschreibung:

[DELIUS, FREDERICK] Twelve autograph letters by Lady Maud Cunard to Delius ("My dear Zarathustra", etc), [1912-c.1918] about Sir Thomas Beecham's performance of A Mass of Life at Covent Garden (in 1913), conveying Beecham's request for him to write orchestral works without voices, reporting Beecham playing the Légende for violin and piano with Catterall, telling him that she will try to persuade him to stage Koanga in Manchester, reassuring him about the war situation in 1914, opining that the Germans would not invade France ("...the French and Russians will both march to Berlin..."), discussing the possible expropriation of German property and how he might travel to England via Le Havre rather than Boulogne; she also discusses at some length selling Gauguin's painting "Nevermore" for him, suggesting he brings it with him when he comes to England ("...as you tell me your money, owing to the war, is coming to an End..."), describing her efforts to secure its sale through her contacts with Charles Aitken at the Tate Gallery, William Marchant of Goupil's, Sir Joseph Duveen (who offered £2,000 for it) and others, describing the staging of the new opera by Ethel Smyth (The Boatswain's Mate), about her daughter Nancy, confiding her reservations about her education and impeding marriage, and mentioning Charles Keary, 34 pages, 8vo and 4to, the first letter addressed to Jelka Delius, written in blue-black ink or pencil, printed stationery of 20 Cavendish Square and 44 Grosvenor Square, London, Grand Hotel Continental Munich and Belvoir Castle, "Sunday", "Jan 7th", "Oct 23rd", otherwise undated, but end of 1912 to c.1918 "...T.B. tells me he saw you. He wants you to write more things for the orchestra please please without voices. He says it is so difficult to give your lovely works because of the voices. He cant give them in London. I want him to give a work of yours each Sunday always. He says he cant on account of the voices. What is to be done about it?..." Lady Maud Cunard (1872-1948) was, for about thirty years, the mistress and tireless find-raiser of the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, until his second marriage in 1943. Her letters to Delius during the First World War are close to being letters from Beecham himself and contain messages to the composer from his most important champion. With the outbreak of war in 1914, Delius was forced to leave his home in Grez-sur-Loing and take refuge in England until 1916, and then again in 1918, when Allied soldiers occupied his house. His royalties from his publishers in Germany dried up and Lady Maud persuaded him to sell his treasured painting by Gauguin, "Nevermore". Delius had purchased the painting from the artist's friend George Daniel de Monfreid in 1898, for five hundred francs. It appears as the backdrop to a well-known portrait of the composer painted by his wife Jelka. The precise manner in which Delius sold his great treasure is not recorded, but it went through the hands of three dealers (Alfred Wolff in Munich, Alex Reid in Glasgow and Agnew's in London) before entering Herbert Coleman’s collection in Manchester. It is now at the Courtauld Institute, owned by Samuel Courtauld by 1926 and gifted by him in 1932. Lady Maud was the mother of Nancy Cunard, born in San Francisco (née Burke) and married to Sir Bache Cunard in 1895. She separated from him in 1911 and moved to London with Nancy, becoming a lavish society hostess for artists and musicians, where she met Beecham.