Editing Frederick Delius (section)

===First successes===
[[File:Delius-by-Krohg-1897.jpg|thumb|left|Delius in 1897 by [[Christian Krohg]]]]
In 1897, Delius met the German artist [[Jelka Rosen]], who later became his wife. She was a professional painter, a friend of [[Auguste Rodin]], and a regular exhibitor at the [[Salon des Indépendants]].<ref name= dnb/> Jelka quickly declared her admiration for the young composer's music,<ref>Beecham (1975), pp. 77–78</ref> and the couple were drawn closer together by a shared passion for the works of the German philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] and the music of Grieg.<ref name= dnb/> Jelka bought a house in [[Grez-sur-Loing]], a village {{convert|40|mi|km}} outside Paris on the edge of [[Forest of Fontainebleau|Fontainebleau]].<ref name=dnb/> Delius visited her there, and after a brief return visit to Florida, he moved in with her.

In 1903 they married, and, apart from a short period when the area was threatened by the advancing German army during the [[First World War]], Delius lived in Grez for the rest of his life.<ref name=dnb/> The marriage was not conventional: Jelka was, at first, the principal earner; there were no children; and Delius was not a faithful husband. Jelka was often distressed by his affairs, but her devotion did not waver.<ref name=dnb/>

In the same year, Delius began a fruitful association with German supporters of his music, the conductors [[Hans Haym]], [[Fritz Cassirer]] and [[Alfred Hertz]] at [[Elberfeld]], and [[Julius Buths]] at [[Düsseldorf]].<ref name=dnbarchive/> Haym conducted ''Over the Hills and Far Away'', which he gave under its German title ''Über die Berge in die Ferne''{{refn|Literally "Over the mountains in the distance"|group=n}} on 13 November 1897, believed to be the first time Delius's music was heard in Germany.<ref name=carley>{{cite journal|title= Hans Haym: Delius's Prophet and Pioneer|last= Carley|first= Lionel|jstor= 734166|journal= Music and Letters|pages=1–24|date= January 1973|volume=54|doi=10.1093/ml/liv.1.1}} {{subscription}}</ref> In 1899 Hertz gave a Delius concert in [[St. James's Hall]] in London, which included ''Over the Hills and Far Away'', a choral piece, ''Mitternachtslied'', and excerpts from the opera ''[[Koanga]]''. This occasion was an unusual opportunity for an unknown composer at a time when any sort of orchestral concert was a rare event in London.<ref>Beecham (1975), p. 104</ref> In spite of encouraging reviews, Delius's orchestral music was not heard again in an English concert hall until 1907.<ref name=carley/>

The orchestral work ''[[Paris: The Song of a Great City]]'' was composed in 1899 and dedicated to Haym. He gave the premiere at Elberfeld on 14 December 1901. It provoked some critical comment from the local newspaper, which complained that the composer put his listeners on a bus and shuttled them from one Parisian night-spot to another, "but he does not let us hear the tuneful gypsy melodies in the boulevard cafés, always just cymbals and tambourine and mostly from two cabarets at the same time at that".<ref name=carley/> The work was given under [[Ferruccio Busoni|Busoni]] in Berlin less than a year later.<ref name=carley/>

Most of Delius's premieres of this period were given by Haym and his fellow German conductors. In 1904 Cassirer premiered ''Koanga'', and in the same year the Piano Concerto was given in Elberfeld, and ''Lebenstanz'' in Düsseldorf. ''Appalachia'' (choral orchestral variations on an old slave song, also inspired by Florida) followed there in 1905. ''[[Sea Drift (Delius)|Sea Drift]]'' (a cantata with words taken from a poem by [[Walt Whitman]]) was premiered at [[Essen]] in 1906, and the opera ''[[A Village Romeo and Juliet]]'' in Berlin in 1907.<ref name=dnb/> Delius's reputation in Germany remained high until the First World War; in 1910 his rhapsody ''[[Brigg Fair]]'' was performed by 36 different German orchestras.<ref name=dnbarchive/><ref>Hull, p. 6</ref>