ABSTRACT
The annual Frederick Delius Festival of Jacksonville falls into the latter category. It both commemorates an important period of Frederick Delius’s life and celebrates his musical legacy. The steamboat era was in full swing and Delius certainly availed himself of this romantic mode of transportation and spent some time in Jacksonville. In addition to the members it has attracted, the Delius Association has managed to involve many of Jacksonville’s other cultural organizations in its activities. The Trust donated a major item to Jacksonville University early on in the history of Jacksonville’s Delius Festival, with Philip Emanuel presenting the original manuscript score of Delius’s opera Koanga to the university during his visit to the second festival in 1962. The annual Delius Festival has quite clearly made Jacksonville a centre for Delius research in the United States. A small group of Jacksonville residents later began holding a festival to celebrate the works of Delius.
