Food & Music 2: cornbread & Delius

Supper tomorrow, is gonna be

-black-eyed peas, kale and ham hocks, a bit like this but thick, more like a side than a soup
-cornbread (see previous post) ✓
-Southern fried chicken
-cream gravy
-fried okra, green beans, mac-n-cheese
-lemon meringue pie

Am studying a bit, taking a break to blog, listening to Frederick Delius. His is a very interesting story, that I´ll just barely highlight, in regards to Norway, and in general being an artist. As someone myself who also is very visual and uses my hands for many things artistically , that he both lost the use of his hands and soon after his sight, and lived for 9 grueling years before he died, was sad! His music is beautiful, in the different interpretations. He died before the love of his life,his wife, also an artist, Jelka did.  I thought it poignant that accidentally the person who chose the last piece of music his wife heard before she died, was not only the exact song Delius written for her, but it had been the exact last piece of music he himself had also heard before he died. His wife was buried, in England, in the same grave.

Song of Summer

Delius´s soulful music was highly influenced from one of his many places of living, the plantation region of Florida, where he often heard African-American spiritual singing, and similar singing from the African-American men working aboard local ships. You can hear the huge influence this had on his music, when you hear how he´s written the orchestra to "sing" along with the angelic heavenly humming from actual singers; or how he writes the music to rush to and fro such as the waves in the ocean upon the sandy shores do.

There is contention over exactly which country got to claim him in death, including his actual body being removed, flown to another country and buried at midnight. There is contention and controversy over many things, after his death, which after his death finally made him well-sought after, and admired even more so, for his music, which during his lifetime was not necessarily well-accepted as he wrote what he loved, not what he thought the public would like. He wrote for himself, what he heard in his head, what his hands and heart and his life felt. That is why his music, regardless of interpretation is wonderful.

In 1881, at the age of 19, Delius first went to Norway and was overwhelmed by the spectacular beauty of the mountains, forests, landscapes he saw there. He spent many summer months and other time in Norway for the rest of his life, including having a tiny wooden traditional summer cottage he enjoyed staying in. The surrounding countryside was vast green fields of wildflowers and tall grasses, overlooking the fjord and mountains. It´s still a spectacularly beautiful, wild, landscape, and the house is still there today.

A few other influences from Norway:

 Edvard Grieg composer, pianist, who helped convince Delius´s father the importance of a future in music for Delius.

Gunnar Heiberg  poet, journalist of various Norwegian newspapers DB and VG, theatre critic, and director of Bergen´s DNS, one of Norway´s oldest permanent theatres. In the front, there stands a large statue of Henrik Ibsen.

Henrik Ibsen, good friend he met in Norway in 1882, on one of his many visits to Norway

Sigurd Bødtker, brother-in-law to Gunnar Heiberg

Edvard Munch, painter and friend