Norman René Del Mar

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(31 July 19196 February 1994) was a British conductor, horn player, and

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

. As a conductor, he specialised in the music of late romantic composers; including Edward Elgar, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. He left a great legacy of recordings of British music, in particular Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams,

Frederick Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

, and

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

. He notably conducted the premiere recording of Britten's children's opera ''

Noye's Fludde ''Noye's Fludde'' is a one-act opera by the British composer Benjamin Britten, intended primarily for amateur performers, particularly children. First performed on 18 June 1958 at that year's Aldeburgh Festival, it is based on the 15th-century ...

''.

Life and career

Born in Hampstead,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Del Mar began his career as a horn player. He was one of the original members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), which was established by

Sir Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with th ...

in 1946. Within the first few months of the RPO's existence, Beecham appointed Del Mar as his assistant conductor. Del Mar made his professional debut as a conductor with the RPO in 1947. In 1949 Del Mar was appointed principal conductor of the

English Opera Group The English Opera Group was a small company of British musicians formed in 1947 by the composer Benjamin Britten (along with John Piper, Eric Crozier and Anne Wood) for the purpose of presenting his and other, primarily British, composers' operat ...

, in which post he remained until 1954. In 1952 he conducted the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

in the world premiere of

Franz Reizenstein Franz Theodor Reizenstein (7 June 191115 October 1968) was a German-born British composer and concert pianist. He left Germany for sanctuary in Britain in 1934 and went on to have his teaching and performing career there. As a composer, he succ ...

radio opera Radio opera (German: 'Funkoper' or 'Radiooper') is a genre of opera. It refers to operas which were specifically composed to be performed on the radio and is not to be confused with broadcasts of operas which were originally written for the stage. ...

'' Anna Kraus''. He then held chief conducting posts with the

Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra The Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra (YSO) is an orchestra based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was first active from its establishment in 1947 until its demise in 1955, and then revived in 2021. Initially based in the Leeds Town Hall, it is no ...

(1954) the

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is a Scottish broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC), it is the oldest full-time professional r ...

(1960–1965), and the

Aarhus Symphony Orchestra The Aarhus Symfoniorkester (Aarhus Symphony Orchestra) is the principal orchestra for the Danish city of Aarhus. Description Established in 1935 as ''Aarhus By-Orkester'' (Aarhus City Orchestra), since 1982 it has performed most of its concerts in ...

(1985–1988). A regular at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

concerts, he conducted the famous Last Night on three occasions: 1973, 1975, and 1983. He was also 'permanent guest conductor' with the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra from 1969–1973. Norman Del Mar grave

In 1953 Del Mar joined the faculty of the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

where he conducted the school's orchestra and taught conducting until 1960. In 1972 he began to teach conducting at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

, serving until 1990. He also conducted the Royal Academy of Music's orchestra from 1974–1977. In 1976 he conducted the world premiere of Thomas Wilson's opera ''The Confessions of a Justified Sinner'', based on the novel by James Hogg. The cast was led by

Philip Langridge Philip Gordon Langridge (16 December 1939 – 5 March 2010)Millington (7 March 2010) was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio. Early life Langridge was born in Hawkhurst, Kent, educ ...

Thomas Hemsley Thomas Jeffrey Hemsley, CBE (12 April 192711 April 2013) was an English baritone. Hemsley was born in Coalville, Leicestershire, and attended Ashby de la Zouch Grammar School. He took a degree in natural sciences from Brasenose College, Oxford. ...

and

John Shirley-Quirk John Stanton Shirley-Quirk CBE (28 August 19317 April 2014) was an English bass-baritone. A member of the English Opera Group during 1964–76, he gave premiere performances of several operatic and vocal works by Benjamin Britten, recording thes ...

. He was an authority on Richard Strauss and wrote a three-volume work on Strauss's life and music. In addition, his books include the following titles: * ''Anatomy of the Orchestra'' () * ''Conducting Beethoven'' (, Volume 1; , Volume 2) * ''Conducting Berlioz'' () * ''Conducting Brahms'' () * ''Conducting Elgar'' (, compiled and edited by his son

Jonathan Del Mar Jonathan Del Mar (born 7 January 1951) is a British music editor and conductor. Biography Jonathan Del Mar was born in London in 1951; his father was conductor Norman Del Mar. He studied at Christ Church, Oxford and the Royal College of Music ...

) * ''Conducting Favourite Concert Pieces'' () * ''Mahler's sixth symphony : a study'' () * ''Orchestral variations : confusion and error in the orchestral repertoire'' () As well as making approximately 70 recordings of his own, Del Mar was a lifelong record collector, and his extensive collection of rare 78s is held by the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

. He died in 1994, aged 74. He had two sons. The elder is the Beethoven editor

, and the younger is Robin Del Mar who is a viola player.

References

External links

Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra website
contains some photographs and articles about Norman Del Mar.
Norman Del Mar rehearsing the audience in the "Night Song", in the original 1949 production of ''Let's Make an Opera''
* Norman Del Mar was a regular conductor of the LSSO both at home and abroad.

at Southampton University {{DEFAULTSORT:Del Mar, Norman 1919 births 1994 deaths Academics of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Academics of the Royal College of Music British male conductors (music) Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Hampstead English biographers 20th-century biographers 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians