Song of Summer
Song of Summer is a 1968 black-and-white television film co-written, produced, and directed by Ken Russell for the BBC's Omnibus series which was first broadcast on 15 September 1968. It portrays the final six years of Frederick Delius' life, during which Eric Fenby lived with the composer and his wife Jelka as Delius's amanuensis. The title is borrowed from the Delius tone poem A Song of Summer, which is heard along with other Delius works on the film's soundtrack. It stars Max Adrian as Delius, Christopher Gable as Fenby, and Maureen Pryor as Jelka, with director Russell in a cameo role as a philandering priest. The cinematography was by Dick Bush, and the editing was by Roger Crittenden. It was shot on black-and-white 35mm film. It has received wide praise since its first screening, and Ken Russell said it was the best film he ever made and he would not have done a single shot differently. Book Song of Summer was based on Eric Fenby's memoir Delius As I Knew Him (1936, republished in 1966), which recounts his offer to transcribe Frederick Delius's music from the composer's dictation. At the time, 66-year-old Delius lived with his wife Jelka and their servants in Grez-sur-Loing, roughly 70 kilometres south of Paris. Delius had never even heard of Fenby, a struggling 22-year-old composer and theatre organist living with his parents in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Nonetheless, he accepted Fenby's unsolicited offer. Fenby stayed with the Deliuses on and off for six years, until Delius's death in 1934. He had immense difficulty dealing with the cantankerous, irascible and impatient composer, although Delius' conduct might have been the product of his constant pain. Neither party had ever worked this way before, but Fenby was immediately expected to keep up with Delius's fast pace when dictating, and to make sense of his out-of-tune singing. He was also required to read for long stretches to Delius, the composer's favourite books being Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Fenby was a devout Catholic and Delius hated Christianity, even going so far as to say that Fenby should not go to the local chapel but visit one further away. On his first visit home, Fenby had a nervous breakdown and lost the use of his own legs for two weeks. Later, Jelka needed to go for treatment for stomach cancer, and Fenby virtually became Delius's nurse for a month. Delius died only two days after Jelka returned. Eric Fenby coached actors Max Adrian (Delius) and Christopher Gable (Fenby) in their roles and regarded their portrayals as "absolutely true to character" and the film as "disturbingly lifelike". However, he did not attend the actual filming, in order not to distract the director, and also on request from Christopher Gable, who was making his first film (he had previously been a dancer with the Royal Ballet). Max Adrian was a favourite actor of Ken Russell. Adrian told Fenby that he had more difficulty in ridding himself of involvement in