Norman Del Mar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Norman Del Mar (31 July 1919 – 6 February 1994) was a British conductor and biographer.
Born in Hampstead, London, he is best remembered for his recordings of British music, in particular Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Delius, and Britten. He conducted the premiere recording of Britten's children's opera Noye's Fludde.
A regular at the BBC Proms concerts, he conducted the famous Last Night on three occasions, 1973, 1975, and 1983. His positions included the chief conductorships of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (1960-1965) and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra (1985-1988). He was also 'permanent guest conductor' with the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra from 1969-1973.
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 (ISBN 0520045009)
- Conducting Beethoven (ISBN 0198162189, Volume 1; ISBN 0198163592, Volume 2)
- Conducting Berlioz (ISBN 0198165528)
- Conducting Brahms (ISBN 0198163584)
- Conducting Elgar (ISBN 0198165579, compiled and edited by his son Jonathan Del Mar)
- Conducting Favourite Concert Pieces (ISBN 0198165587)
- Mahler's sixth symphony : a study (ISBN 090387329X)
- Orchestral variations : confusion and error in the orchestral repertoire (ISBN 0903873370)
In 1972, he began to teach conducting at the Royal College of Music, serving until 1990.
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.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- New York Times obituary
- Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra website contains some photographs and articles about Norman Del Mar.
[edit] Video
- Signing autographs for Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra players in Dusseldorf Norman Del Mar was a regular conductor of the LSSO both at home and abroad.
| Preceded by Ian Whyte |
Principal Conductor, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 1960-1965 |
Succeeded by James Loughran |
| Preceded by Ole Schmidt |
Principal Conductor, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra 1985-1988 |
Succeeded by Eri Klas |
