Norman Del Mar

Norman René Del Mar CBE (31 July 1919 – 6 February 1994) was an English conductor, horn player, and author, born in Hampstead, London. He built a distinguished career specializing in the music of late Romantic composers, with particular focus on Edward Elgar, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss, and left an extensive recorded legacy of British orchestral music encompassing works by Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius, and Benjamin Britten.

Del Mar began his professional life as a horn player and was among the founding members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra when Sir Thomas Beecham established it in 1946. Within months of the orchestra's formation, Beecham appointed him assistant conductor, and Del Mar made his professional conducting debut with the RPO in 1947. In 1949 he was named principal conductor of the English Opera Group, a position he held through 1954. That same year, 1949, he appeared in the original production of Benjamin Britten's children's opera Let's Make an Opera, and in 1950 the production transferred to Broadway. In 1952 he led the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Franz Reizenstein's radio opera Anna Kraus.

Del Mar subsequently held chief conducting posts with the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra beginning in 1954, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 1960 to 1965, and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 1988. He served as permanent guest conductor with the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra between 1969 and 1973 and conducted the celebrated Last Night of the BBC Proms on three occasions: 1973, 1975, and 1983. In 1976 he led the world premiere of Thomas Wilson's opera The Confessions of a Justified Sinner, with a cast that included Philip Langridge, Thomas Hemsley, and John Shirley-Quirk. He also conducted the premiere recording of Britten's Noye's Fludde.

Alongside his performing career, Del Mar was a dedicated educator. He joined the faculty of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1953, conducting its orchestra and teaching conducting until 1960. From 1972 to 1990 he taught conducting at the Royal College of Music, and he directed the Royal Academy of Music's orchestra from 1974 to 1977.

Del Mar was a recognized authority on Richard Strauss and produced a three-volume study of Strauss's life and music. His other published works include Anatomy of the Orchestra, Mahler's Sixth Symphony: A Study, Orchestral Variations, and conducting guides devoted to Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Elgar, and other repertoire. He made approximately seventy recordings and was a lifelong collector of recordings; his collection of rare 78s is held by the University of Southampton. He died on 6 February 1994 at the age of 74. His elder son, Jonathan Del Mar, is a Beethoven editor, and his younger son, Robin Del Mar, is a viola player.