Frederick Delius

The Magic Fountain

Lyric Drama in 3 Acts

Der Wunderborn

Oper in Drei Acten

La source enchantée

Drame Lyrique en 3 Actes

DCW 2
RT I/3
DCE 2

Composer: Frederick Delius
Librettist: Frederick Delius
Associated name: Jutta Bell

The opera is based on the story of the discovery of Florida in 1513 by Ponce de León and his search for the Fountain of Perpetual Youth. The libretto is by Delius himself, although there is evidence that a friend from his time in Florida - Mrs Jutta Bell - gave advice and made some contribution. Extant notes, now in BL MS Mus. 1745/1/39, show that the original focus of the opera was on discovery, featuring a hero called Ponce and a heroine, Nadgia (RL, 139-40). However, by the time Delius started consulting with Bell, the subject had shifted to the plight of the indigenous people, and the hero and heroine were named Solana (later Solano) and Watawa (LC I, 83-6, 88-90). Delius told Bell he envisaged the opera as the start of a trilogy corresponding broadly to the subjects of The Magic Fountain, Koanga, and A Village Romeo and Juliet. 

Composition: Between 1894 and 1895.

The opera has never been staged and was not performed at all in Delius' lifetime, although it was offered to Prague and Weimar in the 1890s.